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Nothing but jealousy and haters. Burke has earned the success he is experiencing.
I have said for many years his monopoly in harness racing wouldn't be allowed in any other industry. He has destroyed the incentive of the small ownerships of the sport. If he can't breed them or buy them at the sale he will buy out the fastest 2 yr. old horse small time owner like this year. He is not satisfied unless he has the biggest piece of the pie in the Ohio Sire Stakes each year. There is no jealousy involved. Just my observation after many years of small time ownership. When you allow the Costcos and Walmarts to compete unfairly with the little guy you know who will get drove out of business every time.
You have to truly applaud Burke for what he has accomplished. To be able to manage so many stables that he has across the country is truly amazing. BUT, he is hurting the sport. The small outfits can't compete with the numbers he has. He goes to states and dominates. More and more of the Locals are disapearing. To have 5 horses in the Adios final hits the nail right on the head. No other trainer can do this. In the sport's heyday. You never saw this happen. He also has a huge advantage with so many horses to fit them in a perfect class weekly at different tracks. It's an amazing operation, but when is enough, enough. He is obviously financially set for life. I have no idea how many horses he has, but it has to be in the hundreds.
Without Burke that race does not even eliminations or they would have been 5 horse races with all but one making the final. Burke is a symptom of the real problem which is the government handouts. Burke has just had the business sense to expand and make money anywhere he can.
I would have to guess Todd Pletcher has him beat, especially since thoroughbred trainers get 10% instead of the 5% in harness. I am sure his daily training rate is somewhere in the $150/day range also.
You must be young and wasn't actually around for the heyday. Multiple entries were common in big races in the 60's thru the 80's. In fact, Billy Haughton had five horses in the Meadowlands Pace that he won with Nihilator. A race I may add that was the biggest the sport had to offer.
I would add that although he has 5 horses that made the final, by far the best two horses in the final, Twisted Destiny and Prince Hal Hanover, are trained by other connections.
So he has 5 horses in the race. He has 5 drivers who will drive 5 different horses. He has 5 drivers who want to continue to drive for him in the future. There will be many conversations after the draw. These drivers will get instructions. These guys can either follow instructions be a team player or not listen and lose the bestvaccount in the business. Atleast 3 of the 5 guys rely on burke for their livelihood. That my friends is enough to fix a race. Or work as a team against other entries. These drivers need burke. Burke doesn't need them. They will listen
