By Tim Bojarski, president, Upstate New York USHWA
Batavia, NY — Todd Haight, the long time general manager and director of live racing at Batavia Downs, has announced that he will retire from that position at Western Regional Off-Track Betting Corporation effective March 15.
“I would like to thank WROTB Chairman of the Board Richard Bianchi and all the directors for their support over last 20 years. I would also like to thank my dedicated co-workers who proved to be a great support system for the live racing department, and the members of the Western New York Harness Horseman’s Association that I’ve worked in conjunction with for many years,” said Haight.
Haight started at WROTB in 1998 as an independent contractor and later became an employee when the historic racetrack re-opened in 2002.
He first co-hosted a nightly live broadcast of races on cable TV with track announcer John Bothe. Then in 2005 he joined the corporation’s marketing department and that allowed him to reinstate all the great promotions that occurred at Batavia before WROTB purchased the Downs.
“I was able to bring back the popular driver’s bike race on Labor Day and the old fashioned hot dog days and our fans responded in big numbers once we did. Another popular promotion we started and grew was the wiener dog races and it’s nice to see so many other race tracks are doing them now,” said Haight.
“I was also able to hit the streets to sell advertising and more importantly, develop great relationships throughout the community. We used those relationships to bring businesses — many of them for the first time — to the Downs for a night at the races. Working with Group Sales Manager Mary Bucceri, we routinely sold out the clubhouse. Those groups affected the corporation’s bottom line with sales surpassing one million dollars.”
Haight explained his most valuable experience during his tenure was to work side-by-side with then WROTB vice-president and general manager of live racing, Mike Kane. He said that although he already knew the racing side of the business, Kane’s mentoring on the management aspect made all the difference and was a roadmap to success for him.
In 2011 when the WROTB board of directors promoted Kane to President, Haight was promoted to general manager and he remained in that position through his retirement.
The racing product grew under Haight’s watch and in 2013 betting rose 24%. Incremental year over year increases continued until 2019 when the track hosted the prestigious New York Sire Stakes Night of Champions and saw new records set for both total betting handle and nightly betting handle.
“I was very happy with the way the Night of Champions turned out. It was the biggest card of racing here since the 1988 Breeders Crown and it was simply a great night, from the crowd to the racing to the event itself. The entire staff here stepped up and did an incredible job,” said Haight.
“We got through the pandemic relatively unscathed in 2020 and despite not having spectators, nightly betting doubled the levels of 2011 and crushed the records set in 2019. Last year we tried some new things and you could look at the tote-board and clearly see our pools were bigger. We ended the year up about $3,000 per race, which was another record since WROTB took over the Downs.”
Haight is currently a USTA director and the chairman of District 8 and will remain in both of those positions. And regardless of which job he was doing, his hard work promoting the sport of harness racing has not gone unnoticed by his peers.
“It was my pleasure to work with Todd for the past 10 years. As general manager of racing at Batavia Downs, Todd had an amazing mastery of the many responsibilities his job entailed. I will miss working with him as he was a true professional. I wish him all the best in the years to come,” said Bruce Tubin, president of the Western New York Harness Horsemen’s Association.
“Todd has been a pleasure to work with and he will leave big shoes to fill. His kind are a dying breed in that he cared for racing so much. I wish him the best of luck in retirement,” said Kim Crawford, director of USTA District 8.
“I have worked with Todd at Batavia Downs since 2014 and can tell you there is no one in this industry who worked harder to promote harness racing than him. Appeasing an established customer base while trying to draw the next generation to the sport is not easy, but he maintained that delicate balance which in turn drove increased handle and attendance to the track year over year. He will certainly be missed,” said Tim Bojarski, racing publicist and president of the Upstate New York Chapter of the United States Harness Writers Association.
As far as retirement, Haight isn’t sure about his future and has indicated that he has several options.
“If it’s playing a lot of golf I’m okay with it. And if it’s remaining in the horse racing industry in some capacity, I’m okay with that too. In any event the last 20-plus years have been good to me and for that I’m extremely grateful.”