Don’t it always seem to go, that you don’t know what you got ‘til it’s gone.
As most will recognise, these are lyrics from Joni Mitchell’s hit tune, Big Yellow Taxi, a song which has been regularly covered, most notably by Counting Crows with and Vanessa Carlton.
The track itself was a protest anthem in no way connected to racing.
Nevertheless, this one line tacitly transcends her politics and acts as a maxim of universal meaning.
We all know that feeling.
As children we carelessly catapult toys which no longer interest us, then beg for their return when somebody else, typically a sibling, chooses to enjoy this discarded plaything without our consent.
Even as adults, we often regret failed relationships only when former partners find someone else.
One suspects similar emotions may prevail when wunderkind training duo Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin terminate their ownership of Victorian harness racing.
On Saturday night, Tonkin and Stewart landed nine successes on a star-studded Vicbred Super Series semi-final card, equalling their own Aussie record for training triumphs at a single meeting.
By any measure, such an achievement surely warrants respect and reverence of the highest order.
Nevertheless, reactions to such staggering dominance will vary vastly depending upon one’s conception of the racing industry.
Naturally, there will be interested parties that fear Tonkin and Stewart’s overwhelming sovereignty and feel such single-barn supremacy damages the game.
Questions around the future of feature futurity series like the Vicbred will be debated, while perspectives will abound about the ways such pseudo-monopolization curtails participation.
Outside the bubble, however, stories like Stewart’s are worth their weight in gold.
All sports, if they plan to plunder the broader zeitgeist, must promote their champions.
And the fact Stewart is a woman ruthlessly running roughshod over what was once a man’s game only elevates the narrative.
She is, and rightfully so, the personification of harness racing heroism and also an invaluable commercial commodity for the sport she rules.
Importantly, irrespective of where your allegiances lie, three important factors should stay front of mind.
Firstly, there’s nothing new about the type of dominance Stewart and Tonkin now enjoy when it comes to racing; think Tommy Smith and Colin Hayes, or more recently, Chris Waller.
Secondly, the reasons for this, are staggeringly simplistic and self-fulfilling.
Talented horse people train winners.
Powerful owners then send quality horses to these mentors, which leads to more winners, which pay for better facilities, which leads to even more winners and on it goes.
Thirdly, dominion of the kind we witnessed last weekend from Stewart and Tonkin never lasts forever.
One way or another, new challengers will emerge.
Legendary leaders, in all areas of life, are ephemeral by nature.
That’s why we should celebrate them while they are around, not reminisce about their wonders once they’ve finished.
Joni Mitchell was right, you see.
Much as we might wish it were different, human beings don’t, won’t and often can’t know what they’ve got ‘til it’s gone.
The opinions expressed in The Forum are those of the author and may not be attributed to or represent policies of Harness Racing Victoria, which is the state authority and owner of thetrots.com.au.