The Canadian Sportsman
May 27, 2011
After almost two solid months of rain, the last thing that anyone in-and-around London, ON should plan is a pool party, but thanks to the efforts of The Horseplayers Association of North America (HANA) and Western Fair Raceway the forecast for Friday, May 27 looks promising.
“Pool parties” — where horseplayers gather to bet a specific pool on a specific day to show support for customer-friendly racetracks — were first introduced in 2009.
This time around, HANA has anointed Western Fair’s Pick 4 on its $300,000 Molson Pace card as the place to wager on May 27, an acknowledgement of the track’s efforts in offering free programs, a reduction in takeout on their pick 4 from 25 to 15 per cent, and guaranteeing pools.
In response, Western Fair further ingratiated itself by offering a $10,000 minimum pool for the Pick 4 and letting the horseplayers vote via an online survey to choose which races would make up the wager sequence.
With voting now concluded, the horseplayers selected races 9 through 12 — the $130,000 Ontario Sires Stakes Gold Final for three-year-old filly pacers, the $300,000 Molson Pace, the fillies/mares preferred pace, and the $25,000 invitational pace.
The gesture, thought to be the first of its kind, has only enhanced the track’s reputation for going beyond just paying lip service to the importance of the customer.
“We are pleased to support Western Fair’s big night,” said HANA president Jeff Platt, in a release. “Picking the Pick 4 is a great idea and the track should be commended for engaging customers in such a way. We are excited to be a part of this and encourage all horseplayers to play a few dollars to support the track.”
Only time will tell how many horseplayers will jump in the pool, and how hard they will party once they get there, but both HANA and Western Fair deserve a ‘huzzah’ for the reciprocal goodwill.
With a little luck, the pool party will beget more blue skies and more small victories.
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October 26, 2010
When good business and good sense collide, small victories happen. As always, here are a few recent bright spots in the harness racing world:
- 24-starter limit for 2012 Jug
Who's in favour of fairness, maximum competitiveness and not alienating some of the sport's biggest stakeholders? By setting a new 24-starter limit for the Little Brown Jug (beginning in 2012), the Jug's organizers have taken all of the above to heart.
The new rule, a reduction from the current limit of 30 starters, ensures all Jug starters will have the opportunity to put a nose on the gate at the Delaware County Fairgrounds — and comes in response to complaints in the past from trainers and owners whose horses were forced to start from the punishing second tier.
Beginning in 2012, if more than 24 horses declare in to start, the field will be limited to the 24 horses with the highest lifetime earnings.
Moreover, a second helping of kudos goes to the folks at the Little Brown Jug Society for the decision to do away with the Jugette race-off (beginning in 2011). Of all the great things that happen in and around Jug week, three-year-old pacing fillies racing three heats during a late-September heat wave is something that harness racing can live without. Going forward, the winner of the second heat will be declared the Jugette champion.
- Tioga's efforts supported
Previously, we tipped our Small Victories cap to Tioga Downs for lowering its takeout rates for the 2010 race meet. Now, after the track concluded its season with live handle up 4.1 per cent over 2009 as well as export up by 8.7 per cent over the previous year, we must similarly give a shout out to the horseplayers who stepped up and supported a track that was attempting to support them — another small victory.
“To be up in handle in both categories during this time in the economy and show over an eight per cent jump in export is really promising. We have to thank HANA (Horseplayers Association of North America) for their support during our takeout rate initiative this year, and everyone who supported it by betting on the Tioga product,” said Jason Settlemoir, the track's VP of racing and simulcast.
- Mohawk average nightly handle up
Upon the conclusion of the 2010 Mohawk meet, which ended Oct. 16, the Woodbine Entertainment Group (WEG) announced that its "all-sources" average nightly betting total of $1,219,867 represented an 1.5 per cent increase over last year's figures ($1,201,513).
"There were numerous positives in the overall numbers," said Bruce Murray, WEG's vice president of standardbred racing, in a release.
"There was a negative trend entering the Mohawk meet, so the impact of higher quality summer racing and the number of excellent stakes turned the numbers around."
May 20, 2010
File these four Small Victories under adapting to the marketplace. Led by the biggest news of all: betting is up at Western Fair Raceway in London, ON (which means purses are up, too).
• Betting and Purses are up at Western Fair
A simple tweak in the schedule (there’s that adapting concept, again) is the biggest reason wagering is up almost 10 per cent at the track in London, said racing and gaming manager Ian Fleming.
Western Fair not only was one of the few medium-sized Ontario tracks operating in the winter, they only had one night card a week, with 3:35 p.m. post times the rest of the time.
“Obviously, you don’t get a very big crowd on-track for that,” Fleming said of the mid-afternoon post time, “but simulcasting in the future is going to be based on people betting off-track.
“It’s getting your races out there, when there’s not much competition for the dollar.
“We just go one night a week. I think that helps our live crowd on-track, because if they want to come to the live races at night, it’s the only night they can come.
“The London Knights only play one night (at home) a week and they’re the most successful (junior hockey) franchise in Canada. When we go three or four nights a week at a place like London and people don’t come out, we wonder why. The Knights aren’t dumb enough to try and do it.”
SIRIUS XM Radio has announced that it will offer live coverage of some of harness racing’s biggest events on a new horse racing series set to debut on Sat., May 29 and air for 11 consecutive weeks.
“Saturday Night at the Races” will offer listeners wire-to-wire coverage of some of the biggest races of the summer including the Meadowlands Pace, the North America Cup, the Yonkers Trot, the Art Rooney, the Maple Leaf Trot, the Dan Patch and the James Lynch Memorial.
The series will kick off May 29 (10 p.m. eastern on SIRIUS channel 126 and XM channel 243) and will feature races from the Meadowlands, Hoosier Park and Pocono Downs. Visit www.sirius.com/horseracing for a schedule of races, including post times and venues.
• Dresden racing on local radio
Small tracks that don’t simulcast have long been hindered by not getting their signal out, especially for owners and fans that can’t make it to the track. No longer.
This summer, tiny Dresden Raceway will have its race calls carried live on Sunday afternoons on Wallaceburg, ON radio station CKXS (99.1 FM) and streamed live on the Internet at www.ckxsfm.com.
• Hanover races live-streamed
Hanover Raceway takes the Dresden concept one step further. The track shows video of all its races live on its website: www.hanoverraceway.com.
All of which proves racing can survive, perhaps even thrive, if it is willing to accommodate the changing needs of its customers.
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