428 racing dates requested

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AUGUSTA – The Maine State Harness Racing Commission held the first public hearing Wednesday pursuant to issuing 1992 racing dates and heard requests from 10 racing fairs and four extended meets for a total of 428 racing days during the 1992 season.

The longest extended meets are Scarborough Downs which has requested 306 racing dates, 281 live and 25 full-card simulcasts, from Jan. 2-Dec. 20; and Bangor Raceway which has requested 42 racing days from May 23 to July 31.

Along with the racing requests, the five-member panel that governs the Maine harness racing industry heard representatives from each track review the 1991 season for their racing entity.

Fair dates are issued by the Department of Agriculture on a three-year basis. Next season will be the final year of the current three-year allocation period. The commission usually allocates racing dates to coincide with the dates issued by the agriculture department.

Financial statements from most tracks were not complete for the commission and MSHRC staff recommendations for facilities improvements varied little from track to track.

Improvements dealt primarily with segregated space for the state steward with a television monitor; better paddock security; installation of a separate telephone for state officials; track improvement and cross ties in paddock area.

Dana Swett, president of Northern Maine Fair in Presque Isle, requested eight days, from Aug. 7-15.

said NMF lost a day last season due to rainy weather. “We’re in a no-win situation,” Swett said. “There is no dash that we make money on and we are looking at an additional $9,000 loss if we think about exotic wagering machines from AmTote.” He told commissioners that NMF had trouble securing certified officials, but had an adequate supply of horses for the fair meet.

Maitland Richardson, general manager of Skowhegan Fair, requested 22 days to run during three consecutive weeks (Aug. 1-22). It is an annual request that has been turned down because of Topsham Fair, but this year commissioners sounded more receptive to exploring that possibility.

The move would necessitate approval by Topsham Fair and Oxford County (Norway) Fair to either operate against them or move to the open week before Farmington Fair.

Richardson said Skowhegan enjoyed a good year. “We made more money in racing. We had quality racing and a better handle, $85,000 over last year,” he told commissioners. Richardson said he plans to race only 10 dashes per day during 1992.

Topsham Fair has requested seven days (Aug. 9-15), placing it in conflict with Skowhegan Raceway’s extended meet.

John Junko, superintendent of grounds, said Topsham lost two days of its fair and race meet to rainy weather, plus another day was damp and attendance was down. “Not only was there rain, but we had races going on within 50 miles of us and that hurt us,” Junko said.

Raymond Ludwig, director of racing at Union Fair, requested seven racing dates from Aug. 7-15.

Lugwig said racing at Union Fair was rained out two days. When he was asked about facilities improvements, Ludwig said “We spent $100,000 for a new grandstand foundation last year. I guess we better finish paying for that before spending anymore.”

Lincoln Orff, financial secretary at Windsor Fair, requested nine racing days, Aug. 30-Sept. 7. Orff said Windsor handled a single-day record of $291,800 on Labor Day, had no problems with horse supply, and the fair and the race meet evened out about the same as last year.

David Dunn, director of racing at Farmington Fair, requested the dates of Sept. 12-13 as extended days and Sept. 19-26 as fair dates. Dunn said overall, their meet was in line with the previous season, despite a rainout day.

Dunn said the track had 42 horses less to work with this season than last, but of the 89 dashes carded at Farmington this year, 41 were 7-horseof the 89 dashes carded at Farmington this year, 41 were 7-horse fields, six were 6-horse fields, and five were 5-horse fields. “Each year, we have to face racing competition from Rochester Fair in New Hampshire and Scarborough Downs,” Dunn said.

Bob Morrill, director of racing at Cumberland Fair, requested dates from Sept. 27-Oct. 4, for a total of eight days. Cumberland wants to reinstitute racing on Monday, which it had dropped a few years ago. Morrill said for the first three days of racing, the parimutuel handle was down 9.4 percent from last year.

“We didn’t lose any racing, but the threat of rain kept the people away and the handle down,” Morrill said.

Paul Lusky, director of racing at Fryeburg Fair, requested the dates of Oct. 6-11.

for Fryeburg Fair. “We were reasonably successful this year for the first five days. On Sunday, we had a downpour and lost about $80,000 in handle,” Lusky said. “However, we managed to maintain an average of $145,000 a day for the 10 racing days.” Lusky said short fields hurt the parimutuel handle when you can’t wager on a trifecta.

Kurt Rogerson, general manager of the Bass Park Complex in Bangor, requested 42 days, from May 23 to July 31. He said the city was moving back on its early May dates because of cold and wet weather. Racing will be held three days into the Bangor State Fair, which has been traditional the past few years, and end racing on a Friday.

Greg Battison, comptroller for Scarborough Downs, requested changes in their hefty racing schedule to accommodate concerts at Scarborough Downs during the summer. Battison said Joe Ricci, owner of Scarborough Downs, had signed a contract with a national promoter to have up to 10 concerts per year for the next three years since SEAPAC was shutting down at Old Orchard.

Battison said the promoter has agreed to augment the horsemen’s purse account for the amount of money they would have received any night that racing is cancelled because of a concert.

Battison said that although Scarborough Downs was down some $1.2 million compared to 1991 handle, the track is vigorously persuing an off-track betting parolor in Lewiston with an opening target date of Nov. 1. Battison also said he had talked to the Augusta Civic Center about installing an OTB parlor and was looking toward Bangor and Caribou. Commission chairman James Harrington told Battison that all the plans for Scarborough’s OTB parlors was not an automatic procedure.

There was no representative from The County Raceway in Presque Isle which is requesting 10 racing dates, every Friday, from June 19-Sept. 4, with only two Fridays in August because of the Northern Maine Fair and Old Home Week in Woodstock, New Brunswick.

Under new legislation passed during the last session (L.D. 944) Blue Hill Fair, a non-parimutuel fair that holds harness racing, must also be licensed.