Harness racing at Bangor Raceway will get some local flavor when the Maine Sire Stakes kicks off its circuit tour at the track on July 4. The circuit of races, comprised of horses sired in Maine, continues until early September when the finals will be held at Scarborough Downs.

The Stakes is broken into different divisions of gait, gender, and age. It features only 2- and 3-year-old horses because most trainers’ programs are built for younger horses.

The horses compete in different races at varying venues and accumulate points for their finishes. At the end of the circuit, the top eight horses from each division race in the final. The final for 2-year-olds is held on Sept. 12 while the 3-year-olds race through September until the final on Oct. 17.

Races will be held all over the state including Presque Isle, Topsham, Skowhegan, Fryeburg, and Union. The Stakes races will be a change of pace for Bangor as many of the horses currently racing are Canadian.

Track officials expect to see an increase in attendance on racing days featuring a Stake race. Attendance is usually up more than 25 percent for these races, according to Fred Nichols, Bangor Raceway manager, who attributes the increase to the owners inviting friends to see their young horse.

“[The increase in attendance is] mostly the owners and their connections… there’s a lot of pride, you’ve got [a horse] that’s making its debut that you’ve been raising for a couple of years,” said Nichols.

As well as pride being on the line, there is also a substantially larger purse for these races. The purses are usually four times larger than normal purses with the final being roughly $30,000.

“Financially, these people have a pretty good commitment into [their horses] by the time the horses are race eligible, so as a reward the purse is higher,” said Nichols.

Nichols also attributes the large purse as another reason for owners inviting people to the races.

“They generally race for much higher purses than your average race and so the owners get very enthused,” he said.

Off-track betting

According to meharness.com, Bangor Raceway has seen roughly a 17 percent increase in terms of total betting handle this season. A factor for this increase is the amount of betting made through simulcast at off-track locations. Penn National, the company that now owns the track, simulcasts the races to out-of-state facilities in New Jersey, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania. Through four weeks of the season, total simulcast betting is up 30 percent over last year.

Trifecta bet pays off

Friday’s third race at Bangor Raceway saw a trifecta bet pay off $1,248. My Nuclear, Cruellacedile, and Rustico Storm finished win, place, and show, respectively. The winning time was 2 minutes, 3.4 seconds with a purse of $1,100.