Scarborough Downs betting on tourists

Summer means two things for Scarborough Downs: good racing conditions and plenty of tourists. During the summer months, the track’s attendance is more than double that of its spring and fall averages. With this in mind, officials at the track promote heavily during the summer targeting the visiting tourists.

Scarborough, which averages 200 fans during non-summer months, sees its attendance reach more than 500 during the summer, according to Kathryn Rolston, director of media relations at the track.

“The tourists are here and they are at the track,” said Rolston.

The track advertises on both the radio and television, but finds that the best means is through targeting tourists directly.

“We have found that our biggest draw is our brochures which are at the tourist locations in racks,” said Rolston.

The advertising methods seem to be effective as the track’s handle and attendance have already surpassed 2003 totals.

“[The handle] is growing, it’s up over last year and over previous weeks, when we compare Saturday to Saturday,” said Rolston.

The increased attendance has been helped by special events such as the Maine Sire Stakes races and the $25,000 Joe Ricci Memorial Trot, which brought more than 1,000 people to the track.

The summer months are the most profitable for the track, hich runs from March until November.

“We have a very short window; June, July, and August, that’s our time to really make money,” said Rolston.

“Always after Labor Day people go home and people think about going back to work and school, so there is a natural drop-off at that point,” said Rolston.

Officials expect big turnouts for the Maine Sire Stakes finals, which the track hosts in September and October.

“[Maine Sire Stakes] certainly is an interest, people do like to see the new blood on the track and the new babies that are coming out,” said Rolston, “and there is some local interest for Maine owners and that brings people out.”

The 2-year-old finals will be held on September 12 and the 3-year-old finals on Oct. 17.

Bangor meet ends this week

Bangor Raceway is entering its last weekend of the year and hopes to end the season on a high note with the Paul Bunyan Pace. The race, which will feature the fastest horses form the Northeast, will have a purse of $7,500.

Bangor Raceway has seen two track records broken the over the last week. Saturday night, KDK Samstrown broke the track record for 3-year-old geldings with a time of 1:58.1, in a Maine Sire Stakes race. Baton broke the track record for 2-year-old fillies with a time of 1:59.0 on Wednesday, also in a Maine Sire Stakes race.

Bangor had a handle of $42,586 Wednesday evening, by far the largest handle the track has seen on a weeknight in the past two years. The evening featured Maine Sire Stakes races, which may have helped boost attendance.