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Sunday afternoon marked the end of the harness racing season at Bangor Raceway, and the track finished on a high note, with the largest handle of the year and the fastest race day in the history of the track, according to general manager Fred Nichols.
The track saw a total handle of $70,013 Sunday afternoon, 29 percent higher than the second-largest handle of the season, on July 4.
Sunday’s handle puts the season-ending total at $1,143,322 – up 23 percent from last year, according to Nichols. While the handle was well up, the attendance increase was smaller, up 8 percent for the season, according to Nichols.
Nichols attributes the discrepancy between handle and attendance to off-track betting. Under its new owner, Penn National, the track is now simulcast in more locations than last year, including facilities in New Jersey, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania.
According to Nichols, Sunday was the fastest day in the track’s history, with 10 of the 12 races featuring sub 2-minute miles.
“[The track conditions were perfect] and also on our last day we have a better class of horse,” said Nichols.
The fastest time of the day was 1:53.3 in the ninth race by Pickin Pluck, driven by Gary Mosher and owned by Roderick Stevens of Skowhegan.
While there is still more than a month of summer left, Bangor Raceway is forced to end its season to make way for the Bangor State Fair, giving up the profitable month of August.
“We always have to stop right at the peak of August, because of the [Bangor State Fair],” said Nichols, “If we raced just July and August, we would have twice the numbers we do.”
There are no plans to run races in August, as the city has shown no signs of interest in compromising with the track, allowing it to race during the fair, said Nichols.
In addition, if the track was allowed to operate through August, it would come at serious expense to harness racing at Maine fairs.
“[If the track raced in August] that would absolutely hammer the horse supply for the fairs, because our horses that were here are on their way to Presque Isle and Skowhegan to start the fair circuit,” said Nichols.
Didgeridoo takes Bunyan
Didgeridoo, driven by David Ingraham, won the $7,500 Paul Bunyan Pace on Sunday afternoon at Bangor Raceway with a time of 1:56.4, the second-fastest time of the day. William And Harry and Pacific Sonata finished second and third, respectively.
Fair circuits begin
Harness racing begins at the Northern Maine Fair in Presque Isle today and continues through the week, hosting races every day except Tuesday until ending Aug. 6. Racing also continues at Scarborough Downs, with the track hosting races every Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Wednesday through August.
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