AUGUSTA – Bangor Raceway was off and running at Wednesday afternoon’s meeting of the Maine State Harness Racing Commission at the Department of Agriculture’s Deering Building.

Bangor Historic Track Inc., (Bangor Raceway) was officially granted its pari-mutuel racing license for the 2006 season by a 4-0 commission vote after confirming that the conditions mandated by the MSHRC last November had been met.

“There’s never been any improvements in this realm for Bangor ever before,” said Bangor Raceway general manager Fred Nichols, who said the offseason improvements cost more than $300,000. “The scope of this is tremendous and people are really going to appreciate it when they come out to see it, and it’s possible because of Penn National.”

Penn National, owner of both Bangor Raceway and Hollywood Slots, also figured prominently in another piece of good news for Bangor Wednesday.

Bangor Raceway officials found out they are getting $136,226.43 – a 19.8 percent share of the $689,678.69 (10 percent of the net revenue generated by Hollywood Slots casino in Bangor for the first three months of 2006).

Bangor Raceway isn’t the only beneficiary of Hollywood Slots’ success as Scarborough Downs raked in $391,586.25 (56.8 percent). Each of Maine’s 11 tracks received a percentage weighted by the number of races (dashes) each offers. The more dashes, the greater the percentage. Scarborough has scheduled 1,512 dashes with Bangor having 526.

Other tracks, with their total dashes and take, are as follows: Windsor Fair (101) $26,157; Cumberland Fair (84) $21,754; Skowhegan Fair (74) $19,164; Farmington Fair (74) $19,164; Union Fair (70) $18,128; Northern Maine Fair (60) $15,539; Topsham Fair (60) $15,539; Fryeburg $15,539 and Oxford County Fair (42) $10,877.

Bangor Raceway opens its 123rd season Friday night with the first of 44 race dates on an expanded schedule that runs through Nov. 5.

Fans will notice a pronounced difference at the historic track. As part of its conditional license renewal, Bangor Raceway installed a new electronic video finish-line system, sound system, heating and ventilation, and renovated its barn A to create a permanent enclosed and heated paddock.

“That work started right after that [November] meeting basically, and other than still tinkering with the sound system, we finished it all up two weeks ago,” said Nichols. “As far as the paddock, it’s only open on race days but people will notice the spaciousness and it’ll be a little warmer in there with it all being enclosed and partially heated. It’s very clean with all new stuff in there and it’s dryer too.”

The other main meeting item was a proposal by the Maine Harness Horsemen’s Association for the commission to consider emergency rule adoption of a plan to have Maine tracks schedule non-stakes races limited to horses wholly owned by Maine residents or sired by Maine stallions.

“It’s aimed at helping the horsemen of Maine,” said commission chairman George McHale. “As the revenue for racing increases because of the slots revenue sent to the tracks, the level of purses is rising. Most states protect their horsemen to a degree from out-of-state competition because they’ve supported racing here through the years and many lean times. This is a method by which we can assure the Maine harness horsemen they will share in the increased purses.”

After a presentation by MHHA director Dr. Denise McNitt and MHHA executive secretary William Hathaway; much discussion by commission members; and legalese wrangling by Jack Richards, an assistant attorney general who represents the commission; and commission executive director Henry Jackson, the commission decided not to vote for emergency rule adoption, but did vote 4-0 in favor of proceeding immediately to establishing rules necessary for the races, which could get done in as few as 42 days.

“It basically comes down to having up to three Maine-bred, Maine-owned races per race [date],” McHale said. “There are some worries about restraint of trade, fair business practices and interstate commerce, so that’s why we are doing this with the traditional rule-making process as opposed to the emergency method.”

This rule would guard against Maine-owned or sired horses from having less opportunities to race should the increased Maine racing purses encourage more out-of-state drivers and horses to come into Maine to compete.