Change to set minimum 3 Maine-only races

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Rather than trot slowly through the legislative system, a proposal to hold exclusive harness races for Maine-bred and/or Maine-owned horses may be on the fast track to enactment.

The Maine State Harness Racing Commission has picked up the pace on the proposal by considering it as a rules change rather than enacting it through legislation.

“There are two ways to do it: By rule change or by statute, but since the Maine Legislature won’t meet again until January, we’re looking into addressing the issue with a rules change,” said MSHRC chairman George McHale.

The rules change, which would require each Maine track to run at least three races open only to Maine-bred and/or Maine-owned horses per race date, would likely alleviate concerns by Maine horsemen such as Ripley’s Vernal Sinclair, who is worried Canadian horses are crowding out Mainers in the race cards.

“I think this is going to be a trend because more of them are coming down here due to the [purse] money,” said Sinclair, who has been in the business as an owner, trainer and/or driver for 40 years. “They get the American dollar, too, which helps them and they’re racing for almost double what they get up there. The minimum purse here is $1,600, whereas up there it’s $600 or $800.”

Concerns from people like Sinclair aside, McHale said the rules change is not aimed at Canadians.

“This is more for out-of-state entries coming in all of a sudden now that the purses are higher,” McHale explained. “As far as Canadians go, they’ve been a tremendous asset for Maine harness racing for a lot of years, and most Canadian Maritime Horsemen are also members of the Maine Harness Horsemen Association.”

The rules change has been vetted by the Attorney General’s office and is now in its 30-day “public comment phase” before it goes to the MSHRC for debate at its June 27 meeting in Augusta. The proposed rules change has been advertised publicly to invite public comment or response until June 23. Any comments will be read and considered June 27, when the commission will decide whether to vote the change in.

“The rule being adopted is identical to the Delaware state rule,” said MSHRC Executive Director Henry Jackson, who added it was the horsemen’s association which lobbied for a three-race minimum. “I don’t think there will be much of a chance of this not carrying.”

Jackson said the earliest the rule change would go into effect is the first full week in July (July 2-8).

If it does, Bangor Raceway is ready.

“I don’t imagine things here will be affected by it that much,” said Bangor Raceway general manager Fred Nichols. “We have agreed in our contract to stage a certain number of those races whenever it’s enacted.”

Neither McHale nor Nichols said he has heard any complaints about Canadian or out-of-state horses from local horsemen.

“Historically, a third of our horse supply has been Canadian and I think it’s about the same this year,” Nichols said. “There are probably a few more than last year.”

Sinclair disagrees.

“One guy in Bangor is Canadian and he has 15 to 20 horses and he wasn’t even there last year,” Sinclair said. “They probably have 100 to 125 [Canadian horses] on the grounds this year, and probably they had half that much last year.”

Jackson says he thinks Maine horsemen may be in for a surprise if the rule is enacted.

“To be honest, I think it’s going to be an eye-opener for them. I think what they’ll find out is there aren’t that many Maine-bred horses not already getting in,” Jackson explained.

A look through the racing programs for the Friday night and Sunday afternoon sessions at Bangor shows that 31 of the 171 horses (18 percent) scheduled to race are Canadian owned or bred. Four of the 12 alternates are Canadian.

In order to get into a race, horses must first meet the conditions of that race, based on fastest times run. Horses are then picked based on preference dates, which mean the last time the horse raced. Horses with the longest time between the current date and their last race (at any track) are picked ahead of those who have raced more recently. So if 10 horses qualify for an eight-horse race at Bangor and seven have preference dates longer than the other three, the last slot is given to a horse by a blind drawing (marked balls in a jar).

Jackson, who attended races at Bangor last weekend, said Maine Harness Horsemen’s Association president Butch MacKenzie told him about some members’ concerns.

“Butch wanted to know when those rules would be in effect. There was concern that there were more Canadian horses down here than in the last three or four years,” said Jackson, who pointed out that having a big supply of horses isn’t a bad thing. “Having more horses than racing slots helps the industry, actually, because the fewer horses you have in a race, the lower your trifecta pool [betting payoff].”

Canadian horses are more prevalent in Bangor than Scarborough Downs, increasing Bangor’s horse supply, which is up for the first time in at least four years.

“For some reason, Bangor has a deeper horse supply than Scarborough,” Jackson said. “I’d say part of that is geography but, historically, the Canadians mostly come to Bangor and the fair circuit and that’s how they’ve always done it.”

Whatever the reason, horsemen like Sinclair are worried.

“Right up until Bangor started another race day with Tuesdays, my horses were only racing once every other week,” Sinclair said. “I don’t know if there’s still this thinking that they can’t race without Canadian horses, but I know it was like that in the past.”

Jackson said he thinks it’s just an offshoot of the law of supply and demand.

“I think that with the supply of horses up overall, Maine horses may not be getting as many opportunities to race as they have in past years, but my sense is that nobody is getting hurt to the extent they believe they are,” he said. “I’m not being overly critical, I just think it’s a matter of perception.”

Andrew Neff can be reached at 990-8205, 1-800-310-8600 or at aneff@bangordailynews.net