Thanks to a surprising surge in the supply of horses in particular and increased interest in the harness racing industry overall, fans may see even more race dates at Bangor Raceway next season.

Although the average harness racing fan wouldn’t know it by looking at the relatively modest total handle figures for the last three Tuesday race dates at Bangor Raceway, there are plenty of reasons for expanding Bangor’s schedule.

“If I could be guaranteed the number of horses next year like we’ve had this year, yeah I probably would add the extra day,” said Fred Nichols, Bangor Raceway general manager. “Tuesdays plus Friday, Saturday, and Sunday would be given some serious thought.”

Bangor Raceway is now racing a weekly schedule that includes races Tuesday and Friday nights plus Sunday afternoons.

Over the first three weeks in June, the lead-in to what Nichols calls the biggest portion of the season’s schedule (late June through late July) at Bangor, Bangor has been able to run 98 races with an average field of 71/2 horses per race. The traditional maximum field is eight horses per race, so Bangor has been running almost at capacity this month.

“That decision [adding race dates] won’t be made until filing our application [with the Maine State Harness Racing Commission] in October, but I think attitudinally, there’s much more interest in racing,” Nichols said. “It’ll depend on the supply and whether more owners continue to come in. “Already this year there are new owners, but we’ll know by then [October] whether current owners are buying more horses and what their plans are for next year.”

The fact Bangor Raceway is simply considering schedule expansion is good news to Diann Perkins, Maine Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association (MSBOA) president.

“Definitely. This is what we wanted, to get more opportunities for horsemen to race,” Perkins said.

Bangor will be racing in the fall for the first time in years this year with 11 dates in October and November.

That’s just fine with Perkins. In fact, she wouldn’t mind an even longer season schedule.

“As a matter of fact, I wish we could find someone, like Bangor, who could start earlier in the spring,” she said. “But you do have to think about the horse supply. Adding too many extra dates could possibly shortchange things and decrease the supply a bit, but as long as the horse supply is right there now, that shouldn’t be a problem.”

Perkins points to birthing figures for yearlings as a positive sign, but she will be especially encouraged if mare breeding figures go up as she expects them to.

“I think the supply will be up again next year and I believe the trend is generally upward,” she said.

That’s music to Nichols’ ears.

“There are indicators you can trust like breeding and whether the number of mares bred is up,” he said. “The intentions of the trainers is also a big thing to look at, too.”

Although they have until October, Nichols and other racing officials will have a good idea what to do after the next five weeks.

“That will tell us a lot. There are always more people here with schools out and families coming in and tourists visiting. Plus the weather’s so much better, too,” he explained.

Raising the Stakes

The 32nd season of Maine Sire Stakes racing starts Sunday with a 3-year-old colt pacers race in Scarborough. This is the opener of the 12-race series and the entire 3-year-old Sire Stakes class as well, which also includes three other divisions with 12-race series: filly pacers, colt trotters, and filly trotters.

Pop N Paula, owned by Sheridan Smith and daughter Paula, is the favorite to win the 3-year-old colt pace series, which concludes with the top eight horses in each of the four divisions racing in the finals on Oct. 15.

The series spotlight will switch to Bangor Tuesday as Bangor Raceway holds 3-year-old colt trot and filly trot Sire Stakes races.

Joining the club

A pair of Maine harness racers notched significant victories last month. Kevin Switzer of Cumberland joined the exclusive 2,000-win club May 20 by driving B T Western to victory at Scarborough Downs with a time of 1 minute, 59.4 seconds.

Jason Bartlett of Windsor notched the 1,000th win of his career May 12 at Bangor Raceway driving Jamboree Hanover to a first-place finish in 2:02. Bartlett is also atop of 2-year-old pace colt leader board after driving Glitzy Cowboy to a winning time of 2:03.3.

Chris Long of Litchfield cracked the 2,000-win barrier a month earlier (April 19) behind Pacific Pizzazz at Scarborough in 2:05.4.

There are 38 drivers with 2,000 or more wins and another 37 with at least 1,000. At the top of the list as the only member of the 11,000 club is Walter Case Jr. with 11,027 victories. The next driver closest to Case is William Parker Jr. with 8,988.

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