Bangor Raceway successful Handles, purses, horse supply all increased

Bangor Raceway’s expanded spring and summer schedule has now reached the finish line and officials at Bangor Historic Track are smiling like they just hit the daily double.

“The total handles were up, the purses were way up, so I’m way happy,” said Bangor race director Fred Nichols. “I think it’s fair to say everything has been better than expected: attendance, handle, purses, and horse supply. Even the quality of the racing was better with more competitive races.”

Technically, the season isn’t yet over as Bangor’s expanded schedule includes 11 race dates in October and November for the first time, but there’s ample reason for optimism after looking at the figures.

“Even though we had 33 race dates vs. 28 for this time frame, the daily average betting figures are up a tiny bit,” said Nichols.

Last year, Bangor’s total handle (amount bet on races at the track) was $911,745, making for an average handle of $32,562.32 per race day. This year, Bangor raked in $1,074,894 with five more days of racing. The average handle was $32,572.55.

The track isn’t the only entity benefiting as the overall purse (money paid out to the top five drivers in each race) went up this year as well.

“Our total purse paid last year was $524,615,” Nichols said. “The total purse we paid out this year was $982,630 and we still have 11 more race dates to go in the fall.”

The increased handle is not the only reason for the drastic purse increase. That credit goes to the money generated from the Hollywood Slots casino, which gives the state’s harness racing tracks, as a whole, 10 percent of its net revenue each year. With that 10 percent take divided among the tracks based on number of race dates (the more dates, the bigger the share), Bangor’s share amounts to 19.8 percent.

“It’s attributable directly to the assistance the industry’s received from the slots operation,” said Nichols. “After being shaky for a few years, I think [the harness racing industry] is certainly on the rebound this year.

“The barns are full and we’ve had way more horses available this year than we’ve ever had. The races have been full for the most part and we’ve added horses to races as well.”

Nichols said this success mirrors that of states such as Delaware, West Virginia, and New York, which have introduced casinos and racinos whose revenue benefits the racing industry.

Although Bangor Raceway doesn’t charge admission or use turnstiles to chart attendance at the track, Nichols is certain attendance was up this season.

“In terms of attendance, it’s much higher just from looking around here,” he said. “I think a lot of that has to do with the upgrading of our facility. I’ve seen a lot of new faces this year and noticed that I saw them more than once.”

Another source for celebration was the renovation of “Barn A,” which now serves as the paddock. Interior improvements included building up the dirt floors and topping them with a compacted layer of stone dust to keep things dry, partial heating, the conversion of space and stalls into six working offices, the removal of the stall doors to add more space, and the widening of some stalls.

“The new paddock worked out real well,” Nichols said. “In fact, I think the horsemen liked it so much, they used it the whole year, even during the summer when they usually go out to use the smaller ones.”

Diann Perkins, president of Maine Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association, said the paddock’s renovation was a step in the right direction, but she thinks there is still room for further improvement.

“It’s still not quite an ideal place, and I think they’re still going to have to make some changes,” said Diann Perkins. “It’s still pretty hot in there. And with a big open space between the barn and the race office, I know some of the horsemen went down in the old open paddock and some were in the new one, which at first led to some confusion with security issues. I think they got that straightened out, but I think these are minor issues.”