AUGUSTA – For years, some horsemen believed a proposal to remove Scarborough Downs’ hub rail would never see the light of day. After Tuesday morning’s monthly meeting of the Maine State Harness Racing Commission, the hub rail’s removal won’t be the only thing seeing daylight.

Maine’s largest harness racing track will also be the brightest next year as it switches exclusively to daytime racing for its 57th season.

Scarborough Downs officials made it official Tuesday as the MSHRC approved their request to be reimbursed by the state’s 2007 capital improvements fund for the cost of removing the track’s lights and the hub rail, which looks like a highway guardrail and is designed to keep horses out of the infield.

“Barring any major changes to our thinking, 2007 will be strictly day racing for us,” said Scarborough Downs operations analyst William Manning. “I think we finally just reached the point where we decided to remove it and take a chance by seeing how day racing works out for us.”

The significant move comes almost two months after Highway Hanover, a 6-year-old trotter valued at $37,500 and driven by Jason Bartlett, crashed into Scarborough’s hub rail and died Aug. 4.

“Having seen the accident, I know the hub rail had nothing to do with the initial accident,” Manning said. “The horse fell and then started running in the opposite direction before it subsequently hit or went over the hub rail.”

Scarborough is the last Maine track using a hub rail.

“As I understand it, almost every place used hub rails and ours has been in place when the track started racing in ’51,” Manning said. “Over time, a number of tracks have phased them out and removed them.

“Ideally, you’d like to be racing on a pristine, flat surface with absolutely nothing within any close distance from the horses and drivers, but from a practical standpoint, you can’t have that. You have to have something to keep them off the infield, where there might be impediments like rocks or holes or structures.”

Reportedly, there are only five remaining harness racing tracks in the country still using hub rails.

Scarborough officials have been considering the removal of their hub rail for the last “six to eight years,” according to Manning, but because the lighting is attached to the rail system, the cost of removal became prohibitive and potentially impractical.

“The cost associated with it has been an impediment,” Manning said. “Removing it and making the infield suitable is going to cost us about $75,000. For us, the major expense is replacing the lighting system, which is built inside the track along the rail. To remove the hub rail, the lights would have to go with it. Doing that and replacing the lights would cost in excess of $400,000.”

Thus came the decision to go back to day racing.

“I think this will certainly be a change for us that in some respects, is a little bit scary, but I don’t think there’s any industry out there that never sees change,” Manning said. “Personally, I’m cautiously optimistic. In some respects, it is kind of getting back to the way it was in the old days.”

Manning said the switch will affect only about 40 percent of the track’s race dates from June through August.

“Historically, we’ve run early day post time races early in the year because of daylight issues, and also in the fall,” he explained. “Then we typically run nights in the summer.”

Having afternoon racing at one track and night racing at another on the same day could free up more races for horsemen who have complained about having difficulty getting their horses into races this year. At the least, it should add some flexibility to the racing schedule.

“Looking at the industry all the way around, it still remains to be seen how this will affect things, but the horsemen will like it because they’ll be getting home earlier,” said George McHale, MSHRC chairman. “Personally, I’ve always preferred day racing to night racing anyway.”

The hub rail will be replaced by stiff, Styrofoam-like pylons marking the perimeter of the track. Some of the initial site work has already been started, but the removal of the rail will take place no earlier than this fall and no later than next spring.