Bangor Raceway set for Sunday opener

BANGOR – Bangor Raceway has postponed its opening day of racing once again, this time due to a low number of racing entries.

Instead of Friday night at 7 p.m., Bangor Historic Track will open Sunday at 1:30 p.m.

“The horsemen are still a little concerned with the condition of the track from a safety issue, so we didn’t get the number of horses we were hoping for,” said Corey Smith, Bangor Raceway promotions director. “We understand it’s an issue of the unknown and them wanting to err on the side of caution. We totally understand that.”

Track supervisor Arnold Van Dyne has been working on the track all day each day for the last week and a half since a later-than-usual thaw caused several wet spots and soft, spongy areas that reduced footing on the front and back stretches.

“They’ve been turning it over and constantly working it, and he says it’s ready for racing,” said Smith. “On race day, he’ll put some conditioner on it and smooth it out.”

Even with the soft conditions, local horsemen have been practicing and training their horses at the track for the last two weeks.

Bangor Raceway held its drawing for up to 10 races on what was supposed to be its opening night Friday. That meant draws for 80 total horses (eight per race).

“We’d like to have it around 90 or so, but we only got 37, so we figured rather than wait it out another day or two to get a few more, we’d just push it back to Sunday,” Smith explained.

That means Sunday’s program will likely have 12 races.