Harness racing in Maine is having a financially tough time getting its hooves placed. The state’s total parimutuel handle is down almost 16.9 percent for the first quarter of 2001.

This is not overly alarming since Maine is a state that traditionally plays catch-up with its parimutuel handles.

Like other vacation-oriented businesses, parimutuel figures for harness racing tend to be lower during the winter-spring months, pick up after Memorial Day and remain higher during the summer tourist season, and taper off again during the fall after Columbus Day, according to Henry Jackson, executive director of the Maine Harness Racing Commission.

According to the racing office, the total parimutuel handle for the first four months of 2000 was $22,976,000. This year, for the same four-month period, the total Maine parimutuel handle was $19,093,000, according to the MHRC.

Jackson said his office noted a sizable drop in handle during the last six weeks of 2000. This year, Jackson said, the lower mutuel figures are due to a variety of reasons. In talking to off-track betting operators, Jackson said, they attribute the drop in parimutuel handle not only to people leaving the OTBs and going to the Internet and telephone wagering, but also that the economy, with plant layoffs, is hurting them and is definitely a factor in their lower parimutuel handles.

Jackson attributes Scarborough Downs’ lower handles to the death of owner Joseph Ricci and uncertainty about the future. The live parimutuel figures at Scarborough Downs for the first quarter of this year, according to the state racing office, are down by just more than 20 percent.

As Bangor Historic Track completes one-third of its 30 allotted racing dates, its handle is approximately 12 percent lower than last year, according to Fred Nichols, raceway manager and treasurer. Nichols said cold weather was also a factor in the lower handle and that his track expects to recoup its losses during June and July.

The interstate and intertrack parimutuel wagering, that the OTBs and Scarborough are simulcasting was off 21 percent, according to Jackson. The live racing handle at the OTBs (on races generated at Scarborough Downs) was off by 19 percent. Most OTBS indicated that half of the drop in their parimutuel handle was due to people wagering on the Internet and the other half was a direct result of an uncertain economy.

“Nationally, one trend seems to be increasing slightly each year – telephone wagering,” Jackson said. “If we could prevent people from Internet wagering and telephone wagering in our state, our handle would go up and we would be crediting that money rather than having it go directly into some out-of-state parimutuel pool.”

The horses that wouldn’t die

At a racetrack, everybody has a horse story to tell and some tell their story better than others – some are true and some are not. Verona Island author of “Ben Blue,” retired teacher and horse owner, Gardner Patterson, tells his story about “the horse that wouldn’t stay dead.”

Patterson has owned racehorses in Maine for more than four decades and currently campaigns two pacers, I Fooled Ya and G F Shirlton. Late last fall, as the racing season neared an end, Patterson received a phone call from his trainer, Shawn Nye, saying, “G F Shirlton is dead. We found him dead in his stall this morning. Don’t know what happened, but he’s dead and we called the vet.”

Although startled by the news, Patterson thought that the death of his 12-year-old pacer was not that unusual. Horses die every day from natural causes, heart attacks, twisted guts, and a variety of life-threatening ailments. Shirlton had been a good horse for him, so the unflappable Patterson maintained his calm and told Nye he would come to Bangor and make burial arrangements for his horse.

When he arrived at Bass Park, Patterson headed for Nye’s barn and as he turned the corner to Nye’s area, there standing in the cross-ties, pawing at his mat with his hoof, was G F Shirlton. This time, the unflappable Patterson was flapped. Was it all some kind of a sick joke?

Not really, explained a smiling Nye. Nye said that after he had called Patterson, he returned to Shirlton’s stall to wait for the veterinarian. As he sat looking at Shirlton, he saw one of his eyelashes flutter ever so slightly. Nye said he took a giant leap and landed right in the middle of the horse’s stomach. The horse began to suck in air and in a short time, with some help, the horse was back on his feet.

The vet diagnosed that the horse had some kind of mini-stroke and Patterson was told that the horse would never race again, “not in a million years.” But, after a six-week layoff in a green pasture, Shirlton seemed to have suffered none of the ill effects of a stroke and returned to the racetrack. He raced out last year’s fair circuit at Farmington and Fryeburg Fairs and last Wednesday, at Bangor Raceway, Shirlton and driver, Joey Mosher, paced a 2:03.3 mile, finishing second.

“He’s not only a good horse, he’s a really tough horse,” Patterson said.

PACING BITS – Bangor Raceway cards s 10-dash race card for Sunday with a 1:30 p.m. post time.