BANGOR – Almost a third of the way through its 2006 harness racing season, Bangor Raceway appears to be bucking a statewide trend for the better.

Although total handle figures statewide are slightly down through April, those at the Bangor Historic Track at Bass Park are up.

“I’m really pleased we’re going against the trend,” said Fred Nichols, Bangor Raceway’s race director and general manager. “Considering we started a month earlier than we have in years and we have competition for the gambling dollar from Hollywood Slots casino down the street, this is great news for us.”

Although handle and attendance numbers are difficult to compare exactly, since Bangor Raceway’s season started a month earlier this year due to an extended race schedule, the total amount of money bet at the raceway over the first 13 race dates is up, from $403,549 in 2005 to $414,758 this year.

Last year, Bangor was beset by constant showers and heavy rainfall, making the track and surrounding grounds muddy and keeping bettors away for much of the first two weeks. Last year’s opening-night (May 27) handle of $35,429 was actually higher than this year’s ($31,181 on April 28), but numbers have been much stronger since then for Bangor this year.

Bangor’s handle numbers have increased over those of a year ago on eight of the first 11 race dates. The biggest jump came on the season’s second day. Bangor went from $23,539 on May 28 last year to $33,623 April 30 this year.

The same can’t be said for total handle numbers for the entire state – figures come from totals provided by Bangor Raceway and Scarborough Downs, the only tracks to run races so far. Through April 30, that amount is down slightly.

“I want to say that the handle was off about five percent, but I can’t say what the exact figure is without having it in front of me,” said Maine State Harness Racing Commission executive director Henry Jackson, when reached after regular business hours Friday. “Still, that’s encouraging. I know Fred was a little surprised about that the last time we talked.”

Actually, Nichols was very pleasantly surprised.

“We’ll see how things continue over the next two months, but these figures are certainly encouraging,” he said.

Jackson said there are several factors at work each year when it comes to handle figures. Weather, scheduling, and competition are chief among them, but Jackson points to another one when asked to offer his theory behind the handle drop through the first two months of the season, which began March 31 at Scarborough and April 28 at Bangor.

“I’d have to take a real hard look to be sure, but I would say the cost of living is taking a bite out of people’s disposable income,” Jackson said.

The good news for Bangor doesn’t stop with handle numbers, however, as Nichols said another positive trend has to do with the supply of horses.

“We haven’t had a problem getting horses this year and that’s a change from the last several years,” Nichols said. “All but three of our race dates so far have had the maximum 12 races.”

The increased supply of horses makes Nichols wish Bangor had scheduled more race dates in April. Bangor scheduled two race dates a week (Friday and Sunday) for April before expanding to three (Friday, Sunday and Tuesday) in June and July.

“Certainly, we could have gone three days a week from the outset if we’d known,” Nichols said.

Nichols said the quality of those races has also improved this year.

“The races have certainly been faster. We’ve already had a low time of 55 [1 minute, 55 seconds] already and we don’t usually see a time that fast until July,” Nichols explained.

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