It has been decades since the Northern Maine Fair went exclusively with a daytime harness racing schedule, and seven days into the 155th edition of the Aroostook County institution it looks like reviews are mixed at best.
“I think the horsemen like it because they can truck in and truck out the same day, and get home at a decent hour,” said Dick Duncan, back for his ninth year as race director after taking two years off. “But a lot of the local fans don’t like it because they can’t attend all the races due to their work schedule.”
Duncan says this year’s all-day racing schedule is an experiment of sorts and likely will be adjusted next year based on racing fans’ and bettors’ feedback.
“It’s been at least 30 years since we had all day racing,” Duncan said. “We’re down in attendance at the races maybe 30 percent and the handle is down some. We don’t know how much at this point, but the crowds have been up overall for the fair.”
Duncan said he’d personally like to see the race schedule split up with three or four afternoon sessions and three evening ones. He’d also like to see evening post times go from 6 p.m. to 7 p.m.
The schedule was changed in an effort to free up infield space around the grandstand and near the track for more popular fair events such as truck and tractor pulls, demolition derbies, and all-terrain vehicle or motorcycle races.
“That actually helped us have extra shows at the grandstand in the evening for eight of nine nights like a Pam Rosaire-Zoppe’s Fabulous Chimp Show, which has been a good draw, a motocross freestyle show, and ATV drag racing,” said Andrew LeBlanc, Northern Maine Fair association president.
Utilizing a half-and-half schedule with day and night racing would still allow for fair officials to schedule daytime events on the infield.
There was at least one group of fans that appreciated the earlier post times.
“We always have a day care group that comes in,” said LeBlanc. “They usually don’t get to see any of the racing because they come during the day, but this year there were a couple solid rows of kids that got to see them.”
The scheduling change hasn’t affected race quality as two track records were set last Saturday in the 2-year-old colt division. Heath Campbell drove Pembroke Nick to victory in 2 minutes, 2 seconds. That record was later broken by Gary Mosher-driven Katahdin Boy, a horse owned by Linwood Higgins and Thomas Perkins. Katahdin Boy won the Maine Sire Stakes race in 2:00.1.
Three more records were set Wednesday. Current Closer, driven by Mark Athearn, had a record time of 2:01.1 for 3-year-old colt pacers. Quinn Quickly, trained and driven by Ivan Davies, then set a record for 3-year-old gelding trotters in 2:02.1. Triple Three, trained and driven by Gary Mosher, ended the record run with a mark for aged trotting mares in 2:01.0.
The overall track records are 1:56.0 (by Valiant Towner in 1997) for pacers and 2:00.1 (Stars Photo in 2004) for trotters.
Dillon back in Hambletonian
For the second straight year, Tom Dillon of Anson will have a horse among the entries in the prestigious Hambletonian.
The 84th running of the $1.5 million trotting race will start around 4:15 p.m. and will be broadcast live by NBC.
The odds on Dillon’s Hot Shot Blue Chip are 10-to-1. Mike Lachance will drive Hot Shot Blue Chip out of the No. 4 slot. Favorite Muscle Hill is in position No. 1.
Velocity Hall, a horse owned by Tom Dillon and Walter Hight of Skowhegan, finished sixth in the 2008 Hambletonian.
Switzer wins in bunches
Kevin Switzer Jr. was the latest driver to win a handful of races last weekend as he came away with four victories in Saturday’s 12-race program at Scarborough Downs. He started by winning the eighth race and finished with a flourish by following with wins in the ninth, 10th and 12th races.