The longest consecutive racing streak in the Chicagoland area reaches 64 tonight as Maywood Park kicks off its 2010 harness racing season with an 11-race program

which gets underway with a new starting time of 7:10 p.m. (central).

In an effort to stimulate handle management and horsemen have now agreed to allow a 'trailer' in five races on the Friday programs and two races on the Thursday cards.

“We’re trying to shake some things up and having bigger fields is something that fans have always suggested to us,” said Maywood Park general manager Duke Johnston. “We’re hoping that having a total of seven races with nine horse fields over the two cards each week will have a positive effect on our handle numbers.”

Maywood Park has also taken steps to try and bring horses saddled with outside post positions into play much more often by moving its starting point back approximately 175 feet. This should give horses starting from posts six, seven and eight a nice 'slingshot effect' at the start of each race giving drivers many more options when leaving from an outside post.

“We’re looking for this to definitely increase the amount of wagering on the outside horses in each race,” explained Johnston. “In the past people would pretty much just throw out the horses in the seven and eight slots since they won at about a 5 per cent ratio. We’re hoping that our new 'quick start' experiment will now put those horses back into play. I think it’s a big positive not only for the gamblers but for the owners, trainers and drivers of these horses as well. “

Maywood Park will also feature a nice array of both state-bred and open stakes events throughout the season with two of signature events, the $100,000 Filly Maywood Pace taking place on June 18 and the $100,000 Maywood Pace being contested the following week on Friday, June 25.

Windy City Pace Night will take place on Friday, November 19, and once again some of North America’s top trotters and pacers are expected to battle on one of fastest half-mile surfaces in the country. Along with the Windy City Pace, the Cinderella Stake for three-year-old pacing fillies, the Galt Trot for three-year-old trotting colts and the Abe Lincoln Stakes for two-year-old pacing colts will be contested that night.

First-race post time every Thursday and Friday at Maywood Park will be at 7:10 p.m. (central).

(Maywood)