With a new 16-month contract with the Illinois Harness Horsemen’s Association in place, both Maywood Park and Balmoral Park will begin their 2014 racing seasons starting tonight (Friday, March 14) with the opener at Maywood Park.

Balmoral Park will host its opening weekend of racing on Saturday, March 15 and Sunday, March 16. As always, first-race post time at both tracks will be 7:10 p.m. (Central).

In conjunction with track management and the USTA’S Strategic Wagering Initiative, the $1 Pick 4 wager will once again carry a guaranteed pool each live racing night. For the opening weekend, Maywood will have a guaranteed Pick 4 pool of $10,000 on Friday night. Balmoral will follow with a $15,000 guarantee on Saturday night and $20,000 on Sunday night. The $1 Pick 4 is conducted on the final four races of the night at each of the two tracks.

In addition, this weekend will be the last two chances for fans to win a free entry to the 2014 World Harness Handicapping Championships in the USTA’s online qualifiers. Maywood’s races will be used this evening while Balmoral’s Saturday card will be used on March 15.

In a slight departure from its usual racing schedule, Balmoral Park will be dark on Wednesday, March 19 and Wednesday, March 26 before getting into full swing with its usual Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday racing schedule. Maywood will race on Thursdays and Fridays as usual.

(With files from Balmoral / Maywood)