A great crowd, a beautiful evening and a card of exciting races, makes for a nice way to start off the 2014 season.

With opening night being a Thursday, Scioto Downs kicked off its ‘Starting Gate Thursday.’ This is where patrons can fill out a coupon that is in the live racing program and enter it in a drawing to win a ride in the starting car. Three lucky patrons and their guests got to experience the thrill of watching the horses line up behind the gate and fire out for position. It’s definitely a unique experience that is unlike any other.

Scioto Downs will also have ‘Two For Tuesdays’ and ‘Win It Wednesdays.’ Be sure to join in on the action throughout the week.

The ‘Boys of Summer’ are back in full force and ready for the competitive summer meet. The drivers took their turns in the winner’s circle on Thursday. Ronnie Wrenn Jr. recorded a driving hat trick, which included a win in one of the fastest miles on opening night, as he won in 1:53 with the Virgil Morgan Jr.-trained Can He Go. Chris Page recorded a driving hat trick as well – one of his wins came with the Mike Conklin-trained The Shoe Fits in 1:53.2.

The purses aren’t the only thing on the rise at Scioto, as the handle on opening night showed an increase of 35 per cent over the track’s opening card in 2013.

Just a reminder that if you missed out on the driver autograph session on Thursday, the drivers will be back on Friday (May 9) and Saturday (May 10) at 5:45 p.m. until 6:15 p.m.

(With files from Scioto Downs)