Officials with The Raceway at The Western Fair District have announced the track just missed setting a monthly betting record when over $5.81 million was wagered in December at the London, Ont. half-mile oval.

“The betting is really good, really encouraging,” said Blanchard, the Raceway Manager at Western Fair. “Last December was a record month for us. Last year we bet $5.88 million for the month on 15 cards. This year — and we just did the numbers — on 14 cards, we did $5.81 million. We were down $70,000 (compared to 2014), but we had something like 30 fewer races.

“I haven’t done the full math, but, basically, in December, our per race wagering is up over (2014). It’s really encouraging.”

Blanchard said the track’s Super Hi-5 bet and guaranteed Pick 4 wagers have been popular with patrons.

“Twice this fall we’ve had our Super Hi-5 carryover, a single carryover of less than $10,000. Then the next Super Hi-5 race where we offered the bet with the carryover, we created $70,000 of new money. Two different times we’ve created a total pool on the race of $100,000, which is big. They’re big pools for a track of our size. Prorated over 12 races that’s $1.2 million handle.

“Our Pick 4s have really become a staple and we guarantee both every day. I’m proud of that.”

After strong cards on Boxing Day and New Year’s Eve, Blanchard said on Jan. 1 Western Fair nearly set an all-time single-card wagering record.

“New Year’s Day was a home run day wagering wise. I think we bet $621,000 on 12 races and we had a four-horse field and a five-horse field due to a couple of scratches. There’s no doubt it my mind it was going to be a record night for us, but the stars didn’t quite line up perfectly,” Blanchard said.

He said there’s also room for growth since most of the increases have come from off-track.

“Our live has remained pretty much flat. Part of me says we need to do a better job getting the message out there,” he said of attracting patrons to the facility.

New to The Raceway this year is a video tote board Blanchard said has been popular with the patrons.

“That was a great addition,” he said. “It’s two video boards that are built on trailers. So, you can combine them and have one big one.

“We’ll utilize it throughout the property. We only use one side currently for the (race) video feed... We have the ability next week if we want to use part of it to advertise during the Wine and Food Show, for example, we can take the other half and move it over to the Agriplex. Summertime, when we’re hosting concerts, we can do that, as well.”

(with files from OHR)