It’s been six months since Fraser Downs last hosted a program of live racing, and to say that local horsepeople are excited to get the season underway this evening is an understatement.

The Surrey, B.C. oval will race two days per week for the remainder of 2016 starting this evening (Thursday, Oct. 6), as the raceway has a 12-race card set to head to post at 6:00 p.m. To view the entries for the Thursday card, click here.

Fraser Downs will race on Thursdays and Fridays for the first four weeks of the meet, before switching to a Sunday-Friday schedule on October 30.

In advance of the meet-opening card, Gord Goble of The Now visited the track, met with some horsepeople, and penned an article that shines a light on the track that is celebrating its 40th year of live harness racing.

“It was just a field before that, I think,” said horseman Roy Johnson, who at 80 is still training horses at B.C.’s Standardbred showplace.

Johnson explained that he was involved in a racing accident in his mid-70s, which persuaded him to hang up his driving helmet, but that his pair of horses keeps him in the game and on the pulse of Fraser Downs racing.

“I can go out and train my own horses now, but I don’t care to go out and race anymore,” Johnson said. “I have two horses here, but I get someone else to drive them. For me, rather than sitting at home watching television, I’m moving around every day. You can’t beat it.”

Goble’s piece in The Now also features quotes from horsemen Gord Abbott, Mark Abbott and Harness Racing B.C. Executive Director Carla Robin.

To read Goble’s piece, click here.

To view the entries for Fraser’s Thursday card, click here.

(With files from The Now)