A handful of press releases were sent out from across the North American harness racing industry on Friday in regard to post-time changes, race-date reductions, qualifying sessions and unique racing series
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Monticello Raceway has announced that during the month of March it will add an afternoon race card on Friday, March 2, and that live racing will continue on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays throughout the remainder of the month.
It also stated that effective Thursday, March 1, all first-race post times will be at 12:50 p.m., 25 minutes later than during the previous months.
Officials with Cal-Expo have announced that the California Horse Racing Board has approved a request by the California Exposition & State Fair to cancel the remainder of the scheduled Thursday programs through June, 16, 2012, which is the end of the current meet.
“With our current horse population not quite where we’d like it to be, we felt that by racing two nights a weeks a week versus three, that the increased field size would be a wagering advantage to our fans, and to our simulcast partners who import our signal,” stated Cal-Expo Director of Racing Dave Elliott.
“The handle on our Friday and Saturday cards show us that the fans are wagering on our product, and will continue to with the knowledge that they are betting into good mutuel pools."
Officials with Rosecroft Raceway have announced that the box for the track's first qualifying session of the Winter-Spring 2012 meet closed and five qualifying races will be contested Saturday, February 25.
Next week, qualifiers will be held on Friday, March 2 at Rosecroft at 11 a.m. The box will close on Thursday, March 1 at noon.
Pompano Park has set the dates for its 'Sunshine Pro-Am Challenge,' which is a series of at least six races that will be conducted over two race nights (March 12, 13) at the Florida oval.
Two amateurs and two professional reinsmen each from Cal-Expo and Pompano Park will do battle and will vie for the title. While drivers will race individually to win, team points will be awarded using a standard amateur race series scoring system.
Pompano Park will field a team of true Floridian mainstays. Bruce Ranger and Wally Hennessey have each amassed over 8,000 wins in their careers, dwarfing their left coast counterparts, Luke Plano (2,000 wins) and Steve Wiseman (1,700 wins). On the amateur side of the equation, experience is slightly tilted in Cal-Expo's direction. Drivers Dave Siegel and Rick Bertrand have over 200 wins between them, while Floridians Jamie Marra and Joe Campagnuolo have about 50.