Local media has reported the racing surface at Fraser Downs is being torn up.
The Peace Arch News reported that an excavator was seen at the Surrey, B.C. track on Tuesday, Sept. 23 and holes have been dug in the racing surface. Additionally, a fence has been taken down and the lighting posts around the track have all been removed.
Despite an open letter to Surrey MLAs and the Provincial Government, a public rally and multiple requests to meet with Mayor Brenda Locke and City Council, Harness Racing British Columbia president Kelly MacMillan has still not received any answers about the abrupt halt to racing in the province and the uncoupling of racing from Great Canadian Entertainment casino operations.
“Nobody is saying anything,” MacMillan was quoted as saying by the Peace Arch News. “It looks like they’re really racing ahead to rip the track up for no particular reason.”
“Why did they immediately shut it down? We could have raced this fall meet," continued MacMillan, who indicated that the barns are in race-ready condition after work was conducted by Great Canadian to clean up a rodent infestation this past summer. "My members could have made some money. So that’s my big thing: the why. Why? Why go about like this. It just seems so wrong.”
Click here to read the Peace Arch News article in its entirety.
(With files from Peace Arch News)