Fans and participants in Manitoba will require a bit more patience to experience and compete over Canadian harness racing's newest racetrack.
Officials with The Loop in Winnipeg, Man. have indicated that the track will not be ready for Standardbreds in 2022.
"Unfortunately, the weather has taken its toll and we will not be able to open this year," Garth Rogerson, CEO of the Red River Exhibition Association told Trot Insider on Wednesday (Sept. 7). "That being said, it has been sunny and dry for the last week and a half so we have made tremendous progress and I expect the track surface to be ready in about a week.
"We have one problem wet area so we may have to excavate that but either way the track will be ready for 2023. Very frustrating but we are close."
With The Loop still not ready for prime time, the 2022 season of harness racing in Manitoba has concluded. Racing is tentatively slated to resume in summer 2023, but Rogerson noted that those dates "still need to be negotiated with the Standardbred industry group." He anticipated those dates will be announced this December.