Technology is great and it has been used extensively by harness racing tracks around the world to bring their races to your home on your TV or computer.
Racetracks now even feature live streaming of qualifying races with live race calls. York Harness Track in the northern part of England is taking things a step further, as it will be featuring a trial stage of pay-per-view for the qualifying races scheduled for Saturday, June 13.
Under the sanction of the British Harness Racing Club, the governing body for Harness Racing in Great Britain, the qualifiers will be offered at a price of £1.99 ($2.53US).
“This is a first for the UK,” said Craig Stevenson, racing manager at York. “Now anyone in the world will be able to watch our qualifiers at York’s half-mile hard track.”
The race announcer and host for the pay-per-view show will be none other than Darren Owen, who is one of the premier race callers in the UK and Ireland and is also chairman of the BHRC.
The pay-per-view setup is being conducted by Rich Green.
First-race post time for the qualifiers is 1:00 p.m. UK time. The pre-race show will get underway at 12:30 p.m.
For further information about getting the pay-per-view qualifiers, head to bhrc.org.uk/.
The first day of live harness racing in the UK will take place on Saturday, July 4 at York Harness Track.
(York Harness Track)