Prairie Meadows - A Model for the Future?

Sometimes necessity is the mother of invention. Harness racing in Iowa is facing the loss of their extended parimutuel meet in 2010 as the operators of Prairie Meadows decided to eliminate harness racing from the schedule to reduce their operating losses. The loss of the Prairie Meadows dates would have left Iowa horsemen only with fair dates. While Prairie Meadows was willing to give the million dollars in purse money to the Iowa fairs, the fear was this money would eventually disappear.

Facing the elimination of harness racing from Prairie Meadows (there is a sixteen day meet scheduled for 2009), the harness horsemen have worked with the other racing groups in Iowa (the quarterhorse interests were facing a cut in their dates as well) to come up with the following proposal regarding standardbreds:

• A nine day mixed meet of quarterhorse and standardbred racing.
• A ten day standardbred only meet.
• A four day 'extreme' mixed meet with an equal number of thoroughbred, quarterhorse and standardbred races (four consecutive Sundays).

These meets would be run consecutively. How can you run quarterhorses, thoroughbred and standardbreds at the same time? The harness horsemen are offering to pay for the construction of a 7/8th mile oval inside of the regular racing surface by offering to return $100,000 of the million dollars Prairie Meadows contributes towards purses at the fairs each year for ten years. If this proposal is accepted by track management, horsemen will be racing for reduced purses at the fairs each year, but at least they will be racing at Prairie Meadows. If accepted by the management, this will be a clear example of horsemen willing to invest part of their slot revenue for the benefit of the sport. Granted, the Iowa horsemen were facing the elimination of harness racing in Iowa (with the exception of fair racing), which no doubt caused them to open their wallets. Hopefully in other racing states, the horsemen will be willing to invest some of their slot revenue while they have a chance; they may not get a second chance.

It will be interesting experiment if Prairie Meadows adopts this proposal. Yes, a few tracks have had a few t-bred turf races as part of a harness card but this would be the first time a mixed meet would include harness racing. Will t-bred horseplayers cross over and bet on harness racing if on the same card? Would harness players play the runners? In the future could we see Aqueduct Racetrack convert their inner dirt course to a harness track and run a mixed meet there? If successful, could harness racing return or make their debut at other racetracks? Will Iowa horsemen find themselves racing even more at Prairie Meadows?

Harness fans of Rosecroft have the opportunity to wager on the MDSS finals this Saturday starting at noon. While there will be no-simulcasting of the Rosecroft program, there will be wagering available on-track. It will be interesting to see the response this weekend.

The field is set for the annual Tioga Driving Championship for Sunday, August 2 at Tioga Downs. If you have the time on Sunday afternoon, try to catch the races; it promises to be some exciting racing.

Freehold Raceway's fall meet has been pushed back to an August 12 starting date instead of the original August 1 start date. Freehold is dropping Tuesdays from the schedule as a result of the legislation in New Jersey which allowed the number of racing dates to be cut back. With the cut back in dates, hopefully Freehold will be able to present full fields for their races. Hopefully the downward spiral at Freehold will stabilize.