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 Update on HRNBIt’s full speed ahead for Horse Racing New Brunswick Inc., the new organization which will oversee harness racing in that province. Incorporated just before Christmas, the 12-member organization, which represents all facets of the racing industry, has scheduled a meeting for next week to review its progress. Jamie Hachey of Rothesay, president of Horse Racing N.B., says the new organization is moving forward “faster than we anticipated” and suggests harness racing may get underway at Saint John early in March. Exhibition Park Raceway in Saint John staged its final card on Dec. 27, before the new organization came into play. Horse Racing N.B. will oversee harness racing at Saint John, Fredericton and Woodstock, where a three-day meet will be held this summer. (Woodstock will host all the Atlantic Sires Stakes trot races scheduled for New Brunswick during the town’s Old Home Week celebrations. The Robert McCain Memorial Invitational will be featured as well with the hopes of attracting a full field of invitational horses.) Hachey says staff will be hired soon to run the day-to-day operations and he expects there will be considerable savings with all tracks under one management structure. New Brunswick horsemen will likely race more dates in 2009 — it was expected there will be at least 65 dates at Saint John — but the exact number of days at Fredericton still hasn’t been determined. “We are in the midst of drawing up our stakes and special events schedule,” said Hachey, who says the stakes calendar will be one of the items on next week’s meeting agenda. The New Brunswick government has agreed to provide funds for the Atlantic Sires Stakes ($200,000) as well as to continue the purse subsidy program it introduced two years ago. The racing industry will also benefit from the revenue share of VLT profits with some 150 of the terminals designated for the racing industry. Hachey says the racing industry will have the say as to where the VLTs are located, although the province has stipulated there can be no more than 75 VLTs in one location. Hachey says he expects some the “racing VLTs” are likely to be located in areas such as Bathurst, Miramichi City and the Moncton area. He said it still hasn’t been determined when revenue from the VLTs will come on stream. The new president says lease agreements with the three racetracks still have to be signed, but said he anticipates no problems. He identified one of the major goals of the non-profit organization is the construction of a grandstand facility at Saint John. “It’s a top priority, but it’s too early yet to set any time frame.” Hachey says the new organization will step up marketing efforts to promote the sport and will work toward expanding the harness racing base in the province. He says the group would like to see matinee racing on the Miramichi as well as at the racetrack property in Port Elgin. He said government support for the industry was based on growing an agricultural-based industry. Horse Racing New Brunswick is in the process of setting up a website to keep horsemen informed.
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