This past 4th of July weekend I took a road trip to the western part of the state an about twenty miles south of the border. It’s been a few year’s since Karen and I had a vacation and the time was right to getaway. Now, with the beginning of the Saratoga season less than only three weeks away, a trip to a racetrack would be the farthest place I would go being the Spa meet is 36 days long. But, the place of our destination would be a “racino”, a place with slot machines or VLT’s and thoroughbred or harness racing. The newest type of facility is located just 20 miles over the New York State border in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Presque Isle Downs & Casino opened for thoroughbred racing last September with a trial race meet that lasted one month. They got racing dates from the state to operate a full meet this year which started in May and will run until September. The entire facility is new with a gaming room and one mile racing oval that has the artificial Tapeta racing surface. The racing meet is unique in many ways because of the racing surface, a limited eight race card and its post time of 5:30pm each afternoon. The timing of the daily races falls between the end of the afternoon cards and just before the harness track racing starts. That also makes it a key time during the afternoon simulcasting schedule from the west coast tracks.
We arrived in Erie around 4pm after a six hour trip from Fonda, the track was only five minutes from our hotel and easy to get to. Being that it was the 4th of July; the crowd was pretty good with a reported attendance total of just over 2,400. Although the majority of the races are of the maiden variety and low level claimers, on Friday they had a 50k claimer that featured the third place finisher of the 2005 Belmont Stakes; Nolan’s Cat who got up late for victory as the 3-2 favorite. Also, there was an stake race on the holiday card, the Presque Isle Mile which featured horses like; Explosive Heat, Judith’s Wild Rush, Forty Grams and Summer Doldrums who was a stake winner last year as a three year old on both dirt and grass. After winning his Tapeta debut first time over the Presque Isle surface by 12 lengths, he held off the late charge of Forty Grams to win as the even money favorite. Kentucky trainers like Steve Asmussen and Merrill Scherer are among the top trainers along with local Gerald Bennett who is the current leader in the standings. Ronnie Allen Jr., Dale Beckner (who once was a N.Y regular) and Rex Stokes III lead the jockey standings. During the racing card, I had the chance to speak to Jim Cornes who has previously worked for Capital OTB and in Dubai for the racing carnival and is their assistant racing secretary / stake race coordinator. He told me that the horsemen have been quite happy with the track and purses and the racing was going very well for their inaugural meet.
We had so much fun on Friday night that we went back again on Saturday and I did even better wagering wise. We closed the trip on Sunday with a stop at Finger Lakes, but the highlight of the weekend was at Erie. I was an enjoyable trip and look forward to going again there next year. Who knows, maybe a Dee Tee Stable runner might make a trip there in the near future.
Presque Isle Downs & Casino opened for thoroughbred racing last September with a trial race meet that lasted one month. They got racing dates from the state to operate a full meet this year which started in May and will run until September. The entire facility is new with a gaming room and one mile racing oval that has the artificial Tapeta racing surface. The racing meet is unique in many ways because of the racing surface, a limited eight race card and its post time of 5:30pm each afternoon. The timing of the daily races falls between the end of the afternoon cards and just before the harness track racing starts. That also makes it a key time during the afternoon simulcasting schedule from the west coast tracks.
We arrived in Erie around 4pm after a six hour trip from Fonda, the track was only five minutes from our hotel and easy to get to. Being that it was the 4th of July; the crowd was pretty good with a reported attendance total of just over 2,400. Although the majority of the races are of the maiden variety and low level claimers, on Friday they had a 50k claimer that featured the third place finisher of the 2005 Belmont Stakes; Nolan’s Cat who got up late for victory as the 3-2 favorite. Also, there was an stake race on the holiday card, the Presque Isle Mile which featured horses like; Explosive Heat, Judith’s Wild Rush, Forty Grams and Summer Doldrums who was a stake winner last year as a three year old on both dirt and grass. After winning his Tapeta debut first time over the Presque Isle surface by 12 lengths, he held off the late charge of Forty Grams to win as the even money favorite. Kentucky trainers like Steve Asmussen and Merrill Scherer are among the top trainers along with local Gerald Bennett who is the current leader in the standings. Ronnie Allen Jr., Dale Beckner (who once was a N.Y regular) and Rex Stokes III lead the jockey standings. During the racing card, I had the chance to speak to Jim Cornes who has previously worked for Capital OTB and in Dubai for the racing carnival and is their assistant racing secretary / stake race coordinator. He told me that the horsemen have been quite happy with the track and purses and the racing was going very well for their inaugural meet.
We had so much fun on Friday night that we went back again on Saturday and I did even better wagering wise. We closed the trip on Sunday with a stop at Finger Lakes, but the highlight of the weekend was at Erie. I was an enjoyable trip and look forward to going again there next year. Who knows, maybe a Dee Tee Stable runner might make a trip there in the near future.
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