Year-Round Racing At Mohawk?

Published: October 2, 2015 03:43 pm EDT

Many horsepeople that race on the Woodbine Entertainment Group’s harness racing circuit have been clamouring for years for WEG Standardbred racing to only take place at Mohawk Racetrack in Campbellville and not at Woodbine Racetrack in Rexdale, Ont. According to a report, they may be getting their wish.

An item published in the Guelph Mercury has cited Jamie Martin, WEG’s executive vice-president of racing, as saying that Mohawk could be home to ‘year-round’ harness racing ‘in just a few years.’

The report also cites Martin as saying that there is a desire for a second Thoroughbred turf course to be installed at Woodbine, and that the likely location of that track would be where the harness course currently is.

The article has cited Martin as saying that the earliest that a ‘full-time’ move to Mohawk could take place would be 2017.

According to Martin, Mohawk would have to be upgraded if such a plan was to become reality, but he stressed that, at this point, the concept is just being discussed and analyzed.

"Mohawk would need to be upgraded," Martin was quoted as saying. "It's a nice summer facility. But we hope to be considered for a Breeders Crown event in the future. It would then have to be at Mohawk and it would have to be comfortable for a large crowd in late-October. I don't think we could do that today or else we would be [at Mohawk] this year for the Breeders Crown. So, there would be a fair bit of renovation work at Mohawk and work done at Woodbine.

"That's one of the things we're looking at, but I wouldn't say it's at all imminent. We're just doing some analysis."

(With files from the Guelph Mercury)

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