It’s the final weekend of the season for harness horse racing in Leamington.
The season comes to a close on Sunday, October 25 after 12 scheduled race dates.
The season kicked off on August 9, and according to Lakeshore Horse Racing Association member Tom Bain, it’s been a successful season despite weather impacting a couple of weekends.
Bain says he’s happy with the race season.
“Unfortunately a couple days we had bad weather, which set us back some, but it’s great to see the crowds that we’ve drawn out and that our betting has hung in there, and it’s just been another great season for us in Leamington,” says Bain.
He says one weekend was cancelled this season.
“With the rain that we had, the track was slippery, and you just can’t take chances when there’s any type of dangers,” he says. “So we were focused to cancel the races that day.”
Bain says no new betting records have been set so far this season but says it’s still great to see people coming out and supporting the races.
“They do bet the races, and our numbers have been fantastic,” says Bain. “When we had the Wiener dog races, we actually had parking problems with no space to park all the cars that we had, so those are the kind of days that really excite everyone.”
This year’s race season included a number of events besides harness horse racing, such as Wiener dog races, a kids day, and a cancer awareness day.
Last season, the association hosted 13 race dates, but for this season, the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario approved 12 race dates.
Post time for the final day is set for 1 p.m.