Horse racing is back at the Leamington Raceway but with no fans in the stands.
The horse racing season opened Sunday with a number of restrictions in place due to COVID-19.
Lakeshore Mayor Tom Bain calls the opening day "very successful" with the only small disappointment coming in the amount of betting due to no fans in the stands and an issue with online betting.
Bain, an executive on the board of the Lakeshore Horse Raceway Association, says the total number of bets was in the range of $12,000.
"We were hoping for around $20,000 but the system in Toronto went down, so there was very little betting on the first three or four races," he says. But it was corrected by the fourth race and the results were good after that."
Leamington Raceway (Photo by AM800's Teresinha Medeiros)
Bain says they had ten races for the day.
"Full fields, in fact, our entries were the highest they've ever been. Great to see so many people wanting to come into Leamington and race. We're certianly looking forward to the move to Stage 3 so we can have people back in the stands," he says.
Bain says the races had a different vibe with no fans in the stands.
"Your drivers notice it, everyone noticed it. When you're out there and racing, everyone is standing at the fence cheering. No there is silence. So we're looking forward to having our fans back," he says
The next race date at Leamington Raceway will be broadcast on TSN.
There will be 10 races a day in Leamington every Sunday until the end of October.
Bain adds they hope to have safety measures in place to allow fans in the stands for the next race date.