Small Town Tracks: The Heart of Harness Racing in Ontario

The dusty track, the busy paddock, the cheerful hellos. This is small town racing...and I love it.

We need these tracks to help our industry survive. Each race card at Leamington Raceway, Hiawatha horse park and Dresden Raceway the grandstands are busy. Harness racing fans and families fill these grandstands with lots of excitement, and every race there are long line ups at the betting windows. The crowds at these racetracks could be surprising to an outsider and these communities would be devastated without these fun weekend racetracks to enjoy close up harness racing.

Leamington Raceway!

There is always a great environment at these racetracks with the warm weather full of people and everyone happy and friendly. I would of never been this involved in the industry if it wasn't for Leamington Raceway. My family was always involved, but I wasn't into it as much until Leamington Raceway re-opened. I went out and just loved the exciting harness racing action there. After that I just fell in love with harness racing and have been involved ever since. The next summer they hired me to work in the back stretch. After only half the season, I was asked to help out and provide picks for the program and within a few weeks it was a regular occurrence! The executive could see that this was my passion and on Kids Day they let me announce my first race at 12 years old! This group cares about their local horseman and fans and take care of them all and I really appreciate what Leamington Raceway has done for me. There is always lots of opportunities for other people to take at these tracks with the fun events planed all the time. The on track experiences are unreal with all the people there and the nice weather at our summer meets.

A busy grandstand at Leamington Raceway Summer 2017

Dresden Raceway!

I'm really looking for forward to the 6 months of racing we have in southwestern Ontario that starts on May 5th at Hiawatha Horse Park in Sarnia and kicks off their five month Saturday night racing season. Then Dresden Raceway will start off their exciting season on Sunday May 27th and they will end on Monday August 6th. 2017 was a big year for Dresden as they added their live stream to HPI bet which boosted their handle by over $4,000. Sunday August 5th is the start of Leamington Raceways season at last. I am really looking forward to this since 2017 was such a big year with the on track handle increasing by 26%.

Hiawatha Horse Park!

If you've never visited these tracks before, make this summer the time you will enjoy unforgettable experiences and make amazing memories with your family. You will see how family friendly these tracks make their on track experiences. I want to say a big thank you to all the fans who attend these small town race days. Without our fans we could lose some great rural traditions and opportunities for young people like me to become involved in horse racing!