By Brian J. Mazurek, for Buffalo Raceway
HAMBURG, N.Y. --- “We are really looking forward to the upcoming
season,” Buffalo Raceway Operations Director Jon Cramer said as the track preps
for the opener on Wednesday, January 30th.
The 66-day meet will have racing on Wednesday and Saturday
evenings through March with post times set for 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. respectively.
Friday night action will begin in April with starting times slated for 5 p.m.
The season will close on Saturday, July 20th.
There are two Sunday afternoon cards on tap, June 16th and 23rd
with the matinees getting underway at 12:30 p.m. The track will be dark on
Friday, June 14th and Friday June 21.
A trio of special 7:15 p.m. posts are on Saturdays when
thoroughbred racing’s Triple Crown events are run. The later live racing start
times will allow customers to wager on the Kentucky Derby which will be
contested on May 4th, the Preakness on May 18th and the Belmont Stakes on June
8th.
“We’ve got a few new updates for both the horsemen and fans,”
Cramer added. “The improvements made will enjoyed and appreciated by both of
them.”
For the horsemen, they will see a 10 percent increase in purses
from the amounts that were offered at the close of the 2018 meet. They will
also be able to compete in the “Opportunity Knocks” Series that will be held in
February with the $15,000 finale to be run on Wednesday, February 27th.
Also, Buffalo Raceway has initiated a new condition sheet with A,
B and C classification.
Buffalo Raceway Racing Secretary Tom Agosti said of the new
conditions, “It’s kind of is like the dog racing system. A lot of the problems
we encountered were if a horse finished second, he’d have to jump up a class or
two. That won’t happen now. If you win a race, you only move up one level. And
if you don’t finish first, second or third in three races, you can drop down a
level.
“I think it makes for more competitive racing...it eliminates the
drastic moves in class,” Agosti concluded.
Later on, Agosti said that the track has 295 stalls available with
289 of them ready to be filled. “We are kind of short on stall space because we
have people who used to train on farms coming in this year. We maintain the
track every day so they’ll be able to get the horses in shape here compared to
on the farms where the track there may not be usable due to the weather.”
The track added 5,000 tons of material to the half-mile oval in
the fall and also did drainage work that hopefully will alleviate issues during
thaws.
There was talk about eliminating the passing lane but Agosti said
they left it up to the horsemen and he stated, “Probably 95 percent wanted to
keep the passing lane.”
For the fans, the track will have new food and beverage offerings.
“All food on each racing night will be cooked and made to order,
including Wednesday nights,” Cramer said. “You can now order food and it will
delivered to your table.” Some items that will be available on a rotating basis
on race nights will be fried chicken, meatloaf and turkey dinners along with
sandwiches, hot dogs and hamburgers.
The last Saturday of each month will feature the Winner’s Circle
Buffet. For $19, you’ll receive the buffet dinner, a racing program along with
a $5 Buffalo Raceway betting voucher and a $5 voucher for Hamburg Gaming. This
special will be available to those making reservations prior to race night.
The popular Lucky Exacta contest will return on Saturday, February
2nd. Besides getting an exacta combination where you could win up to $100 in
betting vouchers, fans will also receive a Buffalo Raceway knit winter hat.
There will also be a Lucky Exacta contest on Father’s Day, June 16th.
Opening night on January 30th will feature free 2019 magnetic
schedules.
The betting menu will remain the same as last season. There will
be the usual win, place and show wagers available along with exacta, trifecta,
superfecta, three daily doubles, Pick-3, Pick-4 and Pick-5s.
The driver colony will show the return of 2018 champion Drew Monti
along with Billy Davis Jr., Ray Fisher Jr., and Shawn McDonough. Monti finished
third recently in the 2019 North American Driving Challenge at Miami Valley in
Ohio.
James Clouser Jr. is back to defend his training crown with JD
Perrin and Maria Rice expected to battle for the title. Returning this season
will be conditioners Mike and Brittney Ohol and Joe Skowyra who had raced here
a couple years back. Monticello trainer George Anthrop is shuffling off to
Buffalo and brings in a stable of eight as well.
