New race paddock, no barns in Bangor Raceway’s future

By 2010, Bangor Raceway will likely be a ship-in track with no stable area, track owner Penn National Gaming Inc. announced recently. The corporation also announced plans to replace its aging race paddock and racing office by 2008.

“It’s about a three- to four-year plan,” track general manager Jon Johnson told MEHarness recently. “At the end of this year, toward beginning of next year, we’re going to tear down the old, open paddocks that are there now, as well as the racing office. In its place we’re going to put up a new paddock and racing office.”

The new paddock will have room for 12 races plus lasix stalls. The facility will also include the racing office, driver’s lounge, and offices for the paddock judge, state steward and state veterinarian. Preliminary drawings show the offices being placed on the grandstand side of the paddock, with stalls running parallel to the track and the horsemen’s entrance on the barn side.

“We will begin construction on the new paddock in the beginning of 2008,” said Johnson. “That paddock can also function as a winter barn, so it will provide a little bit of stabling in the winter for owners training at the track. The track will be available all the time.”

With the new paddock operational, Penn National will tear down barns A, B, C and D, then grade the area for horse trailers. “This will eliminate the hazards of the horsemen parking on the access road and walking the horses up the hill to the paddock,” he said.

Barns E and F, which now provide around 170 stalls, will face extinction next. “We will leave those up until they require heavy maintenance,” Johnson said. “In our minds, that’s going to be in 2009 or 2010.” When the time comes, the two barns will be razed and the land graded. Current plans are to put up a small maintenance building for track equipment.

In the end, Bangor Raceway will be a ship-in track, “just like pretty much all the tracks are now,” Johnson said. “But it’s not overnight. Everyone will have plenty of time to make arrangements.” 

When the time comes, Johnson hopes that the racing community, thanks to a higher statewide purse structure, will be in a better financial position and able to make alternative stabling arrangements. “What my hope is that entrepreneurial people will get into the training facility business. Because there will certainly be a niche for it,” he said. “What I know is that in the long term, [Penn National] cannot afford to replace the barns,” a cost he roughly puts at $3 million.