by Mark McKelvie, WEG Communications

Toronto, ON — Live harness racing returns to Woodbine Racetrack on Thursday (Oct. 17) for the 2017-18 Woodbine Fall-Winter meet.

The Fall-Winter meet will feature live racing every Monday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings at 7:30 p.m. The lone exception is a special matinee card on Boxing Day (Dec. 26) at 1 p.m. The final number of race dates for the meet is pending regulatory approval.

The upcoming meet will be the last for harness racing at Woodbine, as Mohawk Racetrack will become the home of year-round harness racing beginning in April 2018.

Doug McNair captured the driving title last season at Woodbine and while he carried that momentum over to post leading numbers during the Mohawk meet, the Guelph, Ontario reinsman feels he is a perfect match for racing at Woodbine.

“It’s good for my style, I like to be aggressive and it’s more of a front end track,” noted McNair. “They’re going such big speed now a days, especially back-halves, you can come a half in :53 and not get a check, so you got to be up in the hunt especially going back to Woodbine.

“The front end is a real good spot to be and first-over is not that bad either if you have the right horse.”

As always, horseplayers can expect competitive racing and strong pool sizes throughout the Woodbine Fall-Winter meet.

The wagering menu for Woodbine Standardbreds remains the same and continues to feature the popular multi-leg wagers, including the C$50,000 guaranteed Pick-5 and C$50,000 guaranteed Early Pick-4.

The popularity of the Pick-5 wager reached new heights during the recently concluded Mohawk meet. The average Pick-5 pool for the Mohawk meet was C$73,437 and horseplayers can expect much of the same this season at Woodbine.

Thursday’s opening card features 10 races. A free program can be downloaded by clicking here.