Harrisburg, PA — Less-than-ideal weather conditions — but certainly nothing unusual for southwestern Pennsylvania in January — have not yet impacted live racing at Hollywood Casino at The Meadows in the new year thanks to the track maintenance crew, officials told the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission Jan. 26.

The Meadows is currently racing three days a week on a Wednesday-through-Friday schedule that will continue through the first week of April.

“I’d like to thank the track crew for an outstanding job during some pretty bad weather,” said Kim Hankins, executive director of the Meadows Standardbred Owners Association.

“We’ve lost no days of racing or training,” said Scott Lishia, director of racing at The Meadows. “I’d also like to thank the maintenance crew.”

Lishia said The Meadows has been offering only 10 races per program so far this year as part of an agreement with the MSOA, but beginning Feb. 2 will expand to 11 races per card.

“We’re trying to get horsemen as many races as possible,” he said.

The Meadows at the start of 2022 instituted a program to eliminate post time “drags” and provide bettors with more consistent “off times.” As soon as the post time clock changes from one minute to zero minutes, the starting gate begins to move from its position on the backstretch near the paddock and rolls continuously down the backstretch and through the turn before it picks up the horses in front of the grandstand.

In response to a racing commission question on the impact of the procedural change on pari-mutuel handle, Lishia said handle per race is off from the same period in 2021, but it’s too early to make any judgments given positive feedback on the new system. It was noted that wagering on harness races in the United States in early 2022 is down about 19 percent from early 2021 despite a couple more race days, according to United States Trotting Association statistics.

“We’re looking to see if (the change in drag time) is affecting wagering,” Lishia said, “but we’ve had multiple conversations with people in the industry and it has been very well-received. Are they betting an extra $100,000 a day? No, they’re not, but we will continue to monitor it.”

Lishia also told the PHRC that track photographer Chris Gooden and track announcer Jeff Zidek have been working on videos for outlets such as TikTok in an effort to expand The Meadows’ social media reach, and the results have been productive thus far. He said one video of a Standardbred in the winter weather attracted 50,000 views, while another of a driver got 40,000 views.

“In the case of the horse, an AccuWeather broadcast asked to use it,” Lishia said. “All of these little things help. We’re trying to ramp up what we do on social media.”

In a related matter at the meeting, the Pennsylvania Harness Horsemen’s Association, which represents horsemen at Harrah’s Philadelphia Casino & Racetrack and The Downs at Mohegan Sun Pocono, discussed the results of its 2021 marketing plan and what it plans for 2022. Each year in the state, 1 percent of purse money derived from slot machines at Pennsylvania casinos goes toward a statewide marketing effort for racing as well as each horsemen’s association and breeder organization that make up the Pennsylvania Equine Coalition.

Mike Harant, PHHA executive director and director of racing operations, noted there were four programs at Harrah’s Philadelphia that topped $1 million in handle and one at Pocono last year. Harrah’s Philadelphia recorded its best year handle-wise in its 16-year history.

Rachel Olszewski, PHHA communications and marketing manager, believes offering free programs for both tracks on the PHHA website each day in 2021 under a partnership with TrackMaster played a role in the handle growth. She said that last year it cost about 52 cents per download, with a goal of reducing that to perhaps 45 cents per download this year.

“It was outstanding,” Olszewski said. “We’ve already signed a contract for 2022. The number of downloads was very good, and we think it really made a difference at both racetracks. People (around the country) are looking at our product (through the free past performances). Our fan base is not located just 30 miles from the racetrack.”

Pocono will begin its 2022 meet Saturday (Feb. 12), while the Harrah’s Philadelphia meet begins Sunday (April 3).