by Charlene Sharpe, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Charlene Sharpe

Berlin, MD — An 11-race card marked the start of the 2018 harness racing season at Ocean Downs Sunday (June 3). While rain may have dampened the usually lively atmosphere on the apron, horsemen came out in full force for the season opener. This is the 69th season of live harness racing at Ocean Downs.

“Racing at Ocean Downs is like a summertime tradition,” said driver Frank Milby, a regular at the Ocean City area track. “I enjoy the crowds that show up and cheer for the horses.”

The 48-day meet at Ocean Downs will run through Labor Day, with the track hosting 10-12 races each night, according to Peter Szymanski, general manager of racing. He said horsemen would benefit from an additional $1 million in purses compared to last year.

Charlene Sharpe photo

An 11-race card marked the start of the 2018 harness racing season at Ocean Downs Sunday.

“The purse structure has been increased considerably,” he said, adding that Ocean Downs would dole out $4.3 million this year.

Horsemen were greeted with several other changes at the facility, including the demolition of the decades-old racing administration building. The building, which once housed the breezeway through which horses entered the paddock, has been torn down.

By early next year, Syzmanski said the new racing administration building — which will include offices for race secretary, judges and administration as well as locker rooms for horsemen — will be complete. Szymanski said the inconvenience of working around the construction area this summer would be well worth the wait.

“The change is going to be good down the road,” he said.

The other major change facing Ocean Downs horsemen this summer is the implementation of TrackMaster classifications. The system uses a power number, based on a horse’s best five races from its last 10 starts, to divide horses into levels — platinum, gold, silver, bronze, etc. — rather than money earnings. On Sunday, for example, a $10,500 platinum level pacing event was filled with horses with a TrackMaster rating over 90.

“Horses are rated as to how you perform as opposed to how much money you earn,” Szymanski said. “It’s similar to the ABC system but in this case it’s not subjective. Everybody I talk to seems to think this is the way of the future.”

He said that while other tracks have “dabbled” in it, Ocean Downs is the first to fully implement the TrackMaster rating system.

“There are 12 tracks nationwide waiting to see what we do with this,” he said. “If it works here they’re going to jump on board.”

Aside from the new classification system, Szymanski said Ocean Downs was also working to incorporate more claimers into the card and would try to host one 1-1/4 mile event each night.

Ocean Downs will race June 4, 10, 11, 17, 18, 20, 24, 25, 27 and 28. In July, the track moves to a four-day schedule, racing Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday each week. That schedule continues through Labor Day. Post time is 7:05 p.m. each night with the exception of July 4, which will have a 6:25 p.m. post time.

Promotions are set to take place throughout the summer, ranging from carriage rides to fireworks. Next weekend, the track will host a bike bash race and giveaway on June 10 and camel and ostrich races June 11. For more information visit www.oceandowns.com.