By Jay Black At The Track

All I can say is WOW! 

I can’t believe this is happening to the little track I have been a part of for the past 19 years. 

In Grande Prairie Alberta, at Evergreen Park's J.D.A Raceway, the pari-mutuel numbers reached a respectable $75,256 on opening day July 8, then followed that with an eye-popping $121,194 on the second day.

Even more remarkable is that all that was required was seven races each day. Having gone through the worst of betting times with this track really makes this wagering upsurge very special and gratifying. 

The per-race average on the weekend came out to $14,032 a race. Not bad for a track who used to be satisfied to do that for the entire card. Heck, I have seen Wednesday non-simulcasted cards do less than $1,000 here, and I have seen race meets where the average was less than $10,000 a day. 

The main thing that has helped Evergreen Park is adding XPRESSBET.com to enable Americans to bet on their product. It costs the track a bit of money for the service, but it is well worth the results. Another online wagering service that carries the Grande Prairie track is Hpibet.com. It is available for Canadian bettors. 

It is not just this year that the numbers have been up at this 5/8ths mile track, the trend has been on a steady rise since 2020.

That year Evergreen Park set a single day record handle of $138,394 and then in August of 2021 there was a day where they averaged over $18,000 per race on 7 races for a final total of $126,173. 

A similar uptrend in betting has been happening at Assiniboia Downs for a few years now. They found a time slot that worked for them when Covid had people confined to home. They didn’t mess with the formula and continue to prosper with that time slot. They average over $1,000,000 handle a day on just seven races per card. 

Racing resumes at Evergreen Park on Saturday, July 15th and Sunday, July 16th. Post Time each day is at 1:15 pm. Don't forget to support your local horse race track wherever you may be!