By Jay Black At The Track
I am still shaking my head in disbelief!
This is incredible that $198, 321 was wagered on a nine-race card at Evergreen Park on Sunday, July 23.
It couldn’t have happened to a nicer track.
That's a per-race average of $22,035 - which is also a record. The previous record was set in 2020 with a handle of $138,394 and the record per-race average was set in 2021 with a total of just over $18,000 bet per race on a seven-race card.
The handle was helped in part by the Wiener Dog Derby. which brought in a big local crowd. This also increased the betting time between races slightly too to give the dogs time to race.
The race card was mixed with four thoroughbred overnight events, two thoroughbred stakes series and three quarter horse challenge race finals whose purses totaled over $150,000 in Canadian funds.
After five race days, the 5/8ths oval in Grande Prairie is averaging $116,389 per race card and $16,165 per race (36 races).
On The Track: The quarter horse challenge races were won by: O Seeyalater (Larris Allen) in the Adequan Derby from the Wes Oulton barn.
Trainer William Leech saddled the other two challenge race winners. Flight Club (JB Botello) in the Bank of America Championship Challenge for the second straight year and Pretty Sweet Jess (Alan Rizo) who was a surprise winner in the John Deere Juvenile Final.
The thoroughbred stake series first legs were won by; Timberlake (Alan Rizo) who finished second but was placed first through disqualification and Cozy Bear (Andre Powell) took the first leg of the claiming series.
Rider Jose Rocha scored two victories on the card. First with Catwalk Queen, who narrowly edged Wicked Woman, and Andre Powell in a very exciting third race finish, and then he took the win with Papichulo in the eighth race.
Jockey Trevor Simpson got two wins as well by winning the sixth race with J Cruz, and then in the finale with McKenzie Red, who he brilliantly guided through traffic around the final turn.
Racing resumes at Evergreen Park on Saturday July 29th and Sunday July 30th. Sunday will be Grande Prairie Derby Day and we expect another large crowd on hand for that day.
Post Time each day is 1:15 pm. If you cant make it to the trck, wagering online is available at Hpibet.com in Canada and Xpressbet.com in the U.S.
Prime Boiler Services 50/50 Winner: Winner of the Prime Boilers Services 50/50 at Sunday's racing was Hans Anderson of Grande Prairie. He took home half the pot of $6,075 with winning ticket number C-2395. Proceeds from the 50/50 go to Tiny Hands Of Hope.
