Mohawk meet begins

WEG standardbred racing will make the trip Westdown the 401 highway tomorrow (Thursday) night as racing returns to Mohawk Racetrack in Campbellville for the Summer Meet.

The 108-day meet will kick off with a 10-race program and will also include live racing on Friday and Saturday (all beginning at 7:30 p.m.) along with the special Fireworks and Family Fun Night on Sunday evening which gets underway at 6:30 p.m.

The most anticipated event on the stakes calendar is the $1.5 million
Pepsi North America Cup, featuring the finest three-year-old pacers, set for June 27. As part of this year’s event, Q-107 Radio will host a Trackside Party with a $5,000 cash giveaway included. More details will be announced soon on northamericacup.com.

"Mohawk is just a nicer track to race on and it’s way more fan friendly," said two-time O'Brien Award winner as Canada's Driver of the Year, Mark MacDonald. "The fans are right on top of the track which is nice and it’s a great atmosphere. There’s a lot of promotion in the summer and lots happening there. It just feels like you’re at an event and it's nice to compete in front of good crowds."

Customers will also notice some changes when racing begins at Mohawk. Among those will be some informational changes to the on-track race program.

Additional information will include lengths back of the leader at the start (over a length), horse’s position at the 1/8th and lengths back of leader, distance traveled and money won in both Last 6 and Last 10 races. The races will be timed at the 1/8th and 7/8th and will show up on the chart and as part of the Broadcast.

There will no longer be references to the horses’ individual three-quarter time in the WEG standardbred program.

Mohawk will also host a four-night handicapping series this summer with $25,000 to be given away. The four events including the eliminations and final of the Pepsi North America Cup and the eliminations and final of the Metro Pace.

Beginner betting seminars will also be a part of each major racing event this year. Customers can sign up for these any time after 5:30 p.m. on the night of each event.

Mohawk fans can also follow the action each night on Twitter. Hosts Chris Hickey and Mike Hamilton, along with track announcer Ken Middleton and Greg Blanchard will offer ‘tweets’ during each live program aimed at giving customers more race related information.

You can follow them on Twitter at the following: Hamilton_WOMoh, Hickey_WOMoh, Middleton_WOMoh, Blanchard_WOMoh. (WEG)