End of an era: harness racing comes to a close in Saint John

SAINT JOHN -

The last scheduled harness racing card at Saint John’s Exhibition Park on Sunday afternoon was a bittersweet homecoming for many spectators watching.

“I grew up right next door to the track, and have a lot of memories of living by the track and working at the track,” said John Kelley. “A lot of friends around the track. Good reasons to be here I guess.”

The board of directors at Exhibition Park announced its lease with Horse Racing New Brunswick would expire Dec. 31, 2022, with no plans of negotiating a new agreement.

“It’s been rumoured for close for 20 years, every year that it might shut down,” said Scott Bernard at Sunday’s event. “So I think it’s almost like confirmation now.”

Attempts to contact Horse Racing New Brunswick weren’t successful.

A written statement from the board of directors at Exhibition Park said the decision would allow it to “explore opportunities that may have the potential to make better use of the lands and facilities thus providing a greater service to the greater Saint John community.”

Sunday’s event, which was delayed a day due to rain, was a mix of nostalgia and reflection amidst the crowd.

Stephen Mahar, a former driver known for having won over 5,000 races, including his first win in 1969 at Exhibition Park, described Sunday’s mood as "sombre" with the loss of a close-knit community circuit.

“I’ve been out of the business really for the last year or so but I like to come down and have a coffee with the guys in the mornings and stuff like that,” said Mahar. “I hate to see it completely close.”

Anne Parker’s parents worked at the Exhibition Park race track when she was growing up. Parker remembered when harness racing was the hottest ticket in town, especially in the 1970s and 1980s.

“If they could only go back and look at the way this place was and what was brought into Saint John from the race track,” said Parker.

Horse Racing New Brunswick has indicated its intention to move the organization from Saint John to Woodstock.

“People just stopped coming (to Saint John) because they only had maybe four horses in a race or five,” said Nancy Martin, who’s been coming to the Saint John racetrack for decades. “At one time they used to have 10 horses in a race, which was very interesting.”

Several spectators at Sunday’s event pointed to Prince Edward Island’s harness racing industry as an example of how it could’ve found mainland success.

The Atlantic Lottery Corporation operates PEI’s Red Shores Race Track and Casino. The crown corporation looked at the possibility of locating a racino at Exhibition Park in Saint John, later claiming that no viable business case could be found.

Prince Edward Island Premier Dennis King said his province’s harness racing industry was “alive and well,” in an interview with CTV last week.

“And it’s really becoming one of our fast growing industries in PEI,” said Kings. “I’ve tried to convince my counterparts in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to treat it like an industry. Any industry in its infant stages needs investment. Our province has done that.”