This year, Campbellville’s racetrack Woodbine Mohawk Park became the witness to yet another exciting edition of the Breeders Crown. The track’s operator Woodbine Entertainment reported that the 2022 running of the race has generated some impressive attendance and wagering handle. Finals for the race were held on Friday, October 28 and Saturday, October 29, 2022.
Friday featured four divisional finals for 2-year-old, while Saturday hosted six open and three-year-old finals. These world-class races are quite common for the track, which is Canada’s top Standardbred facility. It offers plenty of excitement for its spectators, some tremendous HPIbet promotions, plenty of on-track amenities, and much more.
Record-Setting Breeders Crown
Woodbine Entertainment confirmed that the 2022 Breeders Crown was a milestone edition of the prestigious event. CEO of the group, Jim Lawson, shared that the championship was the most successful Breeders Crown until now, as two wagering records were broken. For both nights, the track reported an impressive handle of CA$8,945,779 for both online and on-track wagers.
This marks yet another case of the Standardbred track smashing its own wagering handle record for the Breeders Crown. For instance, in 2019, the first time the track hosted all 12 Crown finals, it accumulated a record handle of CA$6,678,779. The operator’s other track Woodbine Racetrack no longer conducts harness races but had a handle record of CA$5.7 million for the 2015 Breeders Crown.
Jamie Dykstra, communications director for the horse racing operator revealed that the 2022 Breeders Crown was the largest handle in the organization’s history for the event. He shared that 77% of the handle came from the United States and 23% from Canada. Over 60% of the total handle was wagered online, with the rest at tracks and OTBs.
In addition to that, Mr. Dykstra elaborated that this year, overseas betting did not have a major impact on the 2022 results. But he stated that international wagering outside of the continent is something the group is actively working on. He also shared that the team is always working on providing the best possible racing cards for fans to wager on.
In October, Woodbine Mohawk Park also hosted the finals of this year’s Ontario Sires Stakes and the Campbellville track ran eight CA$225,000 divisions of the exciting Gold Super Finals. The weekend of October 15 saw some interesting developments, as Safe Conduct won Race 7, as well as Cheesy Smile’s win at Race 4 for two-year-old pacing fillies.
Hosting an All-Women Event
Woodbine Mohawk Park hosts many exciting races during its Standardbred seasons. A while back the track ran another all-female driver’s race. It featured the prominent names Jesse Turenne, Samara Johnson, Britt Kennedy, Debi O’Brien-Moran, Maggie Jones, Natasha Day, Julie Walker, Marie-Claude Auger, Anita Ouellette, and Kayla Chappell. While Marielle Enberg and Pam Forgie. It took place on August 15, 2022.
Source: Keith, Melissa “Anatomy of a handle record” HarnessRacingUpdate, November 1, 2022
