SUMMERSIDE, P.E.I. — Harness racing takes place Saturday in all three Maritime provinces and the numbers tell us a whole different story in each. Exhibition Park Raceway in Saint John was once the top track in our region and now sits as the only track operating in New Brunswick. Back 30 or 40 years ago, a live wager on a 10-race Saturday afternoon card would be in the $130,000 range.
There are five races on Saturday involving 27 horses chasing purse money that totals $5,900. Back on June 8th, they had six races with a wager of just $1,600. The top mile that day was only 2:01.1. Racing wraps up in Saint John in November, with only 10 cards until then.
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Although the sport is surviving in Nova Scotia, its numbers pale in comparison to P.E.I. It is a big day in Charlottetown on Saturday as a 12-race program involving 90 horses will chase a healthy purse pool of $27,300.
The top race is the $5,500 Cecil Ladner Memorial Pace featuring the best invitational horses competing. Saturday’s program comes after 11 races on Thursday and followed by a 10-race program in Summerside on Sunday afternoon.
Wagers at both Island tracks are usually in the $25,000-to-$50,000 range and those numbers increase in the heart of the tourist season. It would appear that those involved with, or fans of harness racing, are much better off if you live on P.E.I.
Wooden bats
I have talked on several occasions about the use of wooden bats and will continue to do so as long as I write this column. Wooden bats are game-changing equipment and the nine-team Miscouche Legion Slo-Pitch Softball League is experimenting with them with positive results.
It is not uncommon to have 20 to 30 runs, or more, scored in a game using metal bats as the ball leaves the bat much quicker and goes farther. Local fields were built for fast pitch and peewee baseball and are too small for slo-pitch using metal bats.
One answer is to use wooden bats and, in fact, the local league had a 1-0 game this past week that included the winning run coming in the bottom of the seventh inning. I umpired a 7-6 game this week that took only 45 minutes to play.
Another game ended with a team winning 4-3 against an opponent they very rarely beat. Wooden bats help level the playing field.
The ball travels much slower off a wooden bat, enabling the fielders adequate time to make the play. The chances of a 1-0 game with metal bats is extremely remote.
When, and if, this league changes completely to wooden bats remains to be seen, but most would agree that, with the calibre of recreation players what it is, wooden bats make for a much better game to watch and a safer game to play.
NHL
The NHL Entry Draft is this weekend in Vancouver and with the start of free agency on July 1st, it should make for a real interesting week. This year's draft is deep in talent and very important for teams to make the right selections.
There could be a lot of player movement as some teams will need to move players to stay within the salary cap. Will Toronto be able to keep star forward Mitch Marner, who will be looking for a contract in the $10-million-plus range per season?
The salary cap is expected to be around $82 million and the Leafs have $71 million already committed to 14 players. They need wiggle room and dumping off players is the only way to get it.
The Philadelphia Flyers handed forward Kevin Hayes a seven-year, $50-million dollar contract this past week.
Hayes was recently traded to the Flyers from Winnipeg, where he was nothing more than a costly rental. The Jets got him from the New York Rangers at this year's trade deadline for a first-round pick this year, forward Brendan Lemieux and a fourth-round pick in 2022.
Hayes never panned out in Winnipeg and was a healthy scratch late in the season and some playoff games. He ended up scoring 55 regular-season points and those facts led to the Jets sending him to the Flyers for just a fifth-round pick.
Fifty million bucks is a lot of money for what seems to be an average player at best.
The business side of hockey can be cruel at times and that is the case with former Anaheim Duck Corey Perry, who had his contract bought out this past week. He has been one of the Ducks’ best all-time best players and is a sure bet to go to the Hall of Fame.
He played his entire 14-year career with the Ducks and they made the playoffs 11 of those years. He played 988 games with the Ducks, the most of any one player, was second in all-time goals with 372 and third in all-time points with 776.
He was a four-time all-star, led the Ducks to a Stanley Cup and won the Hart Trophy as NHL MVP in 2011. He scored 30 goals or more six times and was a tough and hard-nosed player to play against.
Internationally, he won two Olympic gold medals with Canada, a World Cup, three world championships and gold medals at the world junior and the world under-18 championships. No. 10 will hang from the rafters in Anaheim when Perry is done playing and it’s too bad that he can't finish a storied career there.
Not many have a comparable hockey resumé. The 34-year-old is now a free agent, but not likely for long.
Have a great week!
Joe MacIntyre is a local life insurance broker. His column appears every Saturday. Comments and suggestions can be sent to [email protected].
