SEE MORE: Fraser Downs closes; horse racing over for good in Cloverdale<\/a><\/p>\n\u201cWe had Mark Horner in\u2014he\u2019s the foremost track specialist in Canada\u2014and he helped us get that track rebuilt,\u201d he added. \u201cIt\u2019s in pristine shape. The guys out here have never raced on this good a track. They\u2019re going to love it.\u201d<\/p>\n
The newly renovated track will feature a home stretch that spans 810 feet in length. MacMillan explained that 5\/8 tracks across the U.S. and Canada usually have a stretch run between 400 and 600 feet, which makes Desert Park Raceway\u2019s stretch one of the longest in North America. He thinks it will produce exciting racing for fans and horsemen.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Desert Park (Exhibition Society) has done a fantastic job, mostly through volunteers, to keep the place viable up to this point.\u201d<\/p>\n
MacMillan noted that the WCHRA is a newly formed not-for-profit society run by those who race the horses. He said it\u2019s fully supported by Harness Racing B.C.. of which MacMillan is also the president. He added the WCHRA was set up to ensure the continued success of the Standardbred industry in B.C. and his group is committed to safe, competitive racing.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s going to be growing pains, but everybody seems to be excited about it. And everybody\u2019s on board. That\u2019s all we need.\u201d<\/p>\n
DPES<\/p>\n
In a press release sent out about the announcement, Rebekka Lim, DPES president, said her group welcomes the WHCRA to the South Okanagan. She said they\u2019re \u201cexcited\u201d to become the new home of harness racing in B.C.<\/p>\n
\u201cDesert Park has a rich history as an equestrian hub, and this racing program is a perfect addition to the horse-centric activities we host on the property all year round,\u201d Lim said. \u201cIt\u2019s a huge win for our facility and for horse lovers across the province.\u201d<\/p>\n
The announcement is some good news in what has been a storm of bad news going back nearly a year for drivers, horsemen, and owners. Standardbred racing was dropped from Surrey\u2019s Cloverdale Fairgrounds without warning in 2025 after decades of racing at Fraser Downs.<\/p>\n
After a rat infestation in the barns on the Cloverdale Fairgrounds was remediated, racing was supposed to go ahead in September, 2025. But two weeks before the fall meet, the City of Surrey yanked the lease back from Great Canadian Entertainment (the group running the Elements Casino and Fraser Downs at the time) and racing was cancelled. The track was immediately dismantled, including taking down recently installed LED racing lights and big holes were dug in the oval. In December, the backstretch barns were demolished.<\/p>\n
As for MacMillan, he said it\u2019s an exciting new chapter for the horse racing industry\u2014one that can help heal the deep wounds that were inflicted in Cloverdale from both the way the City of Surrey yanked the lease back, cancelling their fall races, and the with the end of racing at Fraser Downs itself after 49 years.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf that nightmare (in Surrey) is what it took to get us here, it was well worth it,\u201d MacMillan said. \u201cI\u2019m thrilled with Desert Park. We\u2019re in a town that wants us. We\u2019re now being operated by horsemen for the industry, not for profit.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve turned the page after getting dealt a vicious blow with no warning. There\u2019s a lot of work ahead, but we have a path to follow and we see a positive way forward. And we\u2019re going to rebuild the industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
For more info visit, wchra.ca.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Surrey\u2019s loss is the Okanagan\u2019s gain. After harness racing was unceremoniously dumped from Surrey and the Cloverdale Fairgrounds…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":794404,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,163792,87674],"class_list":["post-794403","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-lower-mainland","tag-surrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794403","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794403"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794403\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/794404"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794403"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794403"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794403"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}