We thought our IdaBet.com players would want to know that Rosecroft Raceway kicks off their 27-day Winter/Spring race meet on Tuesday, March 8th. A major change for this year is the introduction of SUNDAY twilight racing at 4:40 PM ET. In addition to Sunday, Rosecroft will offer live racing every Tuesday night at 6:40 PM ET.
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Rosecroft will host special Saturday night cards on the three Triple Crown days – May 7th, May 21st, and June 11th. Post time will be 6:40 PM ET for those Saturday night cards.
“We have developed a very nice niche on Tuesday evenings in the simulcast marketplace and we thought Sundays might be an opportunity to draw a new on-track audience and also serve an underserved part of the harness simulcast marketplace,” said Peter Hanley, Racing Secretary for Rosecroft.
Full fields, competitive and quality races have been on the upswing for Rosecroft over the past several years and 2016 is likely to continue that trend. “We will start off with a purse increase over 2015 (pushing purses to a nightly average of over $80,000 per night) and our Maryland Preferred horses (Maryland owned, bred and sired) will now be eligible for a 20% bonus on earnings (up from 15% in 2015),” said Hanley.
Rosecroft also hopes to keep the wagering momentum on its races going in 2016. “On-track handle last year was up 5% and our export handle was up over 50%, even with lightly less races vs. 2014,” said Christopher McErlean, Vice President of Racing for Penn National Gaming, Inc., parent company of Rosecroft Raceway. “The goal since we took over in 2011 (after the track’s bankruptcy) was to continuously rebuild the racing program. Those efforts are starting to show in the key metrics of our business,” said McErlean.
