Horse racing at Desert Park was a big hit during the past two summers. This year both racing dates are in August and only two weeks apart. (Richard McGuire file photo)
Horse racing fans in and around Osoyoos will be very pleased to know that two race dates have been confirmed for the Desert Park racetrack facility – and they will only be two weeks apart, which is very good news, said Desert Park Exhibition Society race director Peter Hormes.
The Canadian Pari-Mutuel Agency (CPMA) announced last week that race dates for Desert Park in Osoyoos had been confirmed for Saturday, Aug. 8 and two weeks later on Saturday, Aug. 22.
This will be the third consecutive year professional horse racing has returned to Osoyoos and Desert Park after an absence of almost 15 years.
Confirming the race dates – and having them two weeks apart during the busy tourist season in Osoyoos – is very good news, said Hormes.
“We’re pretty excited about having our two race dates finalized for this summer,” said Hormes. “I know all of the horse people are really excited about it and we’re just as excited about having the two race dates only two weeks apart.
“We get a lot of horses coming a really long distance to race in Osoyoos and having races two weeks apart will mean a lot of them will stick around and race on both days.”
There have been a lot of American horse owners who have brought up horses to race in Osoyoos the past two years and Hormes is confident even more will be making the trip to Desert Park this summer with race dates being scheduled so closely together.
Major renovations on the Desert Park grandstand are now underway after Town of Osoyoos council and the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen’s board of directors approved more than $80,000 in funding and the goal is to hopefully have the grandstand completed and ready for the Aug. 8 races, he said.
“We can’t and won’t make any guarantees because there’s still an awful lot of work that needs to be done on the grandstand, but our goal is most certainly to be ready for the opening day of races,” said Hormes. “The early work on the grandstand upgrades looks amazing and fantastic and actually blew me away when I visited this week, but there’s still a lot of work to be done and we have seven weeks to get everything done and hopefully that will be enough time.”
The return of racing to Desert Park in 2013 was an unqualified success with crowds of nearly 2,000 horse racing fans packing into the facility for both race dates.
That success continued last year, even though the attendance figures dropped a little for both race dates.
With the race dates two weeks apart, completing the grandstand a priority and an increase in prize money is sure to attract interest, Hormes is very confident this year’s races will attract large crowds hopefully similar to 2013.
“The people of this area have shown they will support horse racing and we’re confident there will be great response now that the race dates have been finalized,” he said. “We’re going to be able to offer much better purses and that’s going to attract better horses.
“Offering good purses is the best way to get better horses and we’re thrilled that our purse money is going up significantly and we’ll be able to tell the horse owners all about it when they contact us now that race dates have been confirmed.”
Mike Valliere, president of the Desert Park Exhibition Society’s board of directors, is equally excited about the upcoming race dates.
“I’m very excited and so our all our volunteers because you can’t really plan anything until you get official confirmation of race dates,” he said. “We’ve been waiting for this good news and now we can really get moving with all our volunteers to make sure the 2015 races are a huge success.”
Valliere agrees that having both race dates two weeks apart will be a huge benefit.
“It’s a huge expense for horse owners from Hastings Park (in Vancouver) to come all the way to Osoyoos, but many of them will be willing to spend the money if they can race their horses on both days.
“We’re also offering higher purses and this is always the most important part in attracting horses.”
Valliere also hopes all renovations on the grandstand will be completed in time for the opening races on Aug. 8.
The grandstand not only seats hundreds of patrons, but will also keep them out of the blazing hot South Okanagan sun during a long day of racing, he said.
Dozens of volunteers will again be needed to ensure successful racing events and Valliere is confident there will be great response like there has been the past two summers.
“If anyone wants to come out and give us a hand on race days or prior to the races, we can sure use the help,” he said. “It takes a lot of volunteers to put on big events like this and we’ve been very blessed to have tremendous volunteer support for our races the past two years.”
Anyone interested in volunteering can call Desert Park racetrack at 250-495-8181 and leave a message.
Desert Park Exhibition Society is also looking to recruit more members. An annual membership is $20 and you would receive free admission to both race dates, which covers half the cost of a yearly registration.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
