Memorable Camluck Classic capped off successful season at Western Fair
by Matthew Lomon
A memorable finish to the $150,000 Camluck Classic proved a fitting climax, as The Raceway at Western Fair District closed the curtains on its 2024-25 live harness racing season on Friday (May 30).
The main event on the half-mile oval’s dozen-race card saw favorite Brue Hanover relegated from first to third due to a pylon infraction, while stablemate, and fellow Dave Menary trainee, Ervin Hanover was elevated from second to first.
The suspenseful conclusion had even the most seasoned standardbred lifers in awe.
“If you run a race long enough, you’re going to have years where something like that happens,” said Greg Blanchard, director of equine programming at Western Fair. “It’s certainly a tough call for the judges, but it added a whole other element of drama and excitement to the race.”
Camluck night, itself, which also featured four $40,000 London Classic Sales Series finals and three Ontario Sires Stakes Grassroots legs, was a smashing success across the board.
Overall handle reached $792,579 — an increase of nearly $55,000 over last year’s season finale — and entries for the quartet of London Classic contests, Blanchard noted, were up 31 per cent year-over-year in the series’ first showing under its rebranded title (previously known as City of London Series).
The banner day was achieved all while contending with a fickle forecast.
“It was beautiful during the day, and we had a really strong crowd on track,” Blanchard said. “It was an electric atmosphere for the first couple races, and then, unfortunately, Mother Nature decided not to cooperate. The crowd thinned out slightly after that, but nonetheless, we still had an excellent on-track crowd.
“We were quite happy with the night overall, and I think if the weather stayed as nice as it started, it was probably going to be one of those home run-type nights.”
Despite the weather-related interruptions — a common theme this past season — Western Fair still knocked it out of the park on the final race night of its spring meet.
The strong finish provided a timely jolt for The Raceway, as it contended with lost race dates due to inclement weather and a softening of the overall handle.
According to Blanchard, total handle was down about 15 per cent in 2024-25 after consecutive years of growth.
“I would say that was in line with what we’ve seen throughout most of the industry,” he said. “It wasn’t just specific to us, and it had been a pretty good run of a few years where our handle kept trending upwards, but this year we lost a little bit in that regard.”
One of the factors responsible for the dip was the cancellation of nine race dates, which Blanchard said, “seemed to come in pretty rapid succession.”
While racing primarily during the winter has its benefits, for example, less competition, the trade-off is the chaos that is Ontario winters.
“[Those cancellations] directly hurts horsepeople who have their horses ready to race those weeks, and it hurts from the wagering standpoint as well,” Blanchard said. “It’s tough to build momentum at a time of year when we’re one of the prime standardbred products in North America, so it’s a bit of a double whammy.
“It’s frustrating for everybody — management, horsepeople, fans — but we have to battle through that and make the best of it because it’s going to happen from time to time when you’re a winter track, and this year was one of the worst I can remember from that regard.”
There were, however, plenty of blue-sky moments to speak of – two shining examples being on-track attendance and wagering.
Both metrics enjoyed meaningful increases on the year, especially throughout the final month of the meet, with on-site handle climbing between 15 and 20 per cent compared to last season.
Attendance also experienced visible growth on major event nights.
“Over the course of the year, attendance was noticeably up, particularly on big nights,” Blanchard said. “Even on Friday nights during the season, our dining room was quite busy most weeks, so we had a good year on the food and beverage side as well, which certainly helps. Our big event days were highly successful.”
Included on Western Fair’s roster of special race days was Harness the Hope, the beloved breast cancer research, awareness, and support fundraiser, the Holiday Driver’s Challenge in support of the local Toys for Tots chapter, Boxing Day at The Raceway, a timeless fan-favorite, and a fresh addition to the calendar in Derby Day at The Raceway.
For the second consecutive year, Western Fair held live racing on the same day as the Kentucky Derby (May 3).
The track out of London, ON, normally doesn’t race on Saturdays, but after a smashing debut last year, reinstituting Derby Day was a no-brainer.
“The last couple of years we had a really nice crowd coming out to watch the Derby,” Blanchard said. “It’s more of a family-oriented day, too.
“We do a lot of fun stuff like Wiener Dog races, mini horse races, some live entertainment and food trucks on the patio. It’s a day where everybody’s a race fan for a day, so we thought to showcase our live product again on Saturday and we saw a nice bump again this year.”
Heading into the 126-day off-season on a high note, Blanchard and his peers are focused on the next waves of upgrades coming to Western Fair when the 2025-26 campaign kicks off on Oct. 3.
Last year’s major addition, a brand-new video board situated on a hydraulic lift for seamless vertical movement, was unveiled in May.
The two big-ticket items on this off-season’s to-do list — new grandstand seating and a revamped starting gate vehicle — are also devoted to improving an already exhilarating on-track experience.
The starting gate project carries a special local connection, as it is being developed in a unique partnership with engineering students from the University of Western Ontario.
It is currently in the building phase.
“They helped come up with a design concept and put the plans together,” Blanchard said. “We’re also teaming up with a local mechanic, and we’ve acquired the vehicle, now we’re building the entire starting gate structure to go on that. We look forward to unveiling that when we come back in the fall.”
With more to be announced in the coming months, the folks at Western Fair remain steadfast in their commitment to delivering a first-rate product year after year.
“It’s a long season, and it’s nice to have a break, but we’re busy planning and getting ready for an even bigger and better 2025-26 season,” Blanchard said.
