Century Mile gets its second season under way

Century Mile in Edmonton, Alberta, will start its second season of racing Sunday with an eight-race card that begins at 5:15 p.m. Mountain.

The meet will consist of 40 days and run through Nov. 1. With the casino at Century Mile operating, there will be fans in attendance.

“The casino is off to a good start, despite having just a third of the floor open,” said Paul Ryneveld, managing director for Century Mile Racetrack and Casino and Century Downs in southern Alberta. “We are allowed to have 100 people on the tarmac, so we are telling people to stay home for opening day. The good news is we are racing.”

Ryneveld expects more people to start coming to Century Mile in coming weeks.

“Opening day, we’ll just have the bottom floor open to patrons. It’s where the casino is,” he said. “Next week, we are going to try and open the second floor, which is basically a restaurant. According to Alberta Health guidelines, there are no limits on the number of people allowed. We just have to make sure the tables are six feet apart. They will pretty much be occupied by owners.”

Racing days are mostly Friday and Sunday evenings. Post time for Friday is 7:45 p.m. Mountain. Sundays will begin at 5:15 p.m.

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“We’re going to see how Sunday evenings go,” Ryneveld said. “We ran during the day last year. We own Mountaineer, so we will have staggered post times with them. We also plan to have wagers between the two tracks. Plus, we’re hoping to catch some of the late California action.”

With travel restrictions, the jockey colony is lighter than usual.

“With Hastings going on Monday and Tuesday, we hope some of the jockeys can ride at both tracks,” Ryneveld said. “Some of our riders from Caribbean countries probably aren’t going to make it.”

Rigo Sarmiento is back to defend his jockey title. However, he will have his hands full with Rico Walcott returning. Walcott, the dominant rider in Alberta for the past 10 years, missed the first part of last year’s meet while recovering from successful surgery to remove a brain tumor.

“Rico is doing fantastic,” said his agent, Bob Fowlis. “He had an MRI on June 12, and the surgeon said it came back clean so he won’t need another MRI for a year. Rico has been working a ton of horses, and he’s lighter than he’s been in years. He is very anxious to get started.”

Tim Rycroft edged Greg Tracy for leading trainer last year. Rycroft will get a jump on Tracy, who currently has a string of horses at Prairie Meadows.

“I should have about 30 horses at Century next week,” Tracy said.

There are 29 stakes worth $1.4 million during the meet. The highlight is the Grade 3, $100,000 Canadian Derby on Sept. 27. Supporting the Canadian Derby are the $75,000 Century Casino Oaks, the Northlands Park Distaff, and $75,000 Mile Handicap for 3-year-olds and up.