Penn National seeks Monday, Tuesday night racing

Penn National Race Course is seeking to shift its live-racing schedule in 2011 to take advantage of a paucity of night-racing signals on Monday and Tuesday, the track said on Wednesday.

Under the revised schedule, Penn National would conduct 202 days of live racing in 2011, with cards on Friday, Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday. In 2010, the track ran a similar number of live racing dates, but conducted the cards on a Wednesday-through-Saturday schedule.

According to the track, the Pennsylvania Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association has agreed to the shift. Penn National plans to ask the racing commission to approve the changes.

“Penn National will be one of the few Thoroughbred signals available in North America on Monday and Tuesday nights,” said Mark Loewe, the track’s vice president of racing, in a statement.

U.S. racetracks frequently seek to position their signals advantageously in the simulcast market to drive up betting on their races. Purses at Penn National are heavily subsidized by revenue from the track’s casino.

The shift would also entail a change in post times. Under the revisions, Penn National’s live race cards would begin at 5 p.m. Eastern from January to March, and then start at 6 p.m. Eastern from April to November, the track said.