Summerside Raceway

Summerside Raceway

Summerside Raceway Ltd. was formed to conduct local harness racing in the early 1950s. The half-mile track was officially opened as the Summerside Raceway on July 1, 1953.^[5] More than 8,000 people attended opening day at the Summerside racing plant, marking the largest crowd in Prince County, Prince Edward Island. Rt. Hon. Louis St. Laurent, then prime minister of Canada, addressed the crowd. The facility included a grandstand, stables, updated lighting and sound, and a resurfaced track, with costs near $175,000.^[6]

The Governor's Plate was established as the main feature of the Summerside racing calendar for standardbred horses.^[1] Summerside Raceway hosts the Governor's Plate each July, a top racing event in Atlantic Canada.^[7] The inaugural event made its debut on July 18, 1969.^[1]

The first winter racing card was introduced at the Summerside track in December 1970 by Bob Dewar, after which it became the province's primary winter harness racing venue.^[8] In the late 1970s, the Prince County Horsemen's Association took over Summerside Raceway's operating lease.^[9] The raceway's 100th anniversary was held in 1986.^[2]

In 1997, Bert McWade, then vice-president of sales and promotions for the Atlantic Lottery Corporation, developed a three-year, $13 million plan to place eight tracks, including the Summerside raceway, under the corporation's day-to-day operation.^[10] The region's harness racing tracks came under the control of the Atlantic Lottery Corporation in May 1998.^[11] During the 1998 season, the Summerside track held many promotional events in conjunction with the lottery corporation.^[12]

Red Shores

The racing facility taken over by the Atlantic Lottery was rebranded as Red Shores at the Summerside Raceway in 2009.^[13] Red Shores' Summerside Raceway is currently one of the two principal tracks in P.E.I., the other being Charlottetown Driving Park.^[13] It is situated at 55 Greenwood Drive, adjoining Credit Union Place.^[14]