GRANTS PASS, OR—MAY 7, 2020—Grants Pass Downs hopes to pick up where it left off last fall, when the horse racing track enjoyed its most successful meet on record.

The spring and summer season begins Monday at 5:15 p.m. (PDT). with an eight-race card that features two quarter horse races, six thoroughbred races and 65 horses — or 8.1 per race.

The 17-day meet features Monday and Tuesday racing through July 6 (except June 14 and 15) and special holiday racing Sunday, July 4, at 1 p.m.

“I’m so excited to get our spring/summer season started,” Grants Pass Director of Racing Rod Lowe said in a release. “We spent all winter working on improvements and planning for this meet. We have some very exciting races planned, including a 2-year-old quarter horse futurity that should be worth almost $100,000.”

With Josephine County among those moving into high risk restrictions, Grants Pass Downs is allowed to have 1,200 spectators, or 15% of capacity.

Tickets are available at gpdowns.com and at the gate.

Last fall, Grants Pass Downs was on the heels of its spring season being canceled because of COVID-19 and limited fan attendance in the summer and fall sessions. Another setback occurred at the start of the fall meet, when smoke from wildfires wiped out the first two days of racing.

Nevertheless, television exposure on TVG and a vast online presence lured attention and players to the track.

Grants Pass Downs’ total handle for the fall was $6,044,635 for 16 race days. The figure was six times the handle from the 2019 fall meet.

With 12 races on the final day, GPD handled $868,632. It had never before done as much as $500,000, although it came close to a half million on the next-to-last day.

The daily handle topped $400,000 two other times.

Equally important was the size of the fields, averaging a record 8.03 horses per race, giving bettors plenty of options and increasing payouts.

The Firecracker Futurity, a 350-yard sprint for 2-year-olds, is the richest race of the meet and highlights the July 4 card.

Oregon-bred filly Louisiana Bunny registered a 17-to-1 upset in last year’s Firecracker and later captured the John Deere Juvenile Championship at Emerald Downs.

Jason Beem returns for his second season as the track announcer.