Hounds in Harlingen: Greyhounds stretch out as racing returns to city

HARLINGEN — Seven years after the last real race meet, Valley Race Park was bustling yesterday evening.

With the first greyhound race scheduled for 7 p.m., fans new to dog racing and old-timers alike began to flow into the park about 5:30 p.m.

Maury Korn, assistant general manager for the track, said it was a race in itself to prepare the track for dog racing for the first major meet since 2009. In 2013, the track hosted a five-day race meet for the greyhounds.

Duanne Dilloway from the LaPorte, Ind., area said he was here for the last racing at Valley Race Park.

“We were here when it closed up in ‘13,” said Dilloway, a retiree.

But Dilloway said he was ready to lay down some bets.

“Yeah, yeah,” he said. “We may have forgot by now — we’re older!”

Alden Moore of near North Bay, Ontario, was among the first arrivals of a group of 28 from Palm Resaca Park in Brownsville.

“We do a lot of stuff as a group,” Moore said.

“I don’t know that we’re typical northerners,” he added. “When we come down here we like to support the local economy.”

As younger dogs lapped the track in a “schooling race” before the real races started, new bartenders and waitresses prepared for opening night. More than 100 people were hired for this meet, Korn said.

New track lighting has been installed, and air-conditioning has been upgraded, track officials said. The dog kennels also have been improved.

Racing will re-commence today at 7 p.m. and Sunday will offer matinee races beginning at 4 p.m.

Dog racing’s return to the Harlingen dog track is the result of a compromise struck by the owners of three dog tracks still operating in the state and the Texas Racing Commission to rotate meets among the tracks each year.

The other tracks are Gulf Greyhound Park in La Marque and Gulf Coast Racing in Corpus Christi.

Valley Race Park has remained in business thanks to its banquet facilities and its live simulcasts of racing at horse tracks. Those simulcasts will continue while the dogs race this winter.