Harness racing officials in Manitoba are pleased with how well this season has turned out despite the pandemic restrictions on crowds.

Normally the Manitoba Harness Racing Association operates races in a number of small rural communities in southern Manitoba.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic forced organizers to hold races in one venue, Miami, where they implemented simulcast wagering online which allowed people to watch and wager on races from the comfort of their own homes.

"We had to go through a lot of obstacles, a lot of hurdles to jump along the way but it took until about week 5 or maybe 6 to finally start running smoothly," said Trevor Williams, president of the Manitoba Standardbred Racing Industry. "Things have been great, the people in Miami have been great, all of our helpers have been great, the horsemen have been great, so yeah, it's been a fantastic summer so far."

One of the other changes organizers had to make involved running races consecutively for 10 weeks starting on July 11 with the season ending race scheduled for September 12.

There has been about a dozen horses stabled in Miami for the season while the rest of the horses are shipped in by participants every Saturday from communities and farms across southern Manitoba, according to Williams.

The fact that people can watch the races online doesn't appear to have detracted too much from people coming out to the track to watch the races.

"We've been pleasantly surprised at the number of people that did come. We've been hitting our quota for most Saturday's, so it seems people just want to get out of the house and do something. It's been a weird kind of year, but it's gone surprisingly well."

With all the success harness racing has enjoyed this year with the online component, Williams was asked if any thought has been given to making this a permanent arrangement in the future.

"We don't want to be too quick to make any decisions yet. It's gone really well with simulcast wagering and being able to show our product online ... and not have to come to the races. In order to do that we've had to maintain 10 racing days at one facility, but whether we go that route in the future is still up for discussion. We need to keep in mind that every town still wants to race and we're very appreciative of our rural roots and we want to continue to go back and visit those towns as well."

Willams says the organization will need to take a hard look at things after the season is over this fall and determine what they want to do in the years going forward.