Record day for betting at Ajax Downs

The Ajax Downs quarter horse track set an all-time record for wagering on a single day yesterday, with punters plunking down $192, 821 – more than double the wagering on the same day last year.

Ajax Down, which was known as Picov Downs until 2006, has held Quarter Horse racing since 1969 and held its first American Quarter Horse Association meet in 1971.

Founded by Alexander Picov, a Russian immigrant who arrived in Canada in 1921, Picov Downs was built on the family’s land. Placement between a highway and a creek dictated its unique shape, a straightaway with a right-handed turn.

The mark is also a record for Quarter Horse wagering in Ontario. While there have been other quarter horse tracks in Ontario in the past, Ajax Down is the only one left.

There are a number of tracks for the drag racers of horse racing in western Canada, where the sport has a large following.