The Crooked River Roundup horse races, scheduled for July 15-18 in Prineville, have been canceled.

It’s your chance to play the ponies in Central Oregon.

The horses return for four nights of racing starting tonight at the Crook County Fairgrounds in Prineville. First post is 7:15 p.m. for each of the four sessions. Eight races are scheduled for tonight and Thursday, and 10 races will be run Friday and Saturday.

The races begin tonight with two features and Ladies Night — all women will be admitted free.

“We always try to kick off the week with a pretty good crowd,” said Bryan Iverson, promotions chair for the Crooked River Roundup horse races. “We have a couple of premiere races (tonight) that should draw in a few more horsemen.”

The third race is a $1,000 added event, and two other races will have larger purses for opening night. The sixth race, the Simonis Sprint, will feature thoroughbreds sprinting 5 furlongs for a purse of $3,000, while the seventh race, the Ben Woodward Memorial Stakes, will be staged at 7 furlongs for a purse of $4,000.

“We scheduled those races on the first night in hopes of getting more of the owners here early in the week,” Iverson said. “They always come in Saturday night for the big race, the Rhoden Memorial, but we like to put more money in the races early in the week because we want to have full fields for those.”

Races will include quarter horse sprints at 250 yards, like the aforementioned $14,000 Rhoden Stakes, all the way up to the Prineville HBPA Stakes, a 11⁄8-mile race Friday.

“The sprints are right in front of the crowd,” Iverson said. “The longer races the horses will make a full lap or up to two laps for the 7-furlong races. “People enjoy those because they get to cheer for a long time.”

Races typically start about every 20 to 30 minutes, so they will run until about 10:30 p.m. today and Thursday, and closer to 11:30 or midnight Friday and Saturday.

“We really do try to keep the pace up, especially Friday and Saturday night,” Iverson said. “With 10 races, sometimes we’ll run that last race about 11:59.”

Horses typically come in from around the Northwest and along the West Coast, including Portland Meadows, Emerald Downs (Auburn, Washington), Les Bois Park (Boise, Idaho), and even from Golden Gate Fields in the Bay Area.

“It’s good that we have some added (higher purse) races this year to bring in some of these horses,” Iverson said. “All that does is help our races. It brings in more horses and horsemen.

“We hope to get six, seven or eight horses for every race — and what brings them in is money.”

Organizers hope that the handle for this year’s races approaches last year’s numbers.

“It was over $400,000, with $250,000 wagered on Saturday night alone last year,” Iverson said.

Players can bet win, place and show, quinellas, exactas, trifectas and daily doubles. The minimum bet is $3.

More than 50 tellers will be available for crowds expected to average from 1,500 to close to 4,000 on Saturday night.

“For Prineville and Central Oregon, our horse races are a pretty unique event,” Iverson said. “There really isn’t anything like it.

“We’re hoping that with everything going on in horse racing this year, including a Triple Crown winner (American Pharoah), it will get more people excited about it and we’ll have some good crowds.”

Gates open at 6 p.m., and a free “How to bet” class is offered every night at that time.

Admission is $7 and includes parking and a program. A $2 off coupon is available at Wilco stores in Bend and Prineville.

— Reporter: 541-617-7868, kduke@bendbulletin.com.