It has been nearly a year since Dave Palone drove a horse down the home stretch at The Meadows to the cheers of spectators as the sulky crossed the finish line.

"It's been a little boring driving without anyone in the stands," the Washington County racetrack's No. 1 driver said last week, on a quiet day during a two-week shutdown at the track.

Not only has the public's interest in horse racing been dwindling for decades, but any chance to view racing live at The Meadows ceased last May. Due to construction of the Meadows Racetrack and Casino permanent facility, bettors were shunted into trailers in an off-site parking lot, watching the local racing on television just the same as the simulcast races from hundreds or thousands of miles away.

On Wednesday, that all changes, with a new era starting for local horsemen as well as for gamblers.

Most of the attention will be on the planned 10 a.m. opening of the new casino. It will have more than twice as many slot machines as the roughly 1,800 that have been used in the adjacent temporary casino, which opened in June 2007. Thousands of players are expected to crowd the new facility Wednesday, if the Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board pronounces it ready to open, based on the results of a test run tomorrow.

And if the patrons walk straight back past the machines, to the broad windows and outdoor patios of the restaurants beyond the slots, they will have an expansive view of the industry rescued by their slots losses.

Racing resumes at The Meadows at 12:15 p.m. Wednesday after the early April shutdown to prepare the new building. Casino officials say they've designed the 350,000-square-foot structure to highlight the horses as a major entertainment feature beyond the Double Diamonds and Wheel of Fortune machines and new dining options.

Two restaurants and a food court on the casino's upper levels overlook the track, with both indoor and outdoor seating. The old-fashioned grandstand behind glass, used during four-and-a-half decades of racing, has been replaced by three rows of stadium-style, outdoor seating putting hundreds of patrons close to the home stretch.

Instead of the drab, cavernous feel of the former building's betting parlor, the downstairs of the new building resembles a high-tech living room. The 72 kiosks have individual 16-inch TV screens to watch any race across the country, and 25 wall-mounted televisions show additional tracks.

The new facility breeds enthusiasm among horse owners, trainers and drivers that they're part of a sport that can excite the public once again. Yes, they've already benefited from higher purses made possible by slots players' losses, but they insist they also crave the fans' attention.

"By sight lines, by foot traffic, and most every way you can think of, it encourages a look at the racing," said Kim Hankins, executive director of the Meadows Standardbred Owners Association. "It's not a casino that happens to have a racetrack -- it's a racetrack that happens to have a casino."

The racing disruptions at The Meadows actually date to August 2007, when demolition of the old structure began. Loss of lighting forced a switch from night to day racing. Saturday races ended. Wagering and watching was first moved to a corner of the track, in the old Adios Room, and then was moved off site altogether 11 months ago.

This week, races will run Wednesday through Friday afternoons. Afternoon racing will be reduced from five weekdays to four in May, Mondays through Thursdays. And June will bring a return to a regular evening schedule, also Monday-Thursday.

Other than the popular Adios event on Saturday, Aug. 1, weekends will be reserved for the crowds of slots enthusiasts expected to take up most available parking spaces.

The horsemen show little resentment over any priority given to the slots players. The racetracks that are thriving across the country are the ones like The Meadows that have been converted into "racinos," melding the more popular new electronic gambling with horse racing, whose followers are a more analytical lot.

Twelve percent of slots revenue in Pennsylvania is siphoned off to boost the purses in races and otherwise help those in the horse industry, such as by supporting health insurance and pensions.

The winnings given out to horse owners, trainers and drivers on a daily basis at The Meadows are now at least $160,000, or more than triple the amount before the slots arrived.

"The partnership between harness racing and the casinos has worked in almost all the venues it's been tried," said Randy Bendis, trainer of 50 horses at the track and part-owner of many.

"It's saved a lot of people here," he said. "So many were just hanging on, going month to month trying to survive. Now we're able to meet our obligations, and we're actually making money."

Mark Weaver of Southpointe bought one horse in 2003 and has built that interest into 100 horses he owns with a partner. The higher purses have enabled the horse industry to run counter to all of the negativity in the rest of the economy, he said.

"The way things are going now, this is one industry where you can make money," he said.

If there's any tension around the track, it's from the increased competitive levels. The higher purses, far more lucrative than what are offered in Ohio and other non-racino states with harness racing, have attracted interest from owners and trainers without a history of competing at The Meadows.

The quality of horses has increased as a result, say those who work at the track, because owners are willing to spend more on their standardbreds. Mr. Bendis and his partners are spending $30,000 or more each month to buy a top horse from Australia, an amount they might have ventured for one horse a year previously.

The increased competition, however, makes it harder for local owners and trainers on the lower end of the scale. They have benefited from a two-year agreement with the track through which the locals receive preference to enter races over out-of-state horses and owners. That agreement ends April 30, after which more outside horses of higher quality are expected to compete.

"They're going to be swooping in and give nothing back to the local economy," complained John Doleno, who trains and owns four horses based at The Meadows. "Those higher-class horses will come in and push us out, and they'll take the money back to Ohio."

Michael Jeannot, director of administration for The Meadows, acknowledged that higher-caliber horses are sought. They make the races more attractive to simulcast wagerers across the country, and simulcasting provides the biggest share of track revenue.

The grace period was designed to give the local horsemen time to boost their own stock with the help of the higher purses, he said.

"It shouldn't be an issue because they've had two years to deal with it," Mr. Jeannot said.

While simulcasting brings in more money overall, bets placed at The Meadows on the live races at The Meadows are more attractive for the track, because it retains a higher percentage of each dollar wagered. That's why Mr. Jeannot hopes to see plenty of people in the seats viewing races starting Wednesday, though no one expccts them to be filled each day or night.

The more people, the better for the sport, said Mr. Palone, a champion driver who shrugged off the fact that the purses have also brought top drivers from Ohio, Illinois and California to compete regularly. He still wins his share of races -- more than that, actually, with 190 first-place finishes at The Meadows and other tracks thus far in 2009.

"I think we're going to attract a lot of new fans," he said, with Wednesday as the start.