The Horsemen’s Benevolent Protection Association at Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort has a new three-year contract reflecting the track’s shorter racing schedule.

The West Virginia Racing Commission recently signed off on a shorter racing schedule – 210 days – for 2010 that will feature live racing from March through December, with four-day a week training in January and February when weather conditions are typically the harshest.

“We can move forward from here,” Mountaineer’s Tamara Pettit said. “It’s good for everyone involved: It’s good for the economy, for the state and for the county, as well as our workers.” Pettit said the shorter racing schedule is a smart dollars-and-cents move.

“I think out of those two months we only raced a total of 15 days last year,” she said. “We had to cancel racing a good bit, but you still incur the expense of preparing for the race and getting everything ready, only to find conditions too bad to race.”

Details of the agreement were not immediately available. Horsemen’s Benevolent Protection Association President Rembrandt Wright could not be reached for comment Wednesday, though in a statement issued after the agreement was reached Wright said he and HBPA “look forward to working together with Mountaineer to promote racing in the future.”

The agreement, meanwhile, was applauded by Hancock County commissioners as “a result of both Mountaineer management and the HBPA working toward a resolution that is an economic win-win for Hancock County and the State of West Virginia,” with Commissioner Mike Swartzmiller also crediting the “diligence of both Mountaineer management and that of the HBPA in bringing the agreement to a conclusion.”

Rose Mary Williams, Mountaineer’s director of racing, pointed out live thoroughbred racing has been an integral part of the track’s history since its inception as Waterford Park in 1953, “and continuing to provide a quality acing product is an important part of our mission.”