Ontario Panel Report Released, Calls For
Major Reduction in Racing Dates
By Bill Finley
The Ontario standardbred industry will likely be much
smaller starting in 2013 as the Horse Racing Industry Transitional
Panel's final report is calling for harness and thoroughbred
dates in the province to be reduced by nearly 50
percent. By reducing the number of racing dates, the panel
expects there will be only small cuts in the daily average
purse structures.
To read the report click here
The long awaited
report from the panel
was released yesterday
and it unveiled a
three-year plan it believes
will allow the
industry to eventually
be self-sustaining. To
assist in the transition
away from the Slots At Racetracks Programs, which ends
March 31, the panel is calling for the Ontario government to
subsidize the industry in the short term. Reasoning that it
would not be in the public's best interest to reveal at this
time how much money the government was prepared to
provide to the industry, the three-member panel did not
disclose how much would be forthcoming.
As expected, the Woodbine Entertainment Group tracks
will be hit the least. The panel divided the province's standardbred
tracks into three groups, A, B and C level. Though
it did not say which tracks fell into which level, Mohawk and
Woodbine are clearly the A tracks. In 2011, they offered 243
live racing dates with $81 million in purses. According to the
report, if they were to again run 243 dates in 2013 purses
would have to be reduced by 50 percent. Instead, the panel
wants WEG to operate 140 days of racing, which would
mean the purse structure would remain intact at an average
of $264,000 a day.
It designated six tracks as "B" tracks and is calling for a
reduction in total dates from 731 to 300, while maintaining
an annual purse level of $22 million for the combined group.
Seven tracks were designated as "C" tracks and they will
be hit the hardest. Those seven tracks had 308 racing dates
in 2011 with combined purses of $18 million. The report
calls for a reduction in purses to $4.2 million with 140 racing
dates.
Particularly at the B and C level, it is not clear if tracks will
choose to remain open under the new scenario.
The report strongly recommends continuing the Horse
Improvement Program, which funds, among other things,
the sire stakes program. However, it is recommending that
its budget be reduced to $30 million. In 2009, the latest year
for which details were available, the HIP had a budget of
$47.5 million
