Ontario government boosts horse racing industry support

Sunday, March 30, 2014

by SUSAN MANN

Ontario is boosting its support of the horse racing industry by $100 million over five years but one industry spokesperson says all that will do is stabilize the industry at a level far below what it was under the previous Slots at Racetracks program.

Initially, the province announced funding in October 2013 of $400 million over five years for the industry as part of the Horse Racing Industry Partnership Plan, which comes into effect April 1, but now that has been increased to $500 million over five years.

The government says in a March 31 press release the plan “is providing the horse racing industry with the tools to develop new sources of revenues and to build business relationships that will support a sustainable industry in Ontario.”

Brian Tropea, general manager of the Ontario Harness Horse Association, says the announcement is good news “but it’s still a significant shortfall from what we had prior to them (the Ontario government) ending the Slots at Racetracks program.”

The government announced in 2012 it was ending the revenue sharing program, which provided the industry with $370 million annually. It ran for 14 years.

Tropea says now the government is talking about giving the industry $100 million a year along with rent money for the racetracks to allow the slot machines to continue being there.

Sue Leslie, president of the Ontario Horse Racing Industry Association, says the additional $100 million annually is “very good news for the industry. We do now have some stability going forward.”

But “we still have a long way to climb back to where we were,” she says. “This isn’t allowing us the growth and investment into our industry that we need to stay alive.” That will come through integrating horse racing into the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation modernization plan, and the horse racing industry will be working to ensure the government gives that step the same commitment it gave to stabilizing the industry.

Mark Cripps, Ontario agriculture ministry spokesperson, says the additional $100 million annually is “for additional operational support and enhanced purses at regional tracks.”

Tropea says the government has decimated the industry by ending of the Slots at Racetracks program and the move has particularly killed the breeding industry.  In 2011, the last year there was a full season under that program, there were 1,260 standardbred race dates while last year there were just 760. “We lost 500 days and our prize money dropped from $165 million to $92 million.” Similarly, thoroughbred race dates dropped to 174 in 2013 from 230 in 2012 and 243 in 2011.

In 2011, there were 134 standardbred stallions registered in Ontario while in 2013 there were just 70. “My understanding is there are 44 that have paid into the Sire Stakes program for this year,” he says. There is a similar story with bred mares. In 2011, there were 4,000 standardbred mares bred, while in 2013 there 1,796.

In addition, two racetracks have already closed (Windsor in 2012 and Woodstock in 2013) while one other track, Kawartha Downs, likely won’t be holding races this year, he says.

Part of the additional $100 million a year government money is intended to help horse breeders. Tropea says part of the money is going toward a breeders’ bonus that pays the breeder of a winning horse bred and raised in Ontario bonuses for breeding it. “The thoroughbred program is $12 million and the quarterhorse program is $6 million,” he says.

One of the most frustrating parts of the slots at racetracks program ending in Ontario is neighbouring states in the United States, such as Ohio, are just developing and implementing similar programs, he notes.

“Two years ago people were sending horses to Ontario from all over the world – England, Australia, New Zealand. We had owners from all over the world,” he says, noting that Ontario people groomed those horses, trained and raced them, provided blacksmith and veterinary services and they were buying provincial feed. But now “we have to compete with other states in the U.S. that are just developing the exact program that ended here.”

And Ontario horse owners are moving their stallions to Ohio to breed mares there “They’re seeing a renaissance in their industry, while we’re seeing the destruction of ours,” he says. BF