Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Horsemen see Causes for Decline
Tracks not catering to bettors' convenience

February 6, 2010

Bill Andrew is doing his part, in word and deed, to save horse racing in Alberta.

"We need to get people back into the game," said Andrew, a harness breeder and owner who is putting up a 40-per-cent ownership in his mare Starring Role, a former two-year-old champion who now races in "open" company. A draw will be made on Saturday with three shares worth 13-1/3 per cent each to be won. No bills to pay, just cheques to collect.

"We need to make wagering simpler," said Andrew, who suggests that instead of triactors and superfectas there should be 50-cent win bets or betting on odd-or even-numbered horses to win.

"And interactive betting. With the technology that is available today, why wouldn't you make bets on your computer, your BlackBerry or whatever while the race is going on, with the odds constantly changing?"

Racing fan Tim Rosnau said he wants a national governing body so that the medication rules are universal from one jurisdiction to another. And while he said Northlands does a good job with free admission and free parking and has a clean, well-maintained facility, he lamented that "Northlands cut out almost all of their promotions and raised all their food prices. Regular customers used to get sent coupons for 50 per cent off food items and 25-cent wings. Not anymore."

Nick Eaves, president and chief operating officer for Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto, said thoroughbred wagering was up seven per cent in 2009 from 2008, but harness wagering was down seven per cent.

"There's too much product and not enough demand for harness racing. We race 240 standardbred cards, compared with 160 thoroughbred dates. The balance is wrong, especially when you have 13 or 14 other tracks racing harness horses close by -- like Flamboro Downs, which has something like 250 harness cards a year."

Eaves also said that the biggest growth area in the racing business has been Internet wagering through Horse Player Interactive.

"It only makes sense. We would love to have people come to the track. After all, there is no substitute for being there. But with the products available today and the reality that people's lives are busier and different, we have to make telephone, Internet and other wireless device wagering easier."

A concern, however, is the thousands of offshore wagering sites where nobody knows how much is being wagered but no tax revenue -- or revenue of any kind -- comes back. Then there is the United Kingdom's Betfair site, which offers a betting exchange that works like a stock market, It isn't legal in Canada but people still, of course, find a way. Betfair, which showed a net profit of $121 million US last year, offers 12-to 15-per-cent rebates because they don't have near the same operational costs as a racetrack.

Jerry Bouma, a former Horse Racing Alberta board member and a well-regarded management consultant whose company has restructured other agricultural industries like Alberta Dairy, Beef and Pork has said several times that while playing slot machines is easy, offers quick action and has a low production cost, horse racing is not well understood, has a low frequency and is very expensive to produce.

George Cuff's report for the Alberta Solicitor General and Public Security, which was highly critical of HRA, had a lot of meat in it:

- - "The trust placed in the development of a new A track in the Balzac area has proven at least thus far to be ill-founded.

- - "The current vision of HRA has not proven to be realistic and may be part of the reason that progressive and necessary changes have yet to be made.

- - "The industry is unlikely to thrive unless more attention and the goodwill of all parties is placed on growing the gaming aspects of the industry which may draw along the live horse racing product as an ancillary benefit.

- - "The rightful role of government in the industry (i. e., regulatory) appears to have been shelved and replaced by one of promoting the industry rather than creating the circumstances which allows the industry to do that for itself.

Other suggestions included:

- - Lowering horse racing's usurious takeout. In Alberta it is 21 per cent, no matter the size of the field. Customers are simply unwilling to pay 20 per cent on five or six possible outcomes.

- - Better marketing, both national and local. The failure to capitalize on Zenyatta's triumph in the Breeders' Cup was a story handed to racing on a silver platter, and the community dropped it. Locally, contacts with the media are few and far between -- often completely nonexistent.

- - A one-hour weekly race-of-the-week show with all the week's top races and stories from across the globe.

"Sometimes it's almost like Northlands doesn't want you there," said racing fan Rick Herchek. "Especially with simulcasting. They have no idea how to run it. You will be watching a race and all of a sudden the picture will go off, or the sound will go off, and they will put on the post parade of a harness track."