Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Windsor Raceway's Looking to Cut Dates

April 16, 2008

Facing declining slot machine revenues and already paying horsemen the second-lowest purses in Ontario, Windsor Raceway wants to reduce its harness racing schedule for the rest of the season because it is running out of funds.

Its application to the Ontario Racing Commission to eliminate seven Tuesday nights and one Sunday between now to the end of May from its 111-night 2008 schedule is being opposed by the Ontario Harness Horse Association, which represents the approximately 400 to 500 horsemen in this area.

It its application, the raceway says it will be in the red if it doesn't reduce its schedule.

"By the time of the summer shutdown, if no changes are made to the Windsor Raceway racing program, the purse pool will have a negative balance of $158,900."

OHHA and raceway officials are to meet Wednesday in Toronto with the ORC to discuss the application, and in the meantime races will go on as scheduled, said Chris Kruba, legal counsel for the raceway. The ORC's acting executive director, Rob McKinney, said a decision will be made by early next week, and either side can appeal.

"Hopefully we'll expedite it as soon as possible," McKinney said.

Kruba said cancelling the eight days and closing the track in the summer -- as it did last year -- will allow the track to replenish funds which come from the horsemen's share of revenue but primarily come from a portion of slot machine funds.

"We don't have sufficient purse funds to run the number of days that are approved," Kruba said Monday. "We just don't have the money to run the number of days that remain this year."

The application said that since 2005 there has been a 34 per cent decline in contributions from the raceway slots to the racing purse pool. In 2005 the average daily contribution of each slot machine was $237, but this year has declined to $157. Kruba said about 60 per cent of the Windsor purse comes from slot machines, compared to 90 per cent at some other Ontario tracks.

In 2007, the average purse paid for each race day in Windsor was $61,114, the second lowest in Ontario, and so far this year the figure has been approximately $57,857.

The application to the ORC was submitted in March.

"Across the province there's been a decline on wagering on racing," Kruba said, adding Windsor is in a unique position because of declining slot machine revenue, competition from casinos in Windsor and Detroit, a slowdown in the local economy, the higher value of the Canadian dollar and perceived border crossing delays which is hurting U.S. business.

John Walzak, chief operating officer of the Campbellville-based OHHA, said a better solution is going with lower purses for each race and holding the eight races in the summer months instead to generate revenue.

"Given the situation we're currently in, rather than reducing racing opportunities, we should just reduce the purses," Walzak said. "We're going to race for the same amount of money in aggregate. So what we want to do is make sure we can spread that out in the most effective and efficient manner that makes owning a horse in Windsor somewhat attractive.

"It happens at every racetrack -- purses go up, purses go down because revenues go up and down."

But Kruba said reducing purses would discourage horsemen from competing, hurting the track even more. "We're not competitive in terms of attracting horsemen," he said.

"Unfortunately, due to dramatically eroded economic conditions in Windsor and Essex County, the Windsor Raceway purse pool does not have the resources to support 111 days of competitive live racing," the raceway's application to the ORC stated.

Despite economic pressures, the harness racing sector is a major contributor to the economy, Walzak said, and is worth $2.5 billion in Ontario. He estimated it directly and indirectly employs about 700 people in this area, saying each racehorse generates about $120,000 to the economy. Walzak said eliminating eight days of racing from the schedule would mean an economic loss of $2 million to this area.