Breeder says harness racing at Georgian Downs in doubt

By Ian McInroy, Barrie Examiner  January 10, 2013 

INNISFIL – Will Saturday night be the last evening of harness horse racing at Georgian Downs?

Horse breeder Mike Sinclair thinks it could be.

The director of District 5 of the Ontario Harness Horse Association (OHHA) says the future of racing at the Innisfil oval is in serious peril.

“Saturday is the fourth and last night of 2013 and it could be the last night forever at Georgian Downs,” he said Thursday from his farm north of Cookstown.

“They’re shutting it down and they won’t give us an answer. Georgian Downs is not telling us anything. As of April 1 (when the next season would normally begin), there could be absolutely no horse racing,” he said. “We don’t know what’s going on. Nobody’s talking to us.”

A spokesman for Great Canadian Gaming, which owns Georgian Downs, would not elaborate on the track’s future when asked, Thursday.

“I am sorry, but we cannot comment on racing at this time,” Howard Blank said.

Sinclair said at one time, there used to be 130 race nights a year at Georgian Downs. In 2012 there were 96.

And in 2013…?

OHHA general manager Brian Tropea isn’t hopeful.

With the provincial government’s decision to end the slots at racetracks program (SARP) and its decision to allow the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG) to expand slots across the province to willing host municipalities, the future is bleak for the horse industry in Ontario.

“It’s very dire. Unless there’s a change in the government’s stand of gaming modernization, there is no way the horse industry can survive,” he said from the OHHA offices near Guelph.

“As it currently stands, it is very unlikely that racing would occur at Georgian Downs after April 1.”

The SARP agreement — created under the government of former Conservative premier Mike Harris about 15 years ago — used to see 10% of gambling revenues going to the tracks, 10% to people in the horse industry, 5% to the host municipality and 75% going to the government. Industry officials say the agreement supported 30,000 full-time jobs and 30,000 part-time/casual jobs.

But the McGuinty Liberals put an end to the agreement last year, Tropea said.

“They just came in overnight and what was a partnership became a subsidy they could no longer afford,” he said.

In 2011, racetrack slots generated approximately $1.7 billion and from that revenue, the Ontario government paid roughly $355 million in operating costs. It also paid approximately $345 million to the horse racing industry to cover its negotiated fee.

That same year, the government of Ontario cleared over $1 billion from revenue generated at racetracks across the province, without investing a penny in the industry.

The government’s plans to remove the SARP and move ahead with more OLG slot facilities elsewhere, including bingo halls, spells disaster for the horse industry, he added. Some of those bingo halls have ‘play-on-demand machines’ or ‘electronic break-open machines, which cost money to play and have payout receipts.

“If (the bingo halls) are allowed to have those machines, why can’t we? The OLG is an agency of the government and the government has become the competition of the horse racing industry,” he said. “We’re in competition for our customers. We don’t mind that, but it should be a fair competition. They make the rules and enforce the rules. At least give us the tools to compete fairly.”

Tropea said there should’ve been warning — or at least a time frame for changes — of the SARP being dismantled.

“People would’ve made business decisions. They have made substantial investments in horse racing with the assumption the arrangement was going to continue. They deserve the opportunity to earn back those investments,” he said. “Their ability to invest with confidence has been terribly shaken.”

The provincial government is portraying horse people as rich, he added.

“Nothing could be further than the truth. This is an agricultural industry; we’re farmers. What we make in one year we invest in the next year,” he said. “There are a lot of third and fourth generation horsemen in the province. This is all they’ve ever known and now it’s been taken away from them.”

The horses themselves are in a precarious position, Tropea said.

“There are too many horses. It’s difficult to find a home for them now,” he said, adding it’s expensive to keep a horse that isn’t generating income. “Overnight, our assets have become liabilities. The market has been flooded and we haven’t got to the critical point yet. That’s on April 1.”

Sinclair said he knows of breeders who have scaled back their operations and some who have reluctantly elected to euthanize some animals.

“Some guys have already done it. It’s done humanely by a vet. Or they give them away,” he said.

The only light at the end of a dismal tunnel may be when the provincial Liberals elect a new leader and a new premier or another party takes over the reins after the next election, Tropea said.

“Everybody’s optimistic — hope against hope. The new leader should at least take the time to evaluate the decisions around gaming modernization.”