Following a meeting held March 29th with the four Ontario Standardbred Horsepeople's Associations, the Implementation and Monitoring Group for the Ontario Racing Program is releasing information recently received from the racetrack purse account managers

regarding the status of purse accounts and projections on purse levels at each Ontario Standardbred Racetrack.

IM Group provides status report and analysis of purse monies

Consultation on the use of purse monies continued last week, as the members of the Ontario Racing Implementation and Monitoring (IM) Group met with the Presidents of all four standardbred horsepeople associations. Attending the meeting on March 29, 2011 were Bill O’Donnell of the Central Ontario Standardbred Association, Gordon McDonald of the National Capital Region Harness Horse Association, Bob Bodkin of the Northern Horsemen’s Association and Ken Hardy of the Ontario Harness Horse Association.

John Blakney, Executive Director of the Ontario Racing Commission (ORC) also attended and echoed the comments he made to the industry in a statement released on March 24th. He reconfirmed that any monies held in the purse account will only be used for the benefit of Ontario horsepeople. Any decision on how, and in what way, purse money will be spent will only be made after extensive consultation with horsepeople. All standardbred horsepeople associations will be part of the process, as will an expanded group of horsepeople. The first meeting of this expanded group has been tentatively scheduled for April 19 and details will be released shortly.

The IM Group reported on the progress of the Ontario Racing Program (Program), and provided up-to‐date information regarding the status of purse accounts and projections on purse levels at each Ontario standardbred racetrack. The purse report was based on current information recently provided by all racetrack purse account managers, as well as statistics from Standardbred Canada and the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation (OLG). The purse statistics were provided to the associations at the meeting for their analysis and review. To date, no communication has been received from the groups to advise the Program of any errors or omissions.

Highlights of the information reported include:

• In 2011 horsepeople will be racing for a total Ontario overnight purse pool of $123 million, almost identical to 2010.
• To clarify recent statements made to the contrary, the 2011 Program does not include any shift in purse monies to the WEG or the ORC.
• For the majority of racetracks, the maximum daily purse levels set by the Program are in line with harness racing programs offered in 2010.

All horsepeople are encouraged to review the report that is available on the ORC website at www.ontarioracingcommission.ca. Purse account information by its very nature can be detailed and complex, so the IM Group plans to issue further clarification documents shortly to help broaden understanding of the statistics. In the meantime, anyone with a question should contact a member of the Group.

The mandate of the IM Group is to implement and monitor the elements of the Ontario Racing Program and to ensure the Program is flexible enough to change, where the need for change is demonstrated and determined to be warranted.

Purse Analysis and Report - Racing for 2011 purses almost identical to 2010

For the information of Ontario horsepeople, this analysis has been prepared by the Implementation and Monitoring (IM) Group.

Please note the following when reviewing the statistics:

• The analysis is on overnight purses only – it does not include purses available for stakes races
• The purse figures include certain redistributions approved by the ORC ($1.4 million to Windsor from Dresden and Woodstock; $1.0 million to Flamboro from Georgian).
• In 2011, horsepeople will be racing in Ontario for total overnight purses of $123 million, almost identical to those in 2010.
• To clarify recent statements made to the contrary, the 2011 Program does not include any shift in purse monies to the WEG or the ORC.
• For the majority of racetracks, the maximum daily purse levels set by the Program are in line with racing programs offered in 2010.

If you have a question about the analysis, please contact a member of the Group.

The mandate of the IM Group is to implement and monitor the elements of the Ontario Racing Program and to ensure the Program is flexible enough to change, where the need for change is demonstrated and determined to be warranted.

For more information, please contact:
Implementation and Monitoring Group
Wendy Hoogeveen, Industry Development and Support
Bill Fines, Mike Wilson, Rob McKay, Ryan Dupuis, Kerry Wright
416‐213‐0520
[email protected]