The issues of our most prosperous jurisdictions are often at the forefront of our industry’s media coverage. But what is happening on the ground in our grassroots markets? We brought the leaders of four have-not horseman’s groups to the table — Keith Gowan (Newfoundland) Marc Camirand (Quebec), Keith Earle (Manitoba) and Glenn LeDrew (Saskatchewan) — to weigh in on what their regional racing needs to stay afloat. By Kimberly Fisher

KG = Keith Gowan, president of the Newfoundland Harness Horse Owners Association.
MC = Marc Camirand, interim president of the Association Trot et Amble du Québec.
KE = Keith Earle, president of the Manitoba Harness Horsemen.
GL = Glenn Le Drew, president of the Saskatchewan Standardbred Horsemen's Association.

Do you feel the weight of representing and championing the industry fall on your shoulders as a horsemen’s association in a have-not province? Can you speak to that challenge?

KG: We have no champions here. Between the track ownership and our association, we do all the advertising and any political lobbying that we can do. We have no grants, no funding whatsoever.

We survive solely on our simulcast bet and our live bet. We’re on an island out in the middle of nowhere. We only have the one track in the province. So it’s very challenging to keep the industry going and try to grow it. If we don’t do it, it won’t survive here.

MC: The new organization here is the Quebec Jockey Club, and the main task of our organization right now is to back the QJC in their demands to the government at all levels. Before we had a horseman’s association and a breeder’s association in Quebec. Right now, you have both together because we understand that everybody had to be on the same side. As soon as you divide, you don’t go nowhere.

KE: We talk to our Ministers to try and get them involved in getting the race meet into Assinaboia Downs for us. If we don’t do it, no one else will.

GL: We have spent a lot of time in the last two or three years lobbying the government to try and get a more equal share of our annual grant. As far as growing the industry goes, we as the horsemen have really taken on most of the responsibility ourselves from our association perspective. We’ve done up calendars and schedules for our race dates and distributed them to local businesses. We’ve worked really hard the last few years on our website. We really feel that if our industry is going to grow that our association is certainly going to have to be a big part of that.

Who in the industry, do you feel, is letting you down? Is it the government, industry organizations, track executive, your local community? Who’s not pulling their weight?

KG: We don’t have anybody here. From a political perspective here in Newfoundland, we can’t get anybody to accept responsibility for the sport. We try to lobby all levels of government, but we’re finding it very hard to get anybody to jump on board with us to help us champion it for grants or subsidies. Our biggest ally, to be quite honest with you, is our track owner.

MC: We are trying to work with the track owner right now... a private, not-for-profit organization, the QJC. But the QJC is new. The first year, they didn’t have any money. There is no money coming in, so it was very slow to start. But they have now hired a manager, and that guy is really trying to open the doors. We’re trying to build a plan with them and go to the government.

KE: When the Manitoba Jockey Club took over Assinaboia Downs, the provincial government allowed the industry to be structured such that they would just race thoroughbreds there. They put us out on the rural circuit and it almost looked like... ‘just go out there and go away, and you’ll be done in a couple of years.’ Well, we’ve hung on, and actually grew a little bit. I think they’re starting to see it, but they don’t really seem to get the spinoff to this industry, that there is a huge spinoff.

KG: Huge! From the feed stores to the tack shops to just transportation, trucking... the whole bit. I mean everybody gets a little piece of it. The spin-off is there... if that goes away... if there are no standardbred horses racing... that business just goes away. They just don’t truck them around for the sake of trucking them around or buy equipment if they don’t need it.

GL: Our situation is actually very similar to what Keith was talking about in Manitoba. Ultimately it’s the government who does grant us the money that we do have. One of our greatest challenges is that all of the wagering in the province is controlled by a thoroughbred operator. So that’s our greatest challenge... to fight to stay alive, to keep our share of the grant at a reasonable amount. They get about 70% to go towards the thoroughbred program, so of course the purses are much higher. It’s hard to compete with them. And we certainly would need to get into the other gaming market as well here, but the government has been very controlled in the sense that racetracks haven’t really been able to secure slots or VLTs or anything like that.

What is it that you want or need to support growth of the industry in your region?

KG: Ideally what we’d like to see is some government support... be it in the form of shared lottery, or helping us secure some racinos or more VLTs. If our purse money goes up, better quality horses come about, the industry grows, more horsemen become involved... there’s a trickle down effect. You spend more money, you make more money... We’re all kind of singing the same song. We just need our fair share. We’re just looking for our cut — no more, no less.

MC: In a perfect world, when they sell Blue Bonnets — which was supposed to be our heritage here — we would like a cut of the profit. We bought it at a very cheap price, when the economy was down in 2000, for $15 million, and it’s worth about $100 million right now or perhaps more than that, depending on the zoning. And it was in the contract when they [the provincial government] sold the track to private interests, that if they were to sell the place, the industry would have a cut of it. So if we could get something like $30 or $40 million, we could for sure build another track. In a perfect world, we would like to have a track in the region of Montreal... in about three years.

KE: We need the lotteries to be working with us. And we’re talking about it now, to get a racino that we would be a part of. We’d like to continue racing 20 days on the rural circuit, and then go into Winnipeg for 30-40 days in the fall.

GL: In order for our industry to grow in that way and really have success... to increase the purses and increase the number of race days... we need to get slots or VLTs in at our racetracks. And that’s a real stretch for us here. I think all the other groups are much further ahead than we are.

What’s your take on the industry overall? What’s gone off the rails? What do we need to do to revive it?

MC: The main thing for sure is that horse racing has got to find new ways to bring people to the racetrack. I think the biggest thing is to have the takeout going down. If you have the takeout going down, you’ll have the bettors... when people think they can make money, they’re there. So I think the takeout is a big, big, big question. It’s mathematics. When you put the takeout down, people play longer. The guy that will play $100, he will lose $100. If he plays all night losing his $100, he will have fun. If he plays three races and loses $100, he’s got no fun. I think takeout is the main issue... the first issue... in racing right now.

GL: To be honest with you, I just really don’t have the answers as to what the industry needs as whole. We are so focused on trying to keep it alive here. I’m not sure the average bettor in Saskatchewan knows what the takeout is and not sure it would influence them one bit, really.

It’s a good point, you know... how do we feel about racing in the bigger picture. But the issues are very different, and I’m not sure those that are effected in the bigger markets have too much to do with what’s happening in the smaller areas. We need to focus on getting people out to the tracks here.

If you guys are focused on your smaller markets and how we can grow them and promote them and build them in your local communities... if you’re successful in doing that, how do you feel that effects the bigger picture?

GL: If you mention that to the bigger tracks — I’m not sure all the success we have here in Saskatchewan... I’m really not sure if it would have any impact on a track, you know, like Woodbine, or The Meadowlands.

But I don’t specifically mean Ontario or WEG, I mean on the concept of Canadian harness racing writ large. On the sport, on the passion itself, moreso than just on the dollar value.

GL: Certainly... I think anytime you can get into a situation where you’re multiplying owners and you can get more people involved in the sport that would have an impact on the industry. You’ve got a lot of these top drivers in Ontario — they’ve migrated from the East Coast or Atlantic Canada, and certainly you’ve got a number of people from the west — so I think that happens with owners too. An owner in Saskatchewan might buy his first $2000 claimer and have lots of fun, and if he happens to be a guy with some money, he may eventually own horses in Alberta or even in Ontario.

I’ll add to that... do you think it’s possible for harness racing to survive in Canada on a larger scale if you guys fail? What if at some point there is no rural racing, no fair circuits... if these smaller markets don’t exist?

MC: You cannot have only Ontario racing. It’s like hockey teams. You need to have the smaller teams. You play in your city and then you play in a bigger city and then after that you represent your province... you really have to have it on a smaller scale to have it on a large scale for sure.

KG: If we don’t have the feeder systems from the smaller tracks, you know... the drivers that want to and do make it a career, the owners that want to step up and buy the better quality horses and move on... that’s where it all heads to. We have to promote locally. This whole industry will go south if we do not get more owners involved, and if we don’t increase the horse population and just the interest in itself. I know for example here in Newfoundland, we went from forty some-odd horses some six years ago, and we’re up to 85, 90 horses — we’ll probably top 100 this year... I mean that’s a dramatic difference for us in that short a period of time, you know, in five... six years. That’s where the industry has to grow.

MC: Tell me something Keith... how come it’s rising? How come you’re doing so well and having more horses?

KG: Just by getting the word out there. One guy buys one horse, you get a friend of his. He buys a horse. He gets somebody else involved. It’s just a domino effect.Horse racing used to be very prevalent here in Newfoundland, there used to be a couple of tracks, not just one. We’ve got older people that are getting re-involved, getting back into the sport, and younger people as well are new horse owners and stuff like that. That’s where we’re getting our growth right now... it’s more organic.

MC: So what you’re telling me is you’re doing good in Newfoundland right now.

KG: Yes... we’re one of the few tracks in Canada that has actually increased both our bet and our purses in the last year -- and we have each year for the past five years running.

MC: So you should be optimistic in one way, no?

KG: I am optimistic, yes... but we need help from both from the government and from our governing and regulatory bodies. We‘re just a small track with no assistance and we are just starting to get our feet under us.

KE: I agree with everything everyone has said here. I like to think the west is a bit of a feeder system. We’ve got some horses and trainers and drivers that went down east. But if we weren’t here... I’m sad to say that I don’t think those larger racing jurisdictions would really miss us that much.

KG: I think that goes for us out here too. I’m pretty sure the bigger markets would still keep on racing.

But don’t you think that if all the smaller markets disappeared, that surely would have a major impact on the sport. Do you see that?

KE: Well, some of the better horses from Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba, and British Columbia end up in Ontario. But as far as us supporting them... they have lots of horses down there I’d say. Sorry to sound negative.

What do you foresee the situation in your region being in five years?

GL: The figure that’s been thrown around the last few years that would work good for horsemen here is if we could get up to 30 race days a year... we typically only race once a week, so if we could race six or seven months of the year here, have bottom purses of $1,800-$2,000, where our bottom purse now is $1000, that’s kind of a goal that we’re immediately working towards.

KE: What we would like to see would be to continue with about 20 days on the rural circuit, and our big objective would be to build a track inside the track at Assinaboia Downs, and have another 30 or 40 days from September to December in Winnipeg with bottom purses around $2,000.

MC: I think realistically, for us, a track in the Montreal region. And to have 100 ... 150 days of racing. And to have purse money... right now we are about $1.2 million. Realistically, without the help of the government, probably with the help of the OTBs, we could go for six or seven million. Realistically, I don’t see putting the purses up that much without the help of VLTs. But for sure, we’ve got the population to have a certain betting interest.

KG: Five years from now I’d hope that we could get a racino here to increase our bet. Our bottom class now is less than $500. Our top class is under $1000. So, I mean, we’re very limited. I’d like to see us get to at least 30 race days a year, though weather plays a big factor in that. Even just having some lights at our track so we can race at night would be a big bonus for us all. Some government support and maybe some grants, or like we said, the racino.

THE BREAKDOWN

The nitty-gritty on our four smallest racing jurisdictions. How do they stack up?

Newfoundland: Association membership in Canda's easternmost is roughly 120 grooms, owners, drivers and trainers in total. The single operating racetrack in the province was shut down in 2005, but since then, Newfoundland horsemen have come back to life. They've written a constitution and built a formalized association - the Newfoundland Harness Horse Owners Association (NHHAO). Jim Whelan came to Newfoundland from Ontario and bought St. John's Racing and Entertainment Centre, of which his son Brett Whelan is now manager. "We've gone from $40,000 in purses and forty some-odd horses racing five years ago to $100,000 and likely more than 100 horses this year," says NHHOA President Keith Gowan. "And that's all on our own backs... that's all on our own bet. Everything. We don't have any handouts from anybody."

Quebec: From the 6,000 members they had five years ago, the horsemen's group Association Trot et Amble du Québec (ATQ) is down to a membership of roughly 1000. They do still operate their pension fund, but for three years now there has been no new input. They also provide some measure of life insurance and civil insurance. In 2011, the province will host 20 racing days at the track in Quebec City and 10 fair programs to give them 30 days in total (down from 300 days before the industry collapse). "We don't have any funding right now. We are rebuilding the business really from scratch," says interim president Marc Camirand. "Right now our bet is online through WEG -- we bet $600,000/week ($30 million annually) and we get 8% of that, which is roughly $2 million."

Manitoba: With roughly 130 members, the Manitoba Harness Horsemen (MHH), receives an annual $450,000 grant from the provincial government to operate their 22 race dates on a travelling rural circuit Assinaboia Downs in Winnipeg, which used to be their home track, has raced solely thoroughbreds since it was gifted to the Manitoba Jockey Club by the provincial government when it's previous owner went bankrupt. "The last couple years, we've been talking to the jockey club, because they're having trouble with money," explains Keith Earle, president of the MHH (and the owner of the oldest A & W Restaurant in Canada). "Now they want us back if we can bring some money from the lotteries." Earle adds that ideally, he'd like to see the province's horsemen returb to having 30-40 days of racing in Winnipeg each fall at Assinaboia.

Saskatchewan: In recent years, the Saskatchewan Standardbred Horsemen's Association (SSHA) has managed to secure 24 race days annually for its 170 some members, spread over two tracks in Yorkton and Saskatoon. This year they'll race 20 days, with four at Regina's new West Meadows Raceway and the remainder at Yorkton, as Saskatoon returns to flat racing on a full time basis. The province's harness racing industry relies on a grant from the government, which places a tax on all parimutuel wagers in the Saskatchewan, including simulcast and all live, and then that tax is rebated back to the industry (the current split is 30% standardbred, 70% thoroughbred). The industry share of that for 2011 is roughly $384,000.