According to an article in The Windsor Star, a group of horsemen have been quietly working to develop a business plan for the half-mile Leamington Fair racetrack to host live harness racing following the closure of Windsor Raceway.

Leamington and District Agricultural Society owns and operates the Leamington fairgrounds while Winrac Development Inc., the owners of Windsor Raceway, hold the lease on the track until next year.

“I can’t really say anything right now,” Tammy Wiper, board president of the Leamington and District Agricultural Society, was quoted as saying in the article regarding the plans for the local racing scene.

Leamington hosted one harness racing fair date earlier this summer on June 15. According to Lakeshore mayor and Essex County Warden Tom Bain, the group of horsemen is hoping to start out with a short 10-day race meet next summer.

"The group has to convince the ORC that it can make a financial go of it,” said Bain, who also noted that the horsemen involved will have to overcome the obstable of securing transitional funding from the province in order to do so and have met with the transitional panel.

Last week the Ontario Racing Commission conditionally approved a request by the operators of Windsor Raceway to cancel the track's racing license effective tonight at 11:59 p.m. As part of the Liberal government's OLG modernized gaming plans, the slots were removed from the facility on May 1, 2012 and Winrac's decision to cease live racing at the track without a plan for funding for purses beyond March 31, 2013 was announced in the following days. The owners of the track filed an application to open an off-track wagering facility in central Windsor three weeks ago.

(With files from The Windsor Star)