Claiming to be owed $11 million for horse racing purses promised but not paid in 2008, the provincial horsemen's association took its fight against racetrack operator Attractions Hippiques to Superior Court on Wednesday, January 14

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Attractions Hippiques, in creditor protection since last June, was chosen by the Quebec government in 2005 to take over the province¹s four horse racing tracks, including Hippodrome de Montréal. None are currently presenting live racing, though the operator continues collecting revenue from outside races it simulcasts and the VLTs located at the tracks.

The 1,800-member horsemen's association maintains the contract negotiated with the government racing agency, SONACC, obligated Attractions Hippiques to pay at least $24 million in purses at the four tracks in 2008, which it failed to do after slashing purses and racing dates because of revenue shortfalls at Loto-Quebec's opulent new gaming complexes in Quebec City and Trois-Rivières.

In his testimony today, horsemen's association president Michel St. Louis called the current situation in Quebec "disastrous," with drivers and trainers forced to race out of province and Quebec racehorse breeders completely without revenue.

Asked if the members of his association wanted to push Attractions Hippiques into bankruptcy, St. Louis responded that it's actually the other way around.

"We're all on the verge of bankruptcy," he said. "We have no revenue and no hope."

St. Louis testified he had seen a copy of a recent letter sent to Attractions Hippiques by a group he didn't identify, expressing interest in buying the Montreal operation.

There was also a published report yesterday of another group investigating a possible racetrack complex near downtown Montreal along the Bonaventure autoroute, although the likelihood of approvals being granted for another major VLT emporium so near the Montreal Casino seems far-fetched.

(Trot Insider exclusive by Paul Delean)