SHOP On Racing Contract

Do you really think that owners will say "sure don't race I have a ton of money, do what you want with my investment"? The privacy laws are not bound by anyone except the government. It is a constitutional right to bar someone from your property. I applaud SHOP for doing what is right for them at this time. I am sure you as trainers would be quick to say, sue someone for defamation character if you were oh I don't know, accused of something on their property. Privacy laws are part of all person's rights and there is nothing you can do but play fair, or don't play at all.

I as an owner,would suggest the following,no entries-no stall rent -no board or training fees-no driver fees for the amnt of days boyctted after we resume racing,silly eh?come on OHHA,get in there and work for every member,not just the majority,as I see it your job is to negotiate nonstop,if need be until a settlment is reached.then bring it to the membership!

I think it is humourous that people actually believe owners do not have a say in what happens with respect to racing. All Ontario residents who hold a valid ORC license are encouraged to be members of the OHHA. This includes everyone, grooms, trainers, owners, drivers and so on. To say that thanks to SHOP owners finally have a voice is utter stupidity. Owners who are not members of OHHA and who do not attend the meetings really have nothing to complain about. Attend the meetings and speak your mind.

It seems people are having difficulty understanding the current issues. Firstly, WEG has asked OHHA to not represent horsemen that are properly licensed by the ORC that have been excluded from participation. OHHA is the horsemen's representative body so making such a request is illogical. OHHA simply provides horsepeople (owners included) with support to make sure that due process is served. Nothing more.

Second, if there is no problem with the revenue sharing agreement as it stands today, why does WEG management want to remove it from the contract? According to what I've read, the revenue sharing agreement accounts for roughly 5% of standardbred purses. This is a fairly significant amount of money. If a horse misses a race or two, will that account for 5% of its earnings over the course of the next contract? Not likely.

As far as stabling and the new paddock, that individual seems to forget that OHHA was a major force in helping bring to the tracks the slots at racetracks program. All the tracks in Ontario benefitted. Something tells me that if the WEG tracks were privately owned, there would be no stabling there.

I think WEG is the best thing in harness racing. I just wish people would consider the facts before spouting off about the evils of the OHHA.

Congratulations to SHOP for letting the public know where horse owners stand on the WEG contract issue. I am very happy to see three full cards of racing in spite of what the OHHA is asking the horsemen to do. The negotiations need to continue in good faith with no disruption to racing so our loyal patrons are not ignored in all of this. Playing the card of withholding entries is a brutal tactic being used by OHHA. It shows a desperate attempt to force their way to success when professional tactics would work much more effectively. Maybe the WEG horsemen who are racing their horses on Jan. 1, 2 & 3 are the change agents needed to get the OHHA back on course? Let's hope sanity prevails.

Congratulations to SHOP for taking a positive stand against OHHA and their current boycott of the entry box at WEG. I am totally dumbfounded by the way OHHA constantly misrepresents the facts in order to serve the agenda of their own executive. WEG is the best partner we as horsemen have in Ontario and since they are a "not for profit" entity, we can be assured that they only have the best interest of horsemen at heart. On the other hand, OHHA long ago forgot their mandate to truly represent the horsemen in Ontario. WEG has been put in a position to police the integrity of racing at their own venues, since the ORC has not stepped forward to do it for them. They access that right by enforcing their private property rights, which believe me they really do not want to do, but does anyone with common sense belive that they have not used that right in an extremely fair and consistent manner. I have yet to hear OHHA thank WEG for keeping the backstretch open at Mohawk which costs WEG millions of dollars per year; or thank them for the new state of the art paddock that they just built at Woodbine at a cost to WEG in excess $13 million. This does not sound like a corporation that wishes to take advantage of local horsemen, but OHHA continues to portray them in that manner. I would like to suggest that instead of boycotting WEG, we turn our attention to OHHA and start boycotting them!

I'm a standing member of SHOP since its beginning and it is pleasing to see SHOP take a stand on this deadlock in negotiations. Its time that (ALL owners) take a stand for their interest, we as owners take all the risk put out all the monetary expenses and never seem to have any say into the operation of the industry, never mind the well being of our horses. This is the time for all owners to become a member of SHOP to give us a strong voice and even start to negotiate contracts with race tracks etc. Its time for common sense not what we are seeing now. Lets do it OWNERS.

Although I am complete agreement with SHOP and the need to give owners the opportunity to race there horse. I have some concerns with there motives. Over the months of January and February Georgian Downs was allowed to close their doors to all owners of race horses. If they are really about the opportunity for Owners to race their horses they have been very quiet about this situation.

I think it is great that the owners have finally spoken up. The contract negotiations appear to be a personal conflict between certain members of OHHA executive and WEG and not the horseowners, trainers, and drivers, I find it very interesting that some trainers on whose behalf OHHA have intervened in the past are entering their horses.

Let's get on with the show and give our product to the public.

Thank you Standardbred Horse Owners Panel.
Thank you for providing a level of sanity.

I'm not an owner, just a bettor.
A stoppage of harness racing due to a incomprehensible boycott would have infuriated me so much, that I absolutely swore to abandon harness racing for all of 2009 and start playing blackjack/poker at Rama casino.

How many more bettors were of like mind, I don't know, but I hope OHHA does not try to find out.

Thank you SHOP for recognizing the importance of the owners with respect to harness racing as a whole. To deny them the opportunity to cover their expenses, when the monetary issues are not an outstanding issue seems rather unnecessary. With no disrespect to the OHHA executive who continue to negotiate on our behalf, the real issues today are selling and promoting the industry in order to increase the attendance and handle, not making it inaccesible.