A special Thursday evening edition of COSA TV featured Woodbine Entertainment’s CEO Jim Lawson, who gave an update on where racing stands following a number of recent announcements by health officials and the government.
“We’re hoping that we hear tomorrow [Friday] and there’s seemingly no question this going to fall to the health authorities to define which zone the regions fall into,” stated Lawson when asked about the possibility of a return to racing at Woodbine Mohawk Park. “As things currently stand, it looks like Halton would be eligible to return to the ‘Red Zone’. If we hear tomorrow, we could start planning. If that is delayed until early next week, it will depend on whether or not we fall into that ‘Red Zone’.
“We’ll plan accordingly and get racing going as quickly as we can,” he added. “Let’s hope it’s tomorrow, I think it will make it smoother for everyone. We just don’t know what position the health authorities are going to take, but the numbers following the letter of how they define ‘Red Zone’ all look to be in decent shape as of today.”
Earlier this morning the Campbellville oval was open for three sessions of training – a move that Lawson felt was important to horsemen in preparation for a possible return to racing.
“Once we got the indication that the province was looking at returning to their zones and how they were managing this we immediately moved – in fact the same afternoon. We got that indication around noon, and we had a meeting mid-afternoon and we announced by 5:30 or 6:00 that we would be opening for training. We did that to be ready and we did that to give the horsepeople the chance to be ready.
“As we stand tonight, though, look at us – we’re still not sure exactly if it will be announced tomorrow or even next Monday or Tuesday,” he added. “All I can say is we’re going to do our very best to get going as quickly as possible once there is an announcement that Halton falls into the ‘Red Zone’.”
One concern is the local horse population at this point considering some owners have sent their horses to the U.S. to race for other trainers, and a number of other trainers have moved their barns across the border to race in other jurisdictions during the lockdown. Lawson seems confident horsemen will step up when given the opportunity to return.
“I think there are a number of horses ready,” stated Lawson. “If we get the announcement that we’re hoping for we’d hope to get condition sheets out over the weekend and draw as early as Monday for Thursday. It’s important to get those conditions sheets out. The conditions sheets, I can say, have been prepared.
“We are in a unique situation because Halton borders on Peel and it’s hard to know exactly how the health authorities are going to look at Halton relative to being on the edge of that ‘Red Zone’ and certainly on the edge of what’s going to be a ‘Grey Zone’ in one of the hardest hit areas in Peel,” he added. “So, we want to do the right thing for everyone. We will move quickly. If we have to squeeze that time down between the conditions sheets and the draw, we will. If we have to draw within 48 hours of racing, we’ll do that. We’re going to do everything we can to get racing back as quickly as possible.”
The full COSA TV segment with Jim Lawson, who also provides updates on Woodbine Entertainment’s major stake events and some feedback on positive increases in subscriptions to HPI wagering accounts, can be viewed below: