After telling Trot Radio one year ago that Ontario's harness racing industry was doing well, OHHA's President Ken Hardy has a different tune
heading into 2012.
Hardy is strongly against the purse pooling taking place at Woodstock Raceway, noting that local horsemen have less purses to compete for by shifting the portion of revenue accrued at Woodstock's slot facility to lessee Winrac and Windsor Raceway.
"The biggest issue is that the money generated at Woodstock is supposed to go back into the economy in the Woodstock area," Hardy told Trot Radio's Norm Borg. "Now, when the send the $1 million out of Woodstock to Windsor, they're asking horsemen to truck hundreds of miles to get the money they generated in their own market."
When Borg asked if this process gives Windsor a better racing product for fans and horseplayers and possibly more handle, Hardy notes that Windsor isn't doing anything to attract fans to its facility and that the majority of money is bet off-track. In addition, the purse cap imposed by the Ontario Racing Commission prevents Windsor from carding higher calibre races and thus attracting better horses. Hardy would like to see the purse cap lifted in order to allow the province's horsemen to race for that money.
"Putting the cap on racetracks so they can't give away the money they have in their purse pools, something has to be done about that because that's the mainstay of the horsemen's living: to earn purse money that's available."
Hardy also touches on the recent ORC decision allowing racetracks to enter contracts directly with horsemen. To hear the full interview with Borg and Hardy, click the play button below.
Episode 252 – OHHA President Ken Hardy
Audio Format: MP3 audio
Host: Norm Borg
Please note that the opinions expressed in the featured interview are those of the participants and do not necessarily reflect Rideau Carleton Raceway and/or Standardbred Canada.