On Friday at Red Shores at the Charlottetown Driving Park, it was announced that Harness Racing P.E.I., has now ceased to exist and all operations will be guided
the Red Shores facility - under the Atlantic Lottery Corporation (ALC). The structure guiding harness racing in Prince Edward Island has been taken apart and put back together.
Lee Drake, formerly marketing and promotion director with Harness Racing PEI, will now have that same position with the Red Shores facility. The job vacated by General Manager Jeremy Pierce will still be filled but will be for director of racing under Red Shores Racetrack and Casino.
A new overall managing director will be responsible for the entire facility and will have the racing manager, gaming manager, and dining manager under them. The managing director position has yet to be filled.
In the void of HRPEI being gone, the P.E.I. Harness Racing Industry Association will now be in charge of issues dealing with classification, race dates, purse allocation, the barn area, and anything directly dealing with horsemen’s issues. These directors, and this model will be applicable to the facilities at both Summerside and Charlottetown.
Wes Sheridan, provincial finance minister and minister responsible for harness racing, says this is a positive move that had to be done.
"As you see the game is struggling in many areas," Sheridan said. "Our sister provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia are hurting mightily, but when you look to home at this, hopefully we can take this model to New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and make our whole game stronger. We’ve been driving this game for almost 10 years now. If it wasn’t for P.E.I. and the support of the government, harness racing would be all but over in these three provinces."
These changes will result in savings of $115,000, and of that $50,000 is earmarked to be contributed to the purse pool while the rest is used to market the sport, Sheridan says.
"This will give horseman the idea that the more efficient we make this product the more they will gain from it."
The announcement and restructuring is all about merging everything together, Sheridan says. Before the facility was ran by ALC, but the racing side was handled by HRPEI, and marketing was done from ALC’s head office in Moncton, N.B.
HRPEI was not broken but the entire operating model was, Sheridan says.
"They constantly ran into walls inside their own silo. Now everything will be seamless."
The Red Shores facilities on P.E.I. will now be a unit of ALC responsible to make money at arms length of the crown corporation, Sheridan says.
He says the provincial government, and P.E.I. MP Gail Shea, have committed to improvements to the barn area and the paddock at the Charlottetown Driving Park if the horsemen stabled on the grounds can organize themselves together into one entity.
"These are the kinds of things that you want to know the industry is in good hands before you start providing for them," Sheridan said.
As part of the new structure, several new initiatives are planned such as increased marketing and distribution of the Governors Plate, Gold Cup and Saucer, and feature stake races, as well as additional betting promotions and player initiatives. These include a new pick 3, pick 4, pick 6, and pick 9 at Island tracks with carry-over pools.
"In harness racing we have a tradition, a brand as the Kentucky of Canada, and the grassroots support for harness racing," said Kent Oakes, from the P.E.I. department of agriculture. "Harness racing and gaming are facing increased competition from an expanding list of entertainment options - federally unregulated online gaming, changing consumer demands and demographics, increased operating costs, and the impending opening of a major casino in Moncton."
In response to these challenges, staff from Red Shores at Charlottetown Driving Park and Red Shores at Summerside will be working with the Atlantic Lottery Corporation and harness racing partners to identify and explore areas of growth potential and cost savings, Oakes says.
This may include greater efficiencies in the delivery of core services such as tote and intertrack wagering, and the increased usage of technology in harness racing wagering and presentation.
The current HRPEI racing operations office will be moving to the main Red Shores at Charlottetown Driving Park building, in an public area accessible from the grandstand tarmac. This office will be located in a currently unoccupied space next to the simulcast lounge.
There are 110 race dates planned for Prince Edward Island in 2010, the same number as in 2009. Live racing is scheduled to commence on April 24 at Red Shores at Charlottetown Driving Park, and on May 26 at Red Shores Summerside. Qualifiers begin April 10 in Charlottetown.
(A Trot Insider exclusive by Nicholas Oakes)