Ontario Racing (OR) and Hard Rock Hotel & Casino announced in a joint press release on Thursday, April 2 that, following extensive discussions, Rideau Carleton Raceway will conclude its racing program starting with the 2026 season.
Rideau Carleton Raceway has hosted some of the province’s most prestigious harness races and has played a meaningful roll in supporting Eastern Ontario’s racing community.
Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Ottawa has operated three race seasons at Rideau Carleton Raceway under sole ownership. Despite investing millions of dollars to rebuild the racing paddock and upgrade legacy infrastructure to better serve racing patrons, representatives of Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Ottawa stated the long-term sustainability of the racing program could not be achieved.
"We made significant investments in racing infrastructure and adjusted our operations multiple times over the last three years; however, a sustainable path forward was not possible," said Christine Crump, President Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Ottawa. "Many of us hold deep respect and fond memories of the racing industry but consumer preferences have changed. This is a sad time for our team members, the horse racing community and all those directly impacted. Racing at Rideau Carleton Raceway will always be remembered as an important chapter in the site’s history.”
All Rideau Carleton Raceway team members that are directly impacted by this decision are being offered alternative employment opportunities within the organization, along with any necessary skills training to support career transitions.
“Ontario Racing encourages the Ottawa area horsepeople to continue racing in Ontario at any of the 11 Standardbred racetracks," said Andrew Gaughan, Independent Chair of Ontario Racing. "To help ease this transition, a portion of the funding traditionally provided to Rideau Carleton Raceway will be used to establish a relocation support program, while the balance of funding will go back into purses for live horse racing at other Ontario Standardbred racetracks.
"We are thankful to OLG and the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and Gaming for the long-term financial support provided to Rideau Carleton Raceway and Ontario’s entire breeding and horse racing industry.”
In the coming days, Ontario Racing will announce transitional funding for those Standardbred horses that reside in the Rideau Carleton Raceway catchment area and are interested in travelling to southwestern Ontario to continue racing.
The National Capital Region Harness Horse Association (NCRHHA), the organization representing horsepeople in the region, issued a statement on Thursday afternoon following the announcement that Rideau Carleton Raceway will no longer be hosting harness racing. The full statement appears below.
Statement from National Capital Region Harness Horse Association (NCRHHA):
The NCRHHA has been actively engaged in the Funding Agreement renewal activities throughout the past year with increasing frequency and intensity in the fall of 2025, escalating to almost daily calls and interactions in recent months.
However, despite the collaborative efforts of the Ontario Racing's Andrew Gaughan, Jennifer Bodner, Bill O'Donnell (President of Central Ontario Standardbred Association and our Standardbred Representative on the Ontario Racing Board) as well your NCRHHA Board (Gordon McDonald, President; John MacMillan, Executive Director; Michelle Jerome, Administration; Julie Ferguson, Backstretch/Paddock Representative), Hard Rock International has decided to close racing at Rideau permanently.
Thus closes a long history of racing and track-association collaboration in this region, which I could not begin to summarize in this posting. Fading from our racing scene here in the NCR is an racing industry and private sector business relationship that was once viewed as the best and most successful in the province... then came Hard Rock.
At a time when Rideau Carleton Entertainment and Hard Rock International asked for the support of our NCRHHA racing community to solidify a presence here in Ottawa and continue the pursuit of its business goals as a premier entertainment provider, we boarded a bus to Toronto to express our support for Rideau and Hard Rock. We wrote letters of support, and the NCRHHA's President, Gordon McDonald, and our Executive Director, John MacMillan, made presentations to the Ottawa City Council highlighting the significance of a Hard Rock/Rideau casino and Standardbred racing collaboration for jobs, the economy and the continued legacy of racing in this region; a legacy founded by Mr. Warren Armstrong and Mr. Bob Faskin over 60 years prior. When Rideau Carleton's paddock was lost to a fire, it was our NCRHHA racing community who volunteered their efforts, together with an amazing team from Hard Rock, to bring a temporary paddock online in record time. These are just two examples of a supportive and collaborative industry partnership, which has brought benefits to so many in this region.
Fast forward to today. Words cannot express our disappointment with Hard Rock's decision to close one of the most successful racetracks in Ontario; as well that this decision may have been managed with greater respect and regard for our racing community following closure of the backstretch in 2025 and over four months of winter shutdown during which the NCRHHA racing community continued to invest in facilities and livestock with the expectation of racing opening in the spring to provide opportunity to recover these investments.
The NCRHHA will work with Ontario Racing in the coming weeks to discuss how we might utilize funding from the Ontario Government to assist those in our racing community who have the ability to move to another region, and to consider helping others who may have to exit Standardbred racing industry to find other means of generating income following decades of family engagement and reliance in the industry.
Many thanks again to the Government of Ontario, to OLG representatives, to Bill, Jennifer, Andrew and your team at Ontario Racing Management who have represented this industry in the attempt to negotiate a positive outcome.
Thank you as well to our NCRHHA founders and our current Board of Directors. It has been such a pleasure working with all of you. To our racing community, thank you for your confidence, your patience and your understanding throughout our history and now in this difficult scenario that we are facing. You have persevered through many challenging times in the past and I am certain you will, with assistance, find your way forward again.
The NCRHHA, in collaboration with Ontario Racing, will provide further updates in the coming weeks regarding possible assistance measures to help you navigate these difficult circumstances.
Gordon McDonald, President, NCRHHA
John MacMillan, Executive Director
Michelle Jerome, Administration
Julie Ferguson, Backstretch/Paddock Representative
(With files from Ontario Racing & NCRHHA)