With roots dating back to fair racing in 1951, it would appear that residents in Oxford County have seen the final days of live harness racing at Woodstock Raceway.
The Woodstock Sentinel-Review has run an article regarding the current state of Woodstock Raceway. The report highlights how track operators did not apply for any race dates for the 2013 campaign, and how the move has amplified the problem local horsepeople are facing in this year's racing season.
The article has quoted Woodstock Mayor Pat Sobeski as saying, “Because there has been no application for dates, I have to assume they (Winrac, the raceway's operator) are not interested.”
“We’ll race when we can," veteran horseman Terry Oenema was quoted as saying. "For the next month or so, we’re OK. We’ve got Flamboro and London going but after that, we don’t know because there are not many race dates out there,” he said, adding that the coming months could prove to make up “a long, hard summer.”
The horseman also commented on the way Woodstock Raceway had been marketed to the local market.
“To me, something was wrong with the way they (Winrac) were running Woodstock because there were no fans coming out … There [were] 20 people in the grandstands and they didn’t care. You didn’t hear them advertising on the radio. You didn’t see any billboards. You didn’t see anything in the newspapers. People in Woodstock didn’t even know they had a racetrack.”
(With files from Woodstock Sentinel-Review)
I truly sympathise with the
I truly sympathise with the horseman. I love harness racing. I even groomed for free just to be near them. As a business man. I sympathise with the track owners.
As an example.In the case of Skip Ambrose owner of Kawartha Downs. Approximately $60,000 each racing night was put out in purse money. Maybe $5000 would be bet each night which the track takes %15-20. They would only recoup $750 to $1000 back of the $60,000. My question to horseman is as follows.
Would you be a track owner if you lost $59,000 every night?
Would you throw in more money for advertising at maybe $3000
The problem is that in today's market there is so much competition for your entertainment dollar. The harness racing portion of that market was over flooded with both tracks and horses. Now that the market is in an adjustment period the market is crumbling beneath them. What cloaked this demise in previous years was the SARP program. Now that the Ontario Government has decided to adjust the agreement the cloak is gone.
History will show in all aspects of every market. There are ebbs and flows to each market. Sorry to say that the adjustments needed in this market will mean loss of income to horseman.
Some tracks will close, lots of racing dates are lost, purse structure will spiral downward. In 20 years from now we may only have 4 or so tracks operating.
WEG, Georgian Downs, Western Fair, Grand River. But they will turn around and be competitive.
My apologies if I anger some horsemen. OK, I know I will tick some horseman off.
It's sad that it came to this. The loss of income to our horseman.
Education is so important
Education is so important these days...the tracks get lease money, not slot money. They did these changes for the good of racing..
A fault of the new system, their is NO incentive to promote a track any longer....
There definitely was
There definitely was "something wrong with the way they (Winrac) were running Woodstock...."and why did the ORC allow it to go on for so long? Windsor, Dresden and Woodstock were falling into disrepair and disgrace and blind eyes were turned for years. Was this all a part of the OLG's 'plan' to destroy harness racing? Where the heck did all the money go to that Winrac got as their 10% of the SARP and why were they not held accountable for it? It would seem that there are far more interested parties involved here than meets the eye.
It's a shame but as a fairly
It's a shame but as a fairly new fan of this great sport I can tell you that not many tracks do much to promote their racetracks, no T.v or newspaper ads, too bad because there's no better place to spend a summer evening than watching the races..
Mr Oenema, if you saw the
Mr Oenema, if you saw the stands empty, why didn't you rally horseman to lobby them, like what is going on with the horseman to the government now.
It benefitted you, as much as them to see them stands full. More money bet, means more money for horseman. It's everyone's responsibility to make sure the fans there. The trainers need to work with the driver, and the owners, and the track itself all need and needed to work together. This is not just on them.
Why would they promote
Why would they promote racing. It was all about the slot money to them.