No Stateside Shift For Moreau

Canada's trainer of the decade is itching to get back racing, but not to the point of opening a U.S. operation.

"I​'m 56, not 35. We're in the midst of major home renovations. I live 15 minutes from (Woodbine Mohawk Park), the largest track in Canada; it won't be closed forever," trainer Richard Moreau said Friday from his farm in Puslinch, Ont.

Moreau, Canada's champion trainer for the past eight years, had taken his usual place atop the Canadian standings with 43 wins and $535,000 in purses after racing resumed in mid-February following the second shutdown.

Since the start of the third shutdown this month, about 20 of the 50 horses in his stable have moved out. "We're focused on the ones we have left."

For the first time since the pandemic began, he's had to temporarily lay off three of his 15 employees. Others are taking their paid vacations now.

"There's only so much you can do. We​'re like a family, but this is a business, and we​'ve had three shutdowns in a year," he said.

Moreau, who got his COVID vaccination last week, said he was luckier than many horsemen because he raced through the winter and didn't have a stable full of young horses being pointed for a spring and summer stakes campaign.

While a growing number of Canadian horsemen have expressed an intention to go to the U.S. while racing is stopped in Ontario, Moreau said it can be complicated on several fronts, among them taxes, exchange rates and finding staff.

"In my case, I'm going to wait it out here," he said. "Hopefully, it'll come back sooner than later. And when it does, we'll be ready."

(A Trot Insider Exclusive by Paul Delean)