Major Media Attention For Ontario Racing

Continuing to attract major attention in the mainstream media, the crisis in Ontario's horse-racing industry was front and centre this past weekend. The Toronto Star trotted out a lengthy feature, with front-page status, examining the disaster the Ontario Liberal government has throw the provincial breeding industry into

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In the report, Ann Straatman of Lucan's Seelster Farms was cited as saying that the three-year process of breeding and helping rear horses costs between $20,000 and $21,000. With a 'typical' sales price of $26,000 at auction, each yearling would yield a small profit.

Seelster Farms foals roughly 150 mares per season. Now, with the Ontario Liberals having pulled out of the mutually-beneficial and world-renowned slots-at-racetracks agreement with zero consultation, the breeders are facing the reality of holding a ton of expensive stock that, due to the Liberal's blindsiding, holds virtually no value on the market.

“It was never our intention to create unwanted horses,” the Toronto Star article has quoted Straatman as saying.

"My greatest concern is for the future of the newest crop of horses being born this year, and, sincerely, the ones that were born last year."

Straatman went on to say, "Going forward, I'm not sure what the options are without that program (the Ontario Sires Stakes) available in Ontario. It's our sincere hope that we can come to a conclusion together with out Ontario government."

The Toronto Star was not the only mainstream publication to highlight the disaster which has come from the Ontario Liberal's unbelievably ignorant decision.

As reported by Trot Insider last Friday, Sue Leslie, president of the Ontario Horse Racing Industry Association, chose to pen an open letter to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty late last week.

Leslie's letter to McGuinty came after Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan chose to get into in a back and forth with prestigious standardbred breeder Joe Thomson of Winbak Farm, a foreign investor in the province of Ontario who is also the founder and president of Pacer Financial, an independent financial wholesaling firm

To read The Globe & Mail article, click here.

And it wasn't just the Toronto Star and The Globe & Mail which were leading the charge, The Sudbury Star got into the act, as well.

The Sudbury Star article didn't highlight how the Ontario Finance Minister likes to push away foreign investors in a time of fiscal crisis. Instead, it explained --- like heaps and heaps of articles have before --- how the Ontario Liberals want to bring racing's $2-billion annual economic churn to a screeching halt.

The report has shined its light on Ontario racehorse owner Cam McKnight. The former newspaper publisher explains how $150,000 in recent purse earnings he got via his racehorse got infused directly back into the provincial economy.

• “Added more stall capacity in my barn.”
• “Put a new watering system in my barn.”
• “Doubled my broodmare band --- expanding it to four.”
• “Repainted my fencing and added new fencing.”
• “Updated my truck and trailer.”
• “Regraded my jogging track and added a lot of new stone dust.”

As the report explains, add in the general maintenance for 12 horses and McKnight said, “There wasn’t a lot left of the $150k. Of course, the government got nearly half of what was left through income tax."