Eaves: Taking Standardbred Racing Out Of GTA "Would Be A Mistake"

"I think it would be a mistake to take live standardbred racing out of the Toronto market where the vast majority of people are. The draft plan didn't say that we thought it was a good idea. In fact, I think the plan went on to say it would be controversial. Fair enough, but I think that might have been a good reason to maybe not include it so definitively."

Nick Eaves, the president and chief executive officer of the Woodbine Entertainment Group, discussed the debated Ontario Horse Racing Industry Transition Panel's Draft Plan proposal to eliminate live standardbred racing at Toronto's Woodbine Racetrack in a Guelph Mercury article by Dave Briggs.

According to the article, Eaves said the idea did not originate at Woodbine and he was caught off guard by the proposal.

"I think we have to be very careful not to make a decision which is going to have the reverse and unintended effect on the business in terms of not providing a product that is accessible to where the customers are, delivered in a way that they're going to respond to in terms of pool size, taking advantage of assets and infrastructure where there's been fairly considerable investment in the recent term," said Eaves. "So, I think certainly what we're to do is demonstrate why it is that Woodbine is an important part of a vibrant, sustainable, standardbred racing model."

According to the article, Eaves took issue with the way in which revenue flows into the proposed centralized racing agency, Ontario Live Racing, stating WEG has "no interest in...moving into a new model which has us transferring our hard-earned economics somewhere else."

To read the article in its entirety, click here.

(With files from the Guelph Mercury)