In Wednesday's (Sept. 16) "Stronger Together" session, Woodbine CEO Jim Lawson indicated that he is "confident that racing is in a good place in Ontario," and that its footprint in the global wagering marketplace can only improve despite some significant challenges in the past six months.
With no road map or user manual available to aid in the navigation of the worst pandemic to hit North America in decades, Lawson employed a patient and pragmatic approach to reviving racing at both Woodbine Racetrack and Woodbine Mohawk Park after action was abruptly halted in March. But thanks to a massive team effort, he feels that the horse racing industry at Woodbine — and across the entirety of Ontario — is on stronger footing as a whole given how it has overcome the challenges of the novel coronavirus and adapted to the present-day marketplace.
"We all had a lot more questions than answers, and even today, there's so much uncertainty in the world, so we took it slow," Lawson said in a roundtable discussion that was moderated by Jason Portuondo and also included Thoroughbred trainers Mark Casse and Kevin Attard. "To this day, I think we have taken the patient, prudent course. We've kept everyone safe. It did take a lot of patience from the horse community to — even if they didn't agree — at least be patient enough to understand that we were trying and we were doing our best under difficult circumstances."
Part of that patient, prudent course was adjusting the stakes schedule at both properties to enable horses to be fully prepared to compete at a high level. And this past weekend, two weeks after Woodbine Mohawk Park hosted a successful Pepsi North America Cup, Woodbine Racetrack hosted the 161st renewal of the Queen's Plate. Lawson believes that getting there was a complete team effort, and he deflects credit for its success to all parties involved.
"We did the right thing, and we did the right thing largely with the help of the front line workers, the Woodbine staff, and the entire horse community who went into that backstretch every day, kept the horses healthy and everyone working back there healthy," Lawson said of the cooperation of the entire horse racing industry through navigating the pandemic and following rigorous protocols in order to return to action. "And that's how we got there. We were thrilled to get to the Queen's Plate last weekend."
While the North America Cup and Queen's Plate are in the books — and a number of high-profile stakes remain for both breeds this season — Lawson is quick to recognise that the current climate remains far from ordinary.
"We're still living under a difficult regime," he continued. "I was asked yesterday on a U.S. radio show why we haven't brought fans back the way that other racetracks have and what are our plans. To this day, we're allowed 100 people or 50 people in our building. And I expect even today Premier Ford may come forward and tighten those restrictions. It's been a different environment that we've been operating in at Woodbine, and thankfully, we've been able to run live racing, which was our goal all the way along.
"We've made some sacrifices — and people have had to make sacrifices — but people have understood the regime and the restrictions and the protocols that we've had to live under that we've worked very hard with government to develop. I think that's important for people to appreciate."
Given that on-track attendance — and thus on-track wagering turnover — is essentially a non-entity for the foreseeable future, Woodbine has adapted as well as anyone could expect, using technology and embracing innovation to cater to and expand their reach among a global customer base.
"I think we have a strong foundation," Lawson said. "What we've seen during this period, in addition to being able to maintain our purses — which I know the horsemen are completely appreciative of — we have been able to maintain our wagering, and that is some foresight on Woodbine in the sense that we have built a strong wagering technology group that has come forward. We have — what I think — is one of the leading products in the world with our HPI service. It's intuitive, it's practical, it's robust, and it works well. Dark Horse has come along. And it's just an indication as we look forward that we are on very strong grounds in terms of our relationship under the funding agreement, our strengths that we have built in terms of management and operating in this type of environment. I think we look very good for the future."
Lawson indicated further that the Woodbine brand hasn't just taken hold as a leader in North America, but in an untapped market throughout the Eastern Hemisphere as well:
"This period of COVID has shown, particularly with our strength in technology and innovation, how we can survive and how we have a bright future," he continued. "As the world potentially shrinks in horse racing in North America — and we've seen that — we're growing by leaps and bounds in different countries. We had large pools in Turkey and Sweden this weekend on the Queen's Plate. I was on the phone this morning with people from Hong Kong talking further about commingling pools and making them more direct. We have a great relationship in Australia with Tabcorp, and that's the future of this sport. We are expanding our footprint and growing our brand internationally, and I'm very comfortable with where we're headed."
All things considered, Lawson is optimistic about the trajectory of the Woodbine product — not just in terms of the gallops, but particularly as Canada's premier Standardbred product is concerned as well.
"I think we look very good for the future," he remarked. "Our brand has grown significantly; our harness racing brand in particular in the last couple of years has taken off to a point where we can be quite proud of saying that we're the No. 1 destination in North America for harness racing. Others will argue with that, but that's where we're headed, and we say that because we believe it."
The entire "Stronger Together" roundtable appears below.