In a release issued late Tuesday by the Ontario Racing Commission, a total purse amount available for Ontario-sired horses was projected for the upcoming harness racing season.
The release from the ORC is available below.
Planning for 2013 Standardbred Ontario Sired racing program moving forward
With input from the advisory groups, planning and forecasting of the Horse Improvement Program projects a $14 million racing program for Standardbred Ontario Sired horses.
The Ontario Bred and Ontario Sired Rewards Program will remain intact and will distribute 15% and 5% of eligible purses respectively to the breeding community. These projections maintain the Ontario program as one of the leading Program’s of its type in North America.
Last month, the Ontario Racing Commission (ORC) announced that funding of up to $30 million had been secured by government to develop the Standardbred and Thoroughbred components of Horse Improvement Program. This Notice confirms that planning and implementing of the 2013 program is moving forward in consultation with stakeholders and the Advisory Groups.
To assist the HIP Program Administrator in developing the 2013 racing program, a working group has been tasked with developing a series of options, designed to reflect the current supply of horses and the changing environment in Ontario horse racing. The options developed by this group will be provided to the Standardbred Advisory Group for its review.
Weekly meetings have produced many constructive ideas, which are currently being further developed and tested by the administration.
The working group is made up of industry participants as follows:
- Jack Darling
- Ron Durand
- Ian Fleming
- Jeff Gillis
- Scott McKelvie
- Ted Smith
- Ann Straatman
- Ben Wallace
- Jackie Warner
- Paula Wellwood
Final details on the Ontario Sired program will be communicated to the industry once the work of the Standardbred Advisory Group and the Working Group are complete and once the summer schedule of race dates for the province are finalized by mid-April.
The 2013 Racing Program for Ontario Sired horses is being developed based on the program’s existing mandate, which has served Ontario well for many decades, but is also being reviewed for changes necessary to reflect the new industry in the post Slots-At- Racetracks Program environment.
For further Program information, please contact:
Karen Hauver
OSS Administration Coordinator
519 369-3545
[email protected]
Media Inquiries:
Wendy Hoogeveen
Director Industry Development and Support
416 213-0520
Lorne is absolutely right. I
Lorne is absolutely right. I was afraid to say anything about the unfair distribution of monies as the Standardbred's out number the thoroughtbreds by almost 3-1. If the purses are to drop drastically then so should the sustaining payments. If the grass roots are to be half of what they were then we should be able to pay into grass roots OR gold with an option of paying a higher fee at a later date. The powers that be just keep on messing things up worse and worse. NO fairness, no reasoning and most of all these deals are all done behind closed doors. WHY? We only have 3 weeks left untill our sustaining payments are due and I can only hope that we have more information about how much and how the purse money will e distributed.
Exactly Lorne! If the amount
Exactly Lorne! If the amount these horses are going to race for is significantly less, than why aren't the sustaining fees, etc. lowered by the same percentage?
14 million for us and 16
14 million for us and 16 million for the runners???? How many OSS runners are there? And are they competitive on the world stage like the OSS Standardbreds are? I only hope the OSS program is reduced completely equal across the board for both grassroots and golds... I can't understand how this can be done when these horses were nominated as yearlings for a program that was suppose to go for a certain amount of money....
Why are there no comments?
Why are there no comments?