With January complete and February well underway, this is a great opportunity to share Standardbred Canada’s commitment to moving forward and assisting our members by operating more efficiently and effectively within the industry.
As we are now in year two of a five year strategic plan, I thought that we could take this time to remind our members what our long term objectives are for the association and what we will continue to focus on this year to ensure our vision of Standardbred Canada being an essential support for the horse, sport and industry.
We identified five long term objectives that the association is to strive towards during the next few years. The objectives are;
1. Communication
2. Data Management
3. Financial Sustainability
4. Membership/Customer Service
5. Stakeholder Relations
Our working initiatives this year will see SC move further along to become more online friendly for our members and race fans by developing a refreshed website, creating more online applications for new members and membership renewals, offer online transfers, and introduce “Best Beaten Times” (BBT) in future horse sales catalogues.
We are also moving forward with enhancing the current Horses for Sale Board, that SC offers to our members, to include auction capabilities.
SC will continue working with our many horse associations and regulators to further our relationships, so that we build a comprehensive association that includes all facets of industry to be able to promote and leverage to government that as an industry we speak with one voice.
We are also looking at a variety of options regarding our head office to determine if 2150 Meadowvale Boulevard in Mississauga, Ontario is the most strategic and financially sustainable geographic location for the association going forward.
We will be discussing with the industry how best to record the performance of our Standardbreds, on and off the racetrack, by identifying partnerships and capitalizing on existing technologies to assist in recording information in real time through operational efficiencies and a more centralized process.
Finally, SC recognizes that as per mandate, approved by the Ministry of Agriculture and Agri Food Canada, that as the national registry of Standardbreds, the association is to regularly maintain and preserve breeding and racing records of the Standardbred. Therefore we will be developing a governance framework and policy to protect and promote the breed and the sport. This once again, will be a centralized initiative that will secure the records of horse breeding and racing so that the industry stands united and speaks with one voice with our partners and stakeholders, provincially, nationally and internationally.
This year there is a considerable amount of work to be done by our Board and the Standardbred Canada team, which we believe will further assist the Association in reaching our overall vision of ensuring that your Association is an essential support to the horse, industry and sport going forward.
Dan Gall, President & CEO, Standardbred Canada
[email protected]