Record-setting day at track
It was a record-setting Prince of Wales day at the Fort Erie Race Track Tuesday.
Wagering of $635,074 during the 81st running of the second jewel in Canada’s Triple Crown of racing beat the 2014 record of $463,571.
Total-day wagering of $2,188,171.82 also beat the all-time record of $1,768,500.18 set in the same year.
Fort Erie Race Track Chief
Fort Erie Race Track Chief Operating Officer Tom Valiquette
Operating Officer Tom Valiquette said on-track wagering Tuesday was $276,000, while off-track was about $1.9 million
“I would say probably 75 per cent of that off-track was in the United States,” he said.
“That’s typically where we’ve been going this year. We’ve been showing very good growth all year on our remotes, on how we’re selling our product out there.”
Tuesday was another sign the track, which had recently faced years of uncertainty, is making a comeback.
Valiquette, who is also the track’s chief financial officer, said wagering this season as a whole has been up 40 per cent, crediting, in large part, an initiative to “get our product into the U.S. market a bit more than it has been in the past.
“Part of it is managing the timing of our races and actually making sure we’re in a spot where we’re not really right on top of another track.”
That’s typically where we’ve been going this year. We’ve been showing very good growth all year on our remotes, on how we’re selling our product out there.”
He said about three per cent of the wagering growth this season can “probably” be attributed to the foreign exchange rate.
“When you bet in the U.S., if the U.S. dollar is stronger, when converted into Canadian dollars, obviously there’s a growth. But year on year there’s not much change in the exchange rate. We saw that two years ago and last year where the exchange rate was strong and that contributed about 10 per cent of our growth, but that’s not a big factor this year.
“I think it’s just basically working our simulcast market to the best of our abilities and customers getting to know where our product is and basically keep on finding it.”
As it’s free to visit the track, Valiquette said it’s difficult to track attendance figures. He estimates between 8,000 and 12,000 attended Prince of Wales day Tuesday.
Valiquette said program sales are up five per cent, while food and beverage sales are up 10 per cent.
“We’ve had a great season so far. The way the industry is structured, a lot of our funding is fixed, but in really what we control … we’ve done very well — we’re very happy with the results so far this year.”