Update on Kawartha Downs’ future expected April 12
Orazio Valente expects to have a better idea on April 12 of how the province’s recent funding announcement for horse racing affects Kawartha Downs.
Valente, the track’s general manager, has said Kawartha Downs will lose 85 per cent of its revenue when Shorelines Slots relocates to the new casino opening in Peterborough this fall. Several Ontario tracks face similar lost revenue which casting doubt on their viability.
On March 23, Jeff Leal, Peterborough MPP and minister of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, unveiled a 19-year, $105 million annual funding model for Ontario’s horse industry. The funding will begin in 2019 and replace the current $93.4 million annual agreement.
Valente took over management of Kawartha Downs prior to last season when former owner Harvey (Skip) Ambrose’s holdings went into receivership.
Officials from Ontario Lottery and Gaming, which administers the funding, will visit with Valente on April 12.
“That’s where we’re going to get a synopsis of the entire program,” said Valente.
Under the current agreement, KD receives $1,000,060 million annually to fund purses and operating expenses. It works out to $35,000 for purses and $24,000 for expenses each race night. Valente said additional expenses are paid out of the betting handle.
He said some of the new funding will address concerns of horse people that purses are insufficient. “That looks like it’s going to get fixed,” said Valente. “For example, our purse money is $35,000 a night. There are 10 races so that’s $3,500 per race. The winner gets half of that which is $1,750. Second place gets half of that and then third and fourth. When you look at the cost of maintaining a horse and trucking the horse to a racetrack, if the purses don’t meet a minimum threshold then unless you win you’re looking at a losing proposition.”
When Leal unveiled the new funding, he said there is additional funding for tracks struggling to replace lost casino revenue.
“I think the government recognizes a lot of the tracks, under the current program, are in trouble save and except the Woodbine Entertainment Group,” said Valente. “When I ask questions, I hear there is funding available to be able to diversify. We’ll see what all that entails. The thing for us is with the casino slated to move out of here later this year the timelines are a bit crunched. It looks like everybody is willing to move pretty quickly on this.”
Valente has investigated ways to repurpose the soon to be empty slots facility but to no avail.
“I’m not waiting for someone to bail us out,” he said.
Location poses a challenge, he said, for attracting retail businesses.
“Being in a rural setting, it’s limited in its commercial viability,” he said. “We have a lot of infrastructure. It would be nice to be able to build a business with minimal infrastructure change.”
A lot of ides have been floated or investigated that sound great until you do the math, he said.
“Someone said put in a water park. When you actually start doing the math and look at weather and how many days are you actually going to be open with a temperature of 28 degrees or higher, where someone is going to be outside in a bathing suit in Ontario, is that many dates?”
Another idea was to try to keep some slot machines on-site, an idea, Valente said, that “has no legs.”
Another is to create an offtrack betting theatre. That can only work, Valente said, if the track benefits from the wagering.
“The problem with off-track betting is it was pretty much controlled by the Woodbine Entertainment Group. My understanding is that’s going to change in this new funding agreement,” he said. “I look forward to seeing the details.”