No guarantee of a season next year
Track still awaiting a response from the new provincial government
Horse people and spectators will head to the final Kawartha Downs card of 2018 on Saturday night with no guarantees there will be a 2019 season.
The funding agreement Kawartha Downs has with the province expires with the final 2018 race leaving the Fraserville standardbred facility as the only one of 15 Ontario horse racing tracks with no agreement in place for next year. Twelve tracks signed onto a 19-year deal proposed by the former Liberal government in the spring. Two tracks that didn’t sign the 19-year deal have two years remaining on their previous agreement.
KD general manager Orazio Valente stated in the spring his track’s only chance of survival hinged on a new provincial government. He got that with the Progressive Conservatives election victory in June. Valente says he has presented his case to the new Finance Minister Vic Fedeli, Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs Minister Ernie Hardeman and senior officials at Ontario Lottery and Gaming.
He’s now awaiting a response. “Contractually, as it stands right now, (Saturday) is the last race date for Kawartha Downs,” Valente said. “If nothing else changes that’s where the season and the entity stops.”
Valente said Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MPP Laurie Scott, whose riding includes Cavan Monaghan Township, is engaged in trying to find a solution. He believes the PCs want to assist Kawartha Downs but has to figure out how it can be done under existing deals the Liberals entered into with OLG and other tracks.
KD’s lease with Shorelines Casino, which is relocating to Peterborough, expires Oct. 31 and with it 85 per cent of KD’s annual revenue. Valente says the track needs an agreement that will provide at least 40 race dates, not the 18 it has had in recent years, and funding to cover operating costs currently funded by their casino agreement.
Valente understands the new government has a lot on its plate but he hopes there can be some urgency to address KD’s situation with the casino lease about to end. It affects not only his employees but race dates for next season are usually finalized in November.
“We’re at the 11th hour,” Valente said.
“I’ve received immense and continued support from our local MPP Laurie Scott who also happens to be our minister of labour. She continues to be very instrumental every step of the way.”
Scott couldn’t be reached for comment.
Dave Gibson, local representative for the Ontario Harness Horse Association (OHHA), says local horse people have been in this situation before and remain optimistic Saturday won’t be KD’s final race.
“We’ve had that place buried and dead so many times but for some reason something on the positive side will happen to at least keep it going,” Gibson said.
“If you’re in the horse business, we build our business and live our lives optimistically that the next horse is going to be the one that’s going to make it all. Keeping that mindset and, being the optimistic people we are, it’s ‘we’ll get them next time.’ There is always another race and will always be another day.”
That doesn’t mean they like the uncertainty.
“It’s a heck of a way to try to run a business and to try and live your life when you’re not sure if you’re going to have a place to race or a job in the future,” Gibson said.
“There are a lot of people like myself who are just kind of holding on compared to back a few years ago when we could make a living.”
OHHA general manager Brian Tropea said a lot of promises were made during the election and now they’re waiting to see if they come to fruition.
“We’ve all been meeting with politicians and trying to bring them up to speed on the importance of the industry and the jobs, particularly in those areas of rural Ontario where they are most needed,” Tropea said.
“Everyone we’ve met with has been receptive. One of the things they’re struggling with is that the previous government has broken the province up into gaming zones. Those zones have been allocated to private gaming operators. I think they have to dig through what is actually in those agreements and what the private operators have been promised or what the private operators have promised the province and see where, if possible, they can do something to assist the horse racing industry again.”
He sees several options the government could consider for Kawartha Downs including allocating some gaming revenue within its zone to the track, creating something similar to a new Slots at Racetracks Program or allowing the facility to retain a slots operation to fund the racing.