Are Standardbred Race Horses high performance athletes, or is Harness Racing an outdoor recreational sport?
According to the decision made by the Ministry Of Sport, neither!
An industry that employs approx 30,000 tax paying citizens is almost in complete ruin due to the fact that it has not been categorized. Many, many people and complete families depend on income from the harness business, and now again, the ineptness of the Government to not allow Standardbred Racing at Ontario Tracks is an absolute travesty.
Harness Horse Racing is alive and well right around the world and, yes, including all the other Canadian Provinces where Harness Racing takes place, some of which are COVID worse.
Are our Ontario Doctors, and the Minister smarter than the other Doctors where racing is allowed?
My answer is probably not. According to Jim Lawson CEO of WEG whom Iāve talked to once on the phone, but have had many text conversations which continuously says that the Govāt wonāt respond to his calls for racing. As I previous stated in public media, I have two kids that play in the NHL, and I know first hand what the teams had to do re safety protocals for COVID to be allowed to play actual hockey games in Ontario.
Mr. Lawson himself told me that WEG was not invited to a meeting where the Pro Sports Teams of Ontario and Ministry of Health along with Minister of Sports, where they decided on what COVID safety barriers needed to be in place and followed strictly in order to get the OK from the Province. For the life of me I canāt figure out why.
Standardbred Race Horses pass the ultimate high performance athlete test, but WEG keeps saying that their attempts to contact the Govāt falls on deaf ears.
The announcement on May 20th that golf, tennis and some other outdoor activities will be open on May 22nd is great, and puzzling at the same time. Why is Harness Racing not going forward, that is the million dollar question. Does the Provincial Govāt not care, or does WEG not care?
I have been of the mindset that WEG has not tried hard enough to make the case for live racing, and I may be of that opinion because WEG has a complete monopoly on wagering in Canada, so it probably doesnāt matter that families are going broke and/or splitting up. I know this may be a harsh thing to say, but I have always found it hard to believe that they couldnāt get a special exemption through the high-performance athlete exclusion. Mr. Lawson told me that they wouldnāt exempt any other sports, yet the American Hockey League got a special exemption after we were in a lockdown from racing.
Is the AGCO helping owners while we are not racing, yes, but are only giving owners $1000 /month/horse that were either racing or in training at the time of the lockdown. What is happening with the rest of the allocated purse money. Bill OāDonnell president of COSA when asked said the purse money that is left over is going to future purses. I stated, as an owner, that I donāt care about the future purses, and I know I am not alone, we need the purse money now so we can pay our bills, so the purse money should be distributed now in a time of crisis. The bigger question that I have is, how do we know that the monies are going to be allocated to future races. Is there a proper accounting, or do we just take the word of WEG?
Some of the other owners will not come out to make their case. They hide behind their phone and curse both Jim Lawson and Bill OāDonnell. Believe me, I know. I think because I am the only vocal person I should change my name to Dear Abby!! This is a problem that we all need to resolve together!!
The Meadowlands which is the premier harness track in the U.S. has seen itās handle rise to $3.5 to $4 million since we have been shut down. This is partially because of Canadian wagering. The WEG site allows betting on approx 60-70 different tracks throughout the world on a single weekend. Just think about how much income is coming in from Canadians, and the best part is expenses are lower as there is no live racing.
I asked Mr. Lawson a simple question to which he has yet to respond which was, if WEG didnāt have inter track wagering to provide income , would we have live racing?,
My answer is absolutely, yes we would!!
Ontario Racetracks have many different protocals in place, and it is probably safer to go to the track than grocery shopping. The other thing the Govāt needs to realize is the very same people that are allowed to train at their farms and train at their respective tracks are the same people that are at live racing.
Finally, the Provincial Govāt released yesterday a timetable for a three stage opening where Harness Racing was included and scheduled to begin June 14th. They also at the same time said it would be allowed with some spectators. We as owners because of the online wagering do not need to attend the races live, although we should be able to as it is a huge investment. All we want to do is make back some purse money to recoup some of our losses. Ultimately by allowing us to proceed before the June 14th day it will give the industry some stability, keep people employed and have the welfare of the horse in their best interest. So since the 14th of June is a day for spectators to attend the start, I think the Govāt needs to immediately allow us to open and follow golf, tennis, etc.
I hope everyone involved in the Harness Industry jumps on board and gets this out to as many social media platforms as they can for the goodness and saving of the business!!
Mike Tanev
MT Stables Ontario