Reigniting Harness Racing in Ontario

Photo Credit: Waveneyavene

Congratulations are in order for Rod Seiling and the team at Ontario Racing Commission (ORC). The Ontario Racing Program appears to be well thought out, giant step forward in providing a quality product across the province. Further it will put the industry on a far better footing in the very competitive international market.

Of particular importance is the concept of "Purse distribution into the pools of tracks where more wagering dollars are being bet". The benefits of this will be immediate:

1. The quality and consistency of the horses, and thus the product, will improve. We will be putting our best product in front of the most people.
2. The handle will increase. Assume two tracks are offering similar purses, track A enjoys a handle of $50k a race, track B has a handle of $5k a race. Horsemen will naturally put their horses where they face the least competition. Every time the trainer of a track A horse chooses to go to track B for "easy money", the industry leaves handle and thus money on the table.

I, for one, will be very pleased to see purse distribution across the province and not just between commonly owned racetracks. This is one small step towards reigniting the harness racing industry in Ontario.

What are your thoughts on "An Open Letter from Chair Rod Seiling"?

Filling the Grandstands Again: Rescuing Horse Racing

I recently read an interesting article… [read more]

What To Bet Your 1st Time

We had a reply from someone on Twitter last week in response to this tweet of ours:

[read more]