Building A Better Breed

Building A Better Breed
Walnridge Farm Harrisburg Yearlings
November 8 – 11
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ANGUS HALL
ART MAJOR
BETTOR’S DELIGHT
BROADWAY HALL
CAMBEST
CANTAB HALL
CHOCOLATIER
CONWAY HALL
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CREDIT WINNER
DONATO HANOVER
FOUR STARZZZ SHARK
GLIDEMASTER
I AM A FOOL
KADABRA
LIS MARA
MACH THREE
2 by REAL DESIRE
2 by ROCKNROLL HANOVER
1 by TOM RIDGE
3 by WESTERN IDEAL
14 by WESTERN TERROR
1 by WINDSONG’S LEGACY
1 by YANKEE CRUISER
1 by YANKEE GLIDE
Highlighted by…
He’s Gorgeous
• 14 from the first PA-eligible crop by one of Walnridge of Pennsylvania’s top stallions,
millionaire racehorse WESTERN TERROR
• A Real Desire half-sister to multiple 2 & 3YO stakes winner
DANCINWITHTHESTARZ p,3,1:48.4-’10 ($867,716)
• A Real Desire half-sister to multiple 2010 NYSS winner HE’S GORGEOUS p,3,1:51.4f-’10 ($535,851)
• A Four Starzzz Shark full brother to multiple 2 & 3YO stakes winner
IT’S DE LOVELY p,3,1:52.1f-’10 ($286,327)
Dancinwiththestarz
• A Glidemaster half-brother to Stanley Dancer Memorial winner
HE’S A DEMON 3,1:53.1-’10 ($118,720)
• A Rocknroll Hanover colt from a half-sister to WESTERN HANOVER p,3,1:50.4 ($2,541,647)
• A Chocolatier half-sister to NYSS winner SWEETSPELLOSUCCESS 3,1:58.4-’10 ($187,564)
He’s A Demon
Watch for news of our
Harrisburg Mixed Sale
consignment.
Building A Better Breed
Richard S. Meirs VMD, GM
David A. Meirs II, VMD, President
Western Terror
CN 63, Cream Ridge, NJ 08514
609-758-8208 • Fax 609-758-8308
www.walnridgefarm.com
Email: [email protected]
Linscott Photo
Join the Gold Rush...
Msnaughtybynature, 3, 1:56 ($590,794) - Victorious in 19 of 23 career starts competing primarily in Indiana Sires Stakes.
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The Indiana Standardbred Breed Development Program is soaring to record heights, offering unprecedented
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Coady Photo
Invest in Indiana!
Dream Kid, 1:57.2 ($153,337) - Freshman trotter has won five of eight starts including ISS legs and the $50,000 Circle City.
Show Me the Money!
Linscott Photos
With $40,000 preliminary legs and a set of $200,000 finals for each division of two and three year olds, the Indiana Sires Stakes
program offers a chance at big money with low nomination and entry fees. Here are just a few examples of the top Indiana
Sires Stakes performers and the money they have earned for their connections during the 2010 season.
Dark Alley Sally p,3,1:53.4
$200,000 Indiana Sires Stakes Final Winner
Hoosier Park Racing & Casino
A winner of $275,000+ in 2010 with
career earnings of more than $330,000.
Earl’s Glider 3,1:56.1 Suprisemeagain
Royal Woods p,3,1:52.3
Swept both lucrative Indiana Sires Stakes
$200,000 Indiana Sires Stakes Final Winner
Finals and earned Hoosier Home Run Award.
Hoosier Park Racing & Casino
Undefeated in 11 seasonal starts with $388,000
in earnings in 2010 and $437,075 in his career.
Eight-time winner in 2010 with more than
$280,000 in seasonal earnings.
Don’t miss your opportunity to cash in on Indiana’s slots-rich program!
If you have any questions regarding the Indiana Standardbred Breed Development Program or
would like to receive additional information, please contact the offices of the Indiana Horse Racing
Commission at (317) 233-3119 or visit our website at www.in.gov/hrc.
A CONVERSATION WITH...
L
ONTARIO
COMMISSION RE-
AST MONTH THE
RACING
LEASED A DOCUMENT STATING
ITS INTENTION TO RETROFIT THE
STRUCTURE FOR HORSE RACING IN
THE PROVINCE.
THE FRAMEWORK TO SUPPORT
LIVE HORSE RACING IN ONTARIO
(MANY OF THE DETAILS OF WHICH
MAY BE FOUND THROUGH THIS
LINK) PROVIDES FOR A NUMBER OF
SIGNIFICANT CHANGES BY WHICH
ROD
SEILING
HORSE RACING WILL BEGIN TO OPERATE UNDER IN THE NEAR FUTURE.
THIS BEGINS WITH A HARMONIZATION OF RACE DATES, A NEW PROVINCE-WIDE CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM AND
MORE ACCOUNTABILITY FROM THE RACETRACKS.
ONTARIO RACING COMMISSION CHAIR ROD SEILING TALKS ABOUT THE PLAN WITH THE HARNESS EDGE’S
PUBLISHER HAROLD HOWE EXPLAINING WHERE THE PROCESS IS NOW AND HOW IT WILL BE IMPLEMENTED
IN 2011 AND 2012. (ORC PHOTO)
The Harness Edge • October 2010
Photo by New Image Media
A CONVERSATION WITH...
Before we discuss this new framework for
Ontario racing, isn’t the big news that
there has been a five-year renewal of the
slot agreement between the province and
the racetracks? That has seemed to get
lost in the shuffle.
The government is a big supporter
of the horse racing industry in Ontario.
Admittedly, I am surprised to the degree
of the depth of that support. It’s great
news.
The evidence of that is the five year
renewals for those tracks that either had
their contract being rolled over month
by month or were to expire. They all
received letters confirming that the
Ontario Lottery Corporation was renewing for five years.
Talk about walking the walk, you
can’t have it any better than that. It’s a
great vote of confidence for people so
they can plan and make their purchases.
They now know what the industry holds
for the next five years.
Was the impetus for this new vision of
Ontario racing galvanized by Great
Canadian Gaming’s 2010 date application
for Flamboro Downs and Georgian Downs
last fall? Overall Ontario tracks were look-
October 2010 • The Harness Edge
The Ontario Racing Commission’s Framework plan includes marketing initiatives
designed to have more crowds like this at tracks across Ontario.
ing for 150 less race dates but GCG was
asking for dramatic cuts at Flamboro particularly.
Obviously, the impetus was date
applications by a number of racetracks
almost a year ago for the 2010 racing season. We made it quite clear that given the
implications we did not have the ability
to deal with such a request in a very short
period of time.
We didn’t know what the impact
would be within the industry so the
answer was a moratorium on race dates
to allow the commission to sit down with
the industry and work through what the
implications might be.
Then the board authorized John
Blakney, the executive director of the
ORC, to conduct an in depth consultation
with the industry. Out of those discussions came this framework.
The ORC’s proposal talks about synchro-
nization of dates. Can you elaborate on
that?
The reason we have identified the
need to synchronize race dates is
that some tracks had the view that
they were in competition with one
another particularly with the WEG
tracks which I think we would all agree
is not a good situation whether real or
perceived.
When you take this back to an
earlier premise that the solution has to
be customer focused, we want the
industry to be working together and to
compliment each other rather than
competing against one another.
If we go back to the days of preslots, a track’s ability to economically survive was directly related the live racing
days. But I think we all agree back in
those days, given their druthers, tracks
looked for more days to race rather than
less.
So what you’re saying then is that the ORC
would attempt to prevent nearby tracks
from racing on the same night for example.
Until we see race date applications I
don’t think I want to go so far as to say
who should or should not race. There is a
process that is to be followed. We anticipate that the track applications will be in
early in October. Having said that we
would hope to have this whole process
completed by the end of November so
that if there were to be any appeals we
would have plenty of time in early
December to deal with those.
So the plan is to offer a rationalized
plan for scheduling and that would
include simulcasting as well.
You also spoke about standardized condition sheets. Can you define what that
means?
There will be a condition sheet for
the province, which will lay out general
terms and conditions by which horses
will race. Clearly, we’ve seen the need
and again this goes back to competition
between racetracks for horses.
Also, if you talk to horse people and
the public I don’t think anyone can make
heads or tails of what a condition sheet
out there in the province entails today.
So it is an attempt to ensure that (a) we
have competitive horses racing against
one another and (b) because this is a
focus on the customer, we need to be
able to ensure that when they look at a
race they have some assurance that the
field is competitive because right now
there are so many exceptions to the rule
and there are many examples which
show this.
We want to get rid of these one to
nine shots that we see on a regular basis.
To have a horse that raced in the North
America Cup then race at Hanover
Raceway and then start in the Little
Brown Jug makes no sense. I don’t blame
the horse person, why wouldn’t you do
what he did? But there is no rationale for
this being able to happen.
If we are trying to offer a product to
the public and say with confidence that it
is an exciting product that has value but
then present the above scenario, the
public will simply respond that it cannot
bet such a race.
“Talk about walking the walk, you can’t have it any
better than that. It’s a great vote of confidence for
people so they can plan and make their purchases.
They now know what the industry holds for the next
five years.”
Then we had a scenario a few weeks
ago when three tracks all wrote a
$10,000 claimer for the same time period.
Not one of those classes filled because
the horses split. How unfair was that to
the horse people because none of those
horses got raced that week?
So there is a need on both sides to
have some synchronization. There are all
kinds of examples.
But would this standardization eliminate
the opportunity for creativity among race
secretaries?
I don’t want to get too far in
advance on this because the consultation group is meeting shortly to discuss
this further. The devil is in the details but
one would think there should be some
flexibility but again the trick is not so
much flexibility that you defeat the
intent of what we are attempting to
accomplish.
When I talk about creativity what
I’m referring to is something a little more
original than offering up yet another
mindless series for $8,000 claimers.
That will be dealt with how the
excess purse money from the pooling
aspect can be used. The objective is to
reward creativity and ingenuity.
Again, I want to be careful and not
get out in front of the ongoing consultations but there is already an understanding that the intent is to help reward the
ingenuity and creativity. They will not be
locked into a straight jacket.
Let’s talk about the harmonization of purse
monies or pooling of monies as you touched
on. Woodstock Raceway is always the example people use. Given the minute amount of
money bet on the live product, the track has
an extraordinary purse structure.
Certainly there will be excess purse
money available and it will not be going
to WEG tracks. The excess purse money
will be used to support the objectives
that we talked about.
Purse money is not the issue at WEG
tracks but the issue is that imbalance of
purses at certain tracks because of the
slot monies there has changed the movement of horses up the ladder.
The two WEG tracks represent 78 per cent
of the live handle in Ontario and race for
the most purse money. However, we are
seeing short fields as horses gravitate to
other tracks where the purse money
admittedly is less but the competition is
also much less. Is that what you are trying
to address?
Certainly. We’ve written about this
in decisions. I don’t think anyone across
the province denies that those two tracks
are the engine that drives racing in
Ontario. A healthy Woodbine and
Mohawk is good for the game because it
supports it in so many ways whether it be
through the financial support for
the regulatory cause of the industry,
the major stakes races for breeding purposes, etc. At all these levels the WEG
tracks are so important and what they
say they need are full fields.
The best horses should be racing at
the best racetracks for the most money. It’s
pretty simple and if you go back pre-slots
that is what used to happen. One of the
unintended consequences of the slot program is this imbalance and this is one of
the reasons why this new framework is so
important to modify this situation.
The Harness Edge • October 2010
A CONVERSATION WITH...
What about the synchronization of the live product with the
simulcast one? Unlike New Zealand for example, we don’t seem
to be able to co-ordinate these two on a given race night so that
the public is presented with real wagering opportunities without
the races running into each other. From an outsider’s point of
view coordinating these should not be that difficult.
Again, back to customer focus, if you accept that going to
the races involves an experience of more than just the live racing product then we would agree. Therefore, that means not
backing up all the post times within a minute of one another.
We are aware of certain tracks playing around with post
times to impact simulcasting but that’s not good for the business or the customer. There will always be the exceptions as to
why a race does not go on time but within a certain time frame
it should be going. It’s about serving the customer. So, yes there
would be an attempt to address this.
Is there going to be an attempt to create what one might call a
circuit in the province?
Again, I don’t want to get in advance of the work being
done in the consultation process but certainly in our minds we
have always envisioned there should be adequate racing
opportunities for horse people across the province as much as
possible.
So if there are still so many details to be addressed, why did the
ORC roll this out when it did?
There are a number of reasons. A project of this magni-
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October 2010 • The Harness Edge
tude takes time; you get one chance at it so you need to ensure
that you do it right.
Then we ran into a month’s delay when the tracks came to
the director and asked for an extra month of time for the date
applications. We granted them that. From a time perspective
we wanted to have this in place as much as we could in order
to implement it for the 2011 racing season.
The timelines were such that we would have required an
extension of the moratorium and I don’t think anyone wanted
to see that happen.
There are certain racetracks in the province who have demonstrated by their actions a disinterest or indifference to live horse
racing. How do you intend to deal with those?
All I can say to that question is that all the tracks and horse
people have indicated their support for the framework. So
until we see differently, and I would hope that would not be
the case, we expect everyone to cooperate and help to make
the new framework work for the betterment of racing.
If they don’t work with the spirit of the agreement there
are ways and means the commission can utilize. The act is clear
that the commission is granted certain powers and tools but I
prefer to believe people will live up to their word.
What about the impact for breeders who are struggling so in the
province?
The hope is that through the purse pooling process we can
support the breeding industry with ways and means yet to be
determined. This will come through the consultation process
but there could be an Ontario bonus program or whatever.
We went through a Horse Improvement Program review
process and the commission did all it could with what it had
available. The industry was not able to agree to implement the
full recommendations in that review.
I think everyone would agree that the conditions still
remain for breeders. If we want to ensure that we have an adequate horse supply five years down the road we need to have
a viable breeding industry supporting the framework. It would
be awful to find out that we hit a home run solving the industry problems only to find out that we are constrained by horse
supply.
You talked about bench marking with the OLG.
Those are the accountability measures that the OLG have
signified to the tracks. The tracks have been notified that they
are going to put in accountability measures working in conjunction with the ORC to that effect.
How those measures will be put in place is being worked on.
Our administrative people continue to work with the OLG to
bring those into play. That is something that will take some time.
It is a work in progress and will come in as fast as we can do it.
Everything will take a bit of time because we’ll all need time to
adjust.
The subject of marketing was also touched on in the ORC
release.
A CONVERSATION WITH...
Again, we don’t want to get out in
front of the consultation group but I think
it will all come out as part of the bench
marking for racing. We as a board will be
approving these things so we distance ourselves. We put the policy in place for the
moratorium and then turn it over to the
director and his team to work with the
industry and control it with the framework.
I want to be very careful not to be
seen to be mandating or giving our views
too much beyond what the consultations
will bring forward because it would simply be unfair.
Are we talking about a marketing requirement by individual tracks or a provincial
marketing plan?
I think all those things are on the
table. The industry needs to take it back
and get a grip on what the objectives
are: is it collectively, individually or a
combination of both?
Was it not awkward for the ORC to be
working in this direction while at the
same time Standardbred Canada was promoting its Racing Development and
Sustainability Plan, which has now died on
the vine so to speak?
October 2010 • The Harness Edge
“All I will say on that point right now is that this commission has been very definitive on the sanctity of
the purse account. Anything coming forward dealing
with the purse account needs to be viewed on what
we have already said that relates to clearly horse
people’s money.”
I need to be careful again because I
don’t know where that proposal sits. It
certainly has not come forward to the
commission and there has been no
request made. All I will say on that point
right now is that this commission has
been very definitive on the sanctity of
the purse account.
Anything coming forward dealing
with the purse account needs to be
viewed on what we have already said
that relates to clearly horse people’s
money.
So if we have another conversation in six
months time are we going to see a different landscape in Ontario?
I would hope so. Clearly, what we
want to have in place for 2011 are the
hierarchy for both tracks and horses and
the quid pro quo to get that done is the
standardized condition sheet and purse
management.
Other than that I would not want to
promote anything else. I would rather
chunk it off and get it right rather than
trying to do it all at once and choke on it.
So realistically, it is more likely that this
will play out over 24 months.
I don’t want to give you timelines
because I don’t know. But we’ve told
people that 2011 is the transition year
and we’ll treat it as such. 롫