Horse racing in Ontario will receive support from the province for the next few years.
The Lakeshore Horse Racing Association announced Monday that that the provincial government has amended the funding formula for live racing, which guarantees a certain number of racing dates each season for Ontario's 15 racetracks.
According to the updated agreement from Ontario Lottery and Gaming (OLG), each track will get funds in line with the number of race dates reflected in the 2020-21 member plan, in addition to an allocation of the payment that is also in line with the member plan.
LHRA president Mark Williams said the announcement is great news for the horse racing industry and hopefully an indication of things to come.
"This amended agreement provides certainty that the Lakeshore Horse Racing Association will continue to have race dates and funding for the next five years," said Williams. "While we would have preferred to have certainty for the entire duration of the funding agreement this is welcome news to the horse people and the agricultural industries in Essex County that rely on and support the horse racing and breeding industries.”
LHRA executive board member Tom Bain credited Chatham-Kent-Leamington MPP Rick Nicholls for helping put the amendment in place.
"This amendment addresses some of the concerns that the directors of the LHRA had with signing on to the original funding agreement," said Bain, who is also the mayor of Lakeshore. "The original agreement did not guarantee that racetracks would receive any funding after the 2019-2020 racing season and we as a board and on behalf of all of the racing participants are thankful for this amendment."
The association is hopeful that racetracks will be able to safely operate in 2021, and welcome fans back in-person.
