MDanko.Com - Harness Racing: Blog

Sadinsky Panel Report

Sun, 03 Aug 2008 11:29:05 -0500

I've been re-reading the SadinskyPanelReport (SPR) and want to review some of its details DIRECTLY.

The executive summary on pages 3-6 is the obvious starting place.

[pag3-par3] the industry derives its income from 3 source:

house take from wagering
exporting ontario grown horses
slots subsidy

i agree completely and would also include 4) private money invested and lost on horse racing ownership For example, Matts Sundin spends $100,000 a year on his race horses and they ONLY make $60,000 a year. Thats a net gain of $40,000 for the racing industry - money brought from hockey into horse racing.

[pag3-par4] the slots program is now 10 years old ... it was introduced without specific directions or benchmarks on how the money should to be used.

completely agree - no metrics of any kind, no accountability whatsoever, only "implied" good intentions that are NOT happening at most tracks.

[pag3-par5] OHRIA, the industry association, has failed to become an effective economic regulator for the industry due mostly to its inability to make decisions

agree completely, demonstrated lack of power to make changes and a thus no visionary leadership

[pag4-par1] HRO would take over the economic regulation of the industry including:

setting/approving race dates

developing a detailed industry strategic plan

administering province wide programs (HIP, Quarter horse development Plan)

what to do with tax reduction funds

branding and development of an industry-wide marketing strategy

all very reasonable - perhaps not enough to turn things around ... so MORE should be added to this list. call this the MANDATE of the HRO

The MOST important details in the report

[pag4-par2] HROs ability to work in the best interests of the industry as a whole is perhaps the single most important element for the future success of the horse racing and breeding industry in Ontario.

quite simply, HRO will be given the power and means to make changes. Changes can have good effects or bad effects - thats why CHANGE is so risky.

I prefer a planned/managed/proactive approach to change (as would be tasked to HRO) instead of an unplanned, reactionary approach (make the best of whatever happens next approach that the industry has been using so far).

[pag4-par4] The Panel supports a continued 20% slots subsidy but recommends that the program be adjusted to better meet the objectives of enhancing wagering on Ontario races and growing Ontario horses.

well said, and ties DIRECTLY into [pag3-par3] profit streams. more detail is certainly needed but the recommendation is sound

[pag4-par5] slot revenue be distributed as follows:

25% to host track

25% to local racing purses

50% to HRO and pooled across the province to benefit the whole ontario racing industry

this really SCARES people. Why should HRO get double what the horsemen or the track get ? It sends most horsemen into a ranting rage about gov't killing their livelihood and starving their families.

Its important to understand it in CONTEXT. HRO will get 50% (not tricks there) but will be responsible for spending this money AS IT WAS INTENDED to be spent - and that is a good thing - and something that the current racing industry has NOT be able to achieve.

The next few paragraphs better explains the impact of this HUGE change.

[pag4-par5/6] HRO gets 1/2 of the slots revenue to be spent like this:

10% on industry-wide initiatives like operating costs, branding and generic marketing of ONtario horse racing, R&D for new wagering products and technology use.

90% on programs aimed at enhancing Ontario race wagering and exporting ON horses

That's IMPORTANT. HRO gets 50% of the slots revenue but ONLY 10% of that (ie. 5% of the industries slots revenue) goes toward indirect costs. 90% of that money goes toward programs to DIRECTLY enhance horse racing's other 2 revenue streams.

THIS IS GOODNESS. The report goes on to add detail about HOW hro will spend this 90%.

[pag4-par7] 3 programs to enhance ontario wagering product and export of ontario grown horses:

funding restricted races for Ontario grown horses
purse money bonuses to owners/breeders of ontario grown horses
giving money to the poor tracks and purses to keep the provincial playing field more level

Wow, 90% of the slots revenue taken by HRO comes back to the tracks/horsemen BUT in planned ways. programs managed to enhance the racing industry and our business revenue streams. This is good.

[pag5-par2] these 3 programs would flow most of the slot revenue back to racetracks and racing purses but are incentive based available for tracks to grow their wagering product on live racing.

Of course still needs MORE details but it sounds like the programs are aiming money in the right directions.

more racing or less racing

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 22:42:28 -0500

using my canadian archive database shows that in 2007 in canada there were 202,000 racing opportunities and 14,000 horses racing.

doing the math, the average was about 14 starts per horse with 1/2 of the horses having 11 or less starts. This is too few for a standardbred race horse as they typically go 25-35 starts a year. So how do we explain so few starts?

could be there are too few racing opportunities
could be the horses were incapable of racing more
could be the horses raced a dozen canadian starts and the rest some place else

looking at my own stable during that year (2007) , i raced:

Starts	Hors	Reason/Observation
1	Gambi Girl	#2 too lame to race
13	Solar Sara	#2 lame
16	Killer Rabbit	#2 returned from layoff
20	Cotton Briefs	#2 returned from layoff
29	Kevin Clipper	raced all i wanted
37	Solar Neenah	raced all i wanted
35	Very Violet	raced all i wanted

Nearly 1/2 of mine raced only part of the year and that was horse related not industry (#2). Not enough data to say for sure that the rest of the industry is the same as me - but it would be a good guess based on my experience.

Ultimately, the supply of horses will change to match the demand - more races (more purse distribution) will cause an increase of horses and similarly, fewer races (less purse distribution) will afford fewer horses.

THEREFORE, the equation gets simpler. Purse money is fixed (whatever the slots gives us) so more races mean more horses and less earnings for the horses. And fewer races means we bite the bullet now, cull the slowest horses, and the average earnings goes up.

There are of course seasonal implications that i haven't factored in with all the new horses coming on line in the spring - there could be a local need for more racing during that particular time but scheduling our determined race dates is another issue completely.

Just some thoughts.

Track Conditions

Tue, 19 Feb 2008 18:15:19 -0600

Horse racing continues throughout the winter at a few Ontario tracks even with our extreme weather conditions. Some feel we should shut down racing for the cold weather and to follow a seasonal schedule. Others argue that racing in winter is part of our geography saying that we need to continue racing throughout the winter to keep a continuation going.

What we're seeing in KD is the WORST of both sides. We have winter races scheduled but the track is completely unprepared for the weather conditions. Last Friday, the track was not touched once before the qualifiers went to post. There was snow drifting across the track on one turn, solid stretches of ice on the other.

I don't know anything about track maintenence so am not suggesting HOW best to prepare a surface for winter racing BUT i am saying "doing absolutely nothing" is bad for the horses and bad for the wagering public.

Acknowledging the untouched surface, the ORC judges allowed 6 seconds of varience to all performers. My 1:59 trotter went her mile in 2:13. How can anyone wager on horses coming off such ridiculous conditions ?

Some scratched refusing to perform on such substandard track conditions. Others endured as we needed to get our horses qualified and raced to pay some bills.

What can we do to ensure that the track get maintained to a suitable and safe racing surface ?

PS. i personnally saw 2 horses slip and fall on the icy turn. Both got up with minor scrapes- nothing serious but it could have been.

Ontario Sires Stakes

Tue, 05 Feb 2008 10:29:06 -0600

I've been thinking about how to improve the interest in racing. WEG does $1M handle each night but in KD, $10,000 is (sadly) more the norm. How can racing generate interest enough that the smaller track can do better ? I'll be blogging my thoughts on this matter but one notion that crossed my mind was our OSS program. Its not the most important thing for racing but I'll start there.

Our Ontario Sires Stakes program was created in 1974 with the objective to promote breeding of standardbred horses in Ontario and to provide economic incentives to breeders to improve the quality of the Ontario sired horse. The program is funded by the Ontario horse racing industry through a provincial levy imposed on wagering at the rate of 2% on all wagering and an additional 2% on triactor wagering. Clearly, Ontario's "C" tracks (1% of WEGs handle) are not generating much for the program.

Like racing, the OSS program gets tweaked from time to time in the name of improvement but when I stand back and take a look at the big picture, I'm completely convinced that we're failing to squeeze full entertainment value from our racing. Here's what I'd like to see considered.

2 year old's are NOT race horses – they're BABIES. I'd like to see OSS fund baby races only for two year olds. Set the purses such that an undefeated baby racer starts maybe 10 times and earns $100,000. That would mean $20,000 purses, raced conveniently around all the B/C tracks to introduce these “future stake racers” to the general public. Enough money to encourage owners/trainers to show their babies off at the track but not hurt them. That's all there would be for 2 year old racers and the industries job would be to help us all imagine how good this babies MIGHT become and hype the expectation for the years to come.

3 year olds are NOT yet race horses – they're ROOKIES. The OSS will schedule races for rookies and classify them according to money earned. These are development races and are NOT just for 3yos but are open to ANY Ontario sired horse that fits the money condition – (4yo, 5yo, 6yo, ...). At set times during the season, the program would schedule a REAL Ontario Sires Stakes race with a huge purse to be contested by ALL Ontario sired horses on the planet regardless of age. Racing fans can be asked the question “who really is the best Ontario sired race horse” and these races will help provide an answer year after year. You can't BE the best until you BEAT the best !

What better way to promote an improved breed of Ontario sired horses. It rewards performance AND longevity and what better way to promote our babies and rookies than by having them race against the best we've ever bred year after year. That's what I think the OSS should be and if it were then I'd go watch it !

Bring in the New Year

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 12:21:05 -0600

The new year is a popular time to make resolutions - things you should do to make this year better than last. Here are a few easy suggestions.

contribute to your OHHA rrsp. all that's required is for you to put away $100 and OHHA will add $500 to it. Why not start the year with a free $500 !
become a member of Standardbred Canada - getting trackit for $20 a year makes it worth while for EVERYONE Canadian interested in racing to join SC.
Signup for trackit. you'll get a week free to try it out then you can upgrade to the $20/year plan. It makes following races and the horses much more pleasurable.
and finally, if you don't have a computer GET ONE. My mother-in-law doesn't have one so I've been looking for something that will work for her. She's retired, doesn't know computers (and doesn't want to) and doesn't have "an office" or even a "home work space". What I recommended to her, was a cheap PC ($500) that can be hidden behind her living room TV and uses that nice big-screen TV as a computer display. Add to that a wireless keyboard and mouse ($100) that can be used from any chair in the room and can be stored out of sight when not being use. She's on cable so high speed internet is available - all for under $1000.

Treat Yourself - you deserve it!

Happy New Year

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 10:49:33 -0600

Well, there is it --- 2007 is in the books and we've started a brand new year. For us near KD, that means that racing has started up again after the 2 week Christmas closure, and Thursday night racing has been switched to Friday night.

Likely the biggest change for 2008 is the Standardbred Canada TrackIt access granted to Canadian horsemen for $20 a year. This is a super deal and I encourage EVERYBODY to take advantage of it. Email me if you have any questions but do sign up.

Other cool advances made in 2007, HPI (WEG) now archives the video replays of the races that it broadcasts so for instance KD's Tue cards are there and GeoD's Saturday cards are there. You need to be an HPI member to get access to the site but we all should be and its cool to watch the replays from the comfort of home.

Eligibility fees went up to $65 a horse for 2008. Wasn't this supposed to be a one-time fee to cover the cost of concerting from paper based racing eligibility cards to the electronic form and that happened - what 15 years ago --- hmmm, the gift that keeps giving but the bottom line, get them paid so you can race your horse in 2008.

Good luck to all of us racing in 2008 and lets try to make 2008 the year that puts horse racing back on the big league sports map.

OHHA Election

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:58:07 -0600

As I posted earlier, John Thomson won the OHHA director election for my district:

Candidate	Votes
Nobody	250
John Thomson	84
Maurie Danko	65
Dave McGee	27

but can anybody see the problem in the table above ? Clearly, an overwhelming majority of people who made the effort to join the OHHA from our district didn't make the effort to vote ... WHY NOT ?

Its a serious question - what is the answer ?

I don't know, I will find out, and suggest that our current OHHA directionship is failing to motivate/inspire/include these guys.

And yet, no changes are being made at the director level which is another example of horse racing shooting itself in the foot. The writing is on the wall ... somebody should read it !

TrackIt update

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 11:36:17 -0600

Recently Dave Stewart lead an effort to convince the SC directors to make TrackIt free to those of us who still care about horse racing information.

SC responded and decided to allow Canadian SC members 125 TrackIt queries a month for $20 yearly. Not free, not unlimited, and not addressing the need to inform non-SC members but still a good deal for the rest of us.

In light of this new development, I encourage all Canadian based SC members to pay the annual $20 for limited TrackIt usage.

Its wonderful to have access to horse racing information and TrackIt includes US racelines which MDanko.com never did.

OHHA Election

Tue, 11 Dec 2007 19:08:21 -0600

The results are in for the 2007 OHHA Directors election and John Thompson had the most votes. I wanted to try being a director to inspire some change in the way things are done in the industry but the voters have spoken and John is our leader for 3 more years.

Claiming

Thu, 06 Dec 2007 11:22:40 -0600

I've blogged about my distaste for the claiming game but recently somebody suggested to me a brilliant idea. What if racing made a rule that any horse winning a claiming race MUST raise up (at least) 1 class for its next start.

This would prevent claimers from sitting in the same class and winning all the purse money week after week. The racing industry should not encourage a $5,000 horse to earn $50,000 purse each year. It's just wrong from an industry perspective.