Woodbine to offer starter bonuses to trainers at 2024 meet

Woodbine will introduce a starter bonus for trainers at the 2024 Thoroughbred meet, excluding stakes races.

A bonus of $50 will be paid to trainers who start a horse in an overnight race that finishes outside of the top five positions.

“We appreciate and understand that our trainers are managing rising operating costs just like we are,” said Tim Lawson, Woodbine’s vice president of Thoroughbred racing. “The starter bonus idea has been discussed previously with our horsepeople, and this offseason, we took a close look at it and found a way to implement it this season that will support our trainers and put some money back in their pockets.

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“Ultimately, our goal is to further increase our investment in our horsepeople when we are in a position to do so, but in the meantime, we are constantly looking for creative ways to ease some day-to-day financial pressures for trainers throughout the long meet.”

Woodbine has allocated approximately 1,900 stalls to begin the meet, which is about 90 to 100 more than last year. Horses began shipping into the backstretch earlier this week. The dirt training track opens Saturday, and the synthetic main track will open March 11, subject to weather.

Opening day for the 129-day Woodbine meet is scheduled for April 27.

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