Woodbine officials hoping new turf course will attract more horses, betting

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – With the 133-day meet ending on Sunday, there’s good and bad news on the wagering front at Woodbine. Overall betting is up, but the important home-market handle has decreased.

“Wagering by Ontario customers on the 2018 Woodbine Thoroughbred meet is down 5 percent,” said Greg Martin, Woodbine’s vice president of wagering. “We would expect this bottom-line number to improve. All-sources wagering on the Woodbine Thoroughbred meet is currently up 3 percent due to strong growth from U.S. markets.”

Perhaps the addition of a second state-of-the-art turf course will boost handle in the future. A seven-furlong inner course was installed this year at a cost of over $8 million. It replaces the former harness track, which was no longer needed after Standarbred racing was moved to Mohawk permanently last year.

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Woodbine CEO Jim Lawson said the new course could be in use by the third week in May of next year, which is around the time when turf racing traditionally begins at the meet.

“In a perfect world, we’re thinking that both turf courses could start at the same time,” Lawson said. “There’s every chance that the new course may be ahead of the original course. If it’s settled well, it’s going to drain better. We’ll have horses work and train on it, and, hopefully, it will get the thumbs up. If we get a lot of rain in May, it might even be ready before the old course.”

Lawson said the base of the new course is made up of light sand and fiber, which should enable the grass to adhere well to the dirt underneath.

“It’s pretty thin grass,” Lawson said. “In comparison, the [main] course feels like U.S. Open rough. It’s lush and thick. I think you’re going to find horses that prefer one surface over the other, and not just because of the turns. You may find horses who like the one type of grass rather than the other. Figuring that out is going to be a handicapper’s dream.”

Lawson is optimistic that the new course will help to increase handle.

“From a pure economic basis, I don’t think we can rationalize spending $8 to $9 million on a turf course in terms of its rate of return,” Lawson said. “We’re looking at it as potentially attracting more horses, and to run more races on the grass to keep horsemen happy. Wagering is higher on grass races, partly because of field size, but more than that, people like wagering on the grass because there’s so many variables. If we can offer a pretty healthy menu of grass racing next year, then maybe we’ll see some horses come up here from the United States, because they know they can do the bulk of their racing on the grass.”

◗ Lawson said Woodbine is in the midst of negotiations with the local Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association regarding a new five-year contract.

“Our horsemen’s agreement with the HBPA expires March 31,” Lawson said. “We have offered and guaranteed purse increases, but there’s a ways to go until we have any closure on that arrangement for next year.”

◗ Lawson said that despite rumors to the contrary, he is unaware of any plans to discontinue the provincial breeders’ awards.

“There’s a lot of confusion in the industry,” Lawson said. “The breeders’ awards are funded from a percentage of parimutuel wagering. They’re a product of the Thoroughbred improvement program, which is managed by Ontario Racing. The Thoroughbred improvement committee is a committee of Ontario Racing. How that money gets spent is based on the approval and recommendation of that committee to Ontario Racing, which then translates into Woodbine. There’s no expectation, at least in the short term, to any changes.”

◗ Lawson said the transit agency Metrolinx and Woodbine are in “preliminary discussions” regarding a proposed GO commuter train station at the track. He said there are currently no plans to scrap the dirt training track if the proposal comes to fruition.

“With 5,000 people currently working here every day, we think there’s a very strong case for mass transit on the site,” Lawson said. “If it does occur, the ideal long-term planning is for light-rail transit down Hwy. 27 that would also connect into the Union-Pearson [express train]. We’ve got our fingers crossed, because it would be good for our employees and for horse racing. We might see a whole lot more people come out here from downtown. Right now, no one really wants to fight the traffic. If they could hop on a train and it took 12 minutes or so, it would be a whole different story.”