On April 15, Davidson standardbred horse trainer Gary Schmiedge walked into Arm River-Watrous MLA Greg Brkich’s constituency office and presented a petition signed by around 30 area people to Brkich’s assistant.
The petition requests the Saskatchewan government reinstate two home market areas in the province, which would enable West Meadows Raceway, the new standardbred horse harness racing track in Regina, to set up teletheatres and telephone account betting to generate revenue. The province had two home market areas prior to 2002 when Queensbury Downs in Regina was still in operation.
Schmiedge said the standardbred horse racing industry in this province would come to an end if the two home market areas were not reinstated. He said the racetrack in Regina couldn’t operate this year without the teletheatre licence change, which affects the pocketbooks of more than just the horse trainers.
“The veterinarians, we’ve been in touch with them and some of them are pretty concerned because they lose a lot of business if the horses leave,” said Schmiedge. “The gas (stations) lose money because it takes a lot of money to go to Yorkton (Cornerstone Raceway) or Regina. Restaurants, it’s a big spin-off for them. Some people come in and stay in Regina overnight, so there are motels.
“There is just no end of people that it involves (including) a lot of students in the summer months or after-school. They go to these tracks and they get jobs grooming and cleaning barns. It gives them some employment. There is no end to what it affects.”
Donna Harpauer, Minister of Crown Investments for the Government of Saskatchewan, said the original decision to go to one home market area was decided through an agreement between Queensbury Downs and Prairieland Park, which runs thoroughbred races only, in 2002. She said the two tracks realized there was not enough telecast betting in the province to keep both tracks viable.
“Queensbury Downs decided to exit that market,” said Harpauer, noting telecast wagering has gone down even further since then. “It wasn’t a big enough market for them to continue and Prairieland then purchased the assets at that time. Since that time there has been one home market area for the province of Saskatchewan and Marquis Downs (at Prairieland Park) has been the holder for that.”
Harpauer said the province-wide teletheatre licence would continue to go to Marquis Downs for the next three years, up from the original one-year agreement, in order to maintain stability for the racetrack and their contributions to the province. She said the thoroughbred raceway has a 500- to 600-horse inventory with approximately 250 Saskatchewan horse owners and 50 trainers who live in the province along with the numerous staff they employ year-round, while the standardbred horses come mainly from out-of-province.
To read more please see the April 29 print edition of The Davidson Leader.