small dead animals: Death At The Racetrack

Death At The Racetrack

The Star;

In Ontario, a rising death knell for the financially gutted industry ? facing track closures and withering purses in a best-case scenario ? also peels for the beautiful four-legged creatures who carry jockeys and pull sulkies around 17 racing ovals.

A government panel assembled in June to study the sport?s dim future has forecast a mass slaughter of up to 13,000 thoroughbreds, standardbreds and quarter horses by early next year should the industry collapse completely. Already, it?s expected two-thirds of Ontario tracks will close, there will be fewer racing days, less money in the prize pot and therefore, less reason for owners and breeders to maintain expensive animals who may not have a place to run.

Against this horrific assessment, the finest 387 Ontario-bred thoroughbred babies go up for auction beginning Monday at Woodbine Racetrack. Horse people are worried, says thoroughbred owner and trainer Ian Howard of Vaughan."

Reading the comments there, it seems The Star's readers equate "revenue sharing from slots" with "taxpayer dollars". Not the brightest group, that.

If Joe Molnar is around, he's going to have plenty to say in the comments.

h/t Maz2

Posted by Kate at September 2, 2012 9:12 AM

There's a "Brick Top" hidden behind every endangered My-Little-Pony waiting for their Gov't cheque.

Taxpayers need protection...where's an unintelligible Brad Pitt gypsy when you need one? Gov't money support will breed a different kind of thoroughbred...with links to the real mob.

Well, Ian Howard and other residents of Vaughn have a chance in a by-election on Tuesday to send McGuinty a message. If they fail to do their part to help stop McGuinty from attaining majority, allowing him to continue pillaging the province, there's nothing left to say but STFU.

Ontario government's parimutuel tax "take" on each race's handle is approximately 15%. The winners receive 85% of the total amount wagered on the race.

Ergo, at the end of the evening after 10 races, the public still has .85^10 of their money left. This is about 19% of the total wagered.

The government's tax took 81% of the money wagered at the track each evening.

This is why horse players look so seedy, why the industry is failing, and why all these magnificent animals are going to be turned into dog food.

Looking on the bright side...I may be able to buy a yearling for what I'm used to spending on OTTB three year olds with bad habits. Most of the TBs will find homes...It'll be the SB horses that wind up at the kibble factories.

Dear Toronto Star:

The matching word for "toll" and "knell" is "peals," not "peels."

If only I'd gone to journalism school...

I'd try horse meat.

-Steve

I can picture a bloated horse carcass on the Queens park lawn, with a sign that says you bury em assh---'s.

McGuinty detests anything rural, he's as "progressive" as they come and the worse thing to ever happen to Ontario, maybe even Canada.

I think he actually just spins a wheel to make a decision.

The racing industry is just another dead canary in Dolton's coal mine. The tracks and slots were where the Mom and Pop recreation money went. Casual gambling is down all over the province with Casinos feeling the pinch as well. No better indicator the middle class and fixed income seniors are pinched to the max from green stealth taxing and general economic decay.

But this is Ontarslabovia, I'm sure there will be governt hand outs to quiet industry losers.

I do not know the background to this story, but as usual, anything a socialist Liberal government gets involved in turns to crap.

Don't know much about horse racing, but car racing isn't in much better shape in Dumbtario. Most weekends hundreds of kids drive their rice rockets all the way from Toronto to Cayuga to do some racing. Which makes for a fun parade past my place, but is not that awesome for the kids.

Just in case anyone was wondering why the punks are street racing on the 401, that's why.

Subsidizing any venture with taxe dollars or another gamblng sector or through regulatory favours (the track once had the monopoly in betting) is a bad idea that hurts taxpayers.

Horse racing has long made its existence on the wagering that surrounded it - not the enthusiasm people had for the sport itself. The races are essentially very expensive slot machines. And with local competition from slots the tracks are - rightly doomed.

For the record, I am a huge fan of going to the track and handicapping/wagering for the day. It is one of my favourite activities - though with the closure of the calgary track i have not done it for sometime and the pleasure is greatly reduced today compared to when i went to woodbine and there were over 30000 people there on a wednesday afternoon, or over 100,000 at the detroit track.

Also I think the idea of governments running casinos is repugnant and I am under no illusions that the reason for the changes in Ontario is all about increasing govt revenues from wagering - not for any philosophical objection to subsidization.

Looks like there is going to be a lot of lean horsemeat for sale in europe...

Subsidizing any venture with taxe dollars or another gamblng sector or through regulatory favours (the track once had the monopoly in betting) is a bad idea that hurts taxpayers.

Horse racing has long made its existence on the wagering that surrounded it - not the enthusiasm people had for the sport itself. The races are essentially very expensive slot machines. And with local competition from slots the tracks are - rightly doomed.

contd

For the record, I am a huge fan of going to the track and handicapping/wagerng for the day. It is one of my favourite activities - though with the closure of the calgary track i have not done it for sometime and the pleasure is greatly reduced today compared to when i went to woodbine and there were over 30000 people there on a wednesday afternoon, or over 100,000 at the detroit track.

Also I think the idea of governments running casiinos is repugnant and I am under no illusions that the reason for the changes in Ontario is all about increasing govt revenues from wagering - not for any philosophical objection to subsidization.

Looks like there is going to be a lot of lean horsemeat for sale in europe...

why not traquilize them and set them free on crown land for frik sakes ..just let htem go who cares after that point if they live or die at least they had a chance ...killling horses cause you cant race them is silly .

we have wild horses here in alberta and i think it adds greatly to the landscape here ....i dont know maybe i am missing something maybe they gat a good buck for horse meat or something . in that case i get it . but other than that i think iti s a pretty dumb reason to slaughter them ...i am out of my realm here just thinking if i was one of the horses.

why not traquilize them and set them free on crown land for frik sakes ..just let htem go who cares after that point if they live or die at least they had a chance ...killling horses cause you cant race them is silly .

we have wild horses here in alberta and i think it adds greatly to the landscape here ....i dont know maybe i am missing something maybe they gat a good buck for horse meat or something . in that case i get it . but other than that i think iti s a pretty dumb reason to slaughter them ...i am out of my realm here just thinking if i was one of the horses.

P in C: throughbreds released into the 'wild' wouldn't last very long and their demise would be very cruel indeed. Doing whatever makes the most financial sense is the correct path of action.

Well, Gord, I used to go to the track in both Calgary and Woodbine, sometimes to play the ponies (I had a bud who was an ex-jock and got lots of inside info) but primarily I liked to watch the horses run - beautiful animals bred to run, a joy to watch man and beast working like a team hurtling down a track at 70kph - I even watched the local sulky races. But as the years wore on there were less and less people showing up and those that did were going grey and white - younger people have no connection with horses or to the sport and if they gamble, poker is the new thrill.

I think the Ontarrible industry is dying because there os no new blood attracted to the sport and those old codgers who were its core support just can't afford to play the horses and lose.

The Star sees 13,000 dead horses as a tragedy but 2 at the Calgary Stampede is the end of the world.

The Star sees 2 dead horses at the Calgary Stampede as a tragedy but 13,000 killed in Ontario because those 1%'ers don't want to pay their "fair share"

roger that, roger in calgary...

roger in calgary >

My thoughts exactly when I read the story.

Guess it's not really about the horses so much after all, as it is about culture bashing and the demonization of western white culture in particular.

Horse racing and betting in Ontario was and is being killed off by slot machines. With slots, the money intake is much higher and much more rapid. You can shove coins in a slot about 1 per 3 seconds, but in horse racing, the bets are much less frequent. Casino revenue is much higher than it is for horse racing, given the purses and payouts.

In short, this is simply the Ontario government killing off one form of gambling it owns in the interests of another which generates more revenue.

Alberta supports the ponies with lottery money. It's big business employing thousands. It would be a crime to tax it to death. I see somewhere in the past the nags ended running in Calgary. The thoroughbred/harness, Edmonton/Calgary, flip-flop worked well.

1) Horseracing lost it business case years ago, when lotteries, bingos and casinos lured gamblers away with easier and more rapid thrills
2) Most graduates of Ontario's school system haven't had the math skills to handicap for 30 years anyway. Slots skills match our society's dumbed-down state. More profitable, too.
3) Subsidizing a hobby group to run animals in circles for nonexistent audiences is insane.

The gov't giveth, and the gov't taketh away.

Probably not all that wise to depend on gov't.

Reading the comments there, it seems The Star's readers equate "revenue sharing from slots" with "taxpayer dollars".

A lot of it probably is taxpayer dollars. Recycled welfare.

we have wild horses here in alberta...

There's no such thing as a 'wild horse'. Horses are a domesticated animal.

'Wild horses' react exactly like every other horse when trained for domestic duties.

Wild animals do not.

"3) Subsidizing a hobby group to run animals in circles for nonexistent audiences is insane."

In a country that hands out hundreds of millions to billionaires that employ millionaires. Professional sports.

Just about no-one in horse racing makes more than a poor living. It is rare for an owner to make significant money racing.

Yeah, you want entertainment, you pay for it.

fiddle's quarter horse was replaced by the Buzz Lightyear ride outside Walmart.

A home for hundreds of these magnificent beasts can be found out here, where Chuckwagon racing has been a premiere event for over a hundred years. These 'born to run' beauties will have everything they need, even after their wagon pulling days are done.Cowboys don't kill a horse cuz it ain't makin' money or it ain't subsidized!

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