Closing the Marquis Downs horse racing track at Prairieland Park in Saskatoon will negatively impact 500 horse owners, trainers and support personnel and will cost the local economy about $37 million in lost revenue annually, according to people who want to see the track remain in operation.
In late February, the Prairieland Park board of directors announced the 2021 horse racing season was cancelled.
The cancellation was made permanent on Friday, March 12, when Prairieland Park unveiled its plans to replace horse racing with professional soccer.
Prairieland entered into a partnership with Living Sky Sports and Entertainment to convert the facility into a 5,000-seat stadium for a Canadian Premier League (CPL) soccer team.
The decision is not sitting well with those involved in the horse-racing industry, including Nicole Hein,a jockey who competed at the track during the 2019 season.
Hein, who grew up in Warman, said the cancellation was done without consulting horse owners and trainers.
“The board of Prairieland Park used the pandemic as an excuse to not have horse racing anymore,” said Hein in an interview March 8. “They’re moving away from their agricultural roots and focusing on being a trade and convention place. They don’t seem to want to be in horse racing at all.”
Prairieland Park is located on land designated for agricultural activity. It is also the only facility in the province where horse-racing is feasible because it owns the only license for para-mutuel wagering.
Prairieland Park issued a statement February 25 stating the 2021 Thoroughbred racing season had been cancelled, citing “ongoing restrictions surrounding COVID-19, including logistical issues related to the ability to get jockeys into Canada given travel restrictions, quarantine requirement, visa approvals and limited airline scheduling to the Caribbean.”
In the statement, Prairieland Park said 76 per cent of the professional jockeys who race at the track come from the Caribbean.
Last year, the Thoroughbred racing season was also cancelled. Prairieland said its overall net profit declined by 82 per cent in 2020, and added if a season was held this year, projected losses would exceed $2 million.
In early March, the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association of Saskatchewan (HBPA), which represents horse owners and trainers in the province, was still pushing to have the track remain open, unaware that the Prairieland Park board was inking a deal with professional soccer team promoters.
In a three-page letter dated March 5, 2021, from HBPA Saskatchewan President Eddie Esquirol to the Chief Executive Officer of Prairieland Park, the HBPA said the challenges facing the track can be overcome.
In the letter, posted on the HBPA Saskatchewan facebook website, Esquirol said a limited number of fans could be accommodated at the facility during race days. He added that there are sufficient numbers of jockeys in Canada to make the schedule feasible, particularly if the schedule is coordinated with tracks in other prairie cities including Calgary and Winnipeg.
Prairieland Park could also introduce simulcast racing to reach a wider audience, said Esquirol. The returns from that investment would be substantial, he noted, citing Winnipeg’s Assiiniboia Downs’ experience in 2020, which saw revenue of $63.2 million flow to that facility through its simulcast strategy.
“It is estimated that during a summer race meet there are approximately 1,000 people directly and indirectly employed in the racing industry and Thoroughbred racing had a strong fan base prior to COIVD-19,” said Esquirol in the letter. “It offered employment to First Nations, Metis and other Saskatchewan residents.”
Hein confirmed that there were sizeable crowds at Marquis Downs in past years.
“It was packed,” she said. “There’s such an interest here in horse racing.
“The season actually goes from May through August, even though there are only 24 actual race days. When you take into account there are 300 horses that all need to be taken care of, that’s a lot of jobs.
“And it’s not just the people directly working at the track,” she added. “There’s also the indirect economic spin-off from hotels and restaurants and so on. It’s estimated that comes to about $37 million over the course of the season.”
Laurie Tonita, a farrier in the RM of Corman Park south of Saskatoon, said Thoroughbreds may require new horseshoes as often as five times during the racing season.
“So for local farriers, that means 1,000 horseshoeing jobs that would happen at Marquis Downs,” said Tonita. “And if the guys are charging $150 apiece, that’s $150,000 for local farriers.”
Tonita estimated that the cancellation of the 2020 season at Marquis Downs , combined with other downturns in the local economy last year, reduced his overall income by $20,000.
He said the province has an estimated 50 farriers, many of them located on First Nations reserves. He added that many of the horses racing at Marquis Downs are bred and trained at Beardy’s & Okemasis Cree Nation near Duck Lake.
“Probably 40 per cent of the horses are Indigenous-owned and trained,” said Tonita. “It’s an important part of people’s income in those communities. There’s a lot of jobs dependent on the horse racing industry.”
Tonita said if horse racing in Saskatoon is cancelled, it will be harder in the future to build it back up to a healthy state.
The HBPA has stated that it is not opposed to bringing professional soccer to Saskatchewan, but believes it should not be done at the expense of horse-racing. The HBPA said another location for a large soccer stadium makes more sense.