Page 8 - January 2005 The Game

8 The Game, January 2005 Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper
The 2004 live thoroughbred season at Hastings Racecourse in Vancouver ended on a positive note with hopes for the future accounting for the up-swing in mood.
Michael Brown, vice president and COO of Hastings Entertainment Inc. reflected on the season and agrees that there is excitement about the future of thoroughbred racing at Hastings.
“With the slot machine approval and the new owners (Great Canadian Gaming Corporation) I am excited about all the things coming up.” said Michael in a recent telephone interview. “Great Canadian Gaming have invested in the long term and they want to see horse racing thrive.”
This past year, Ross McCleod, Chief Executive Officer of Great Canadian, has himself become
involved in horse ownership for the first time and according to Michael the company is currently looking at ways to develop renewed, existing or new ownership interests to the racetrack.
“We’re going into the city to do seminars with groups such as bankers or lawyers.” says Michael providing just a couple of examples of the potential owners they will be targeting. “We’re taking a pro-active approach by going out and approach- ing people to get involved.”
With the anticipation of the slots at the racetrack for the future the timing couldn’t be better for people to get into horseracing in British Columbia, even the 2004 season showed signs of a healthy outlook.
“I think we had a great season. This was the third year that we’ve had a
moderate increase in handle. We’re one of the few tracks that can say that.” Michael also added, “The State of California coming back was a good boost.”
When the State of California changed their ruling on the amount of horse races allowed to be shown in a year, the California tracks were once again able to pick up the Hastings signal which has resulted in bigger pools and money making opportunities for Hastings with their simulcast fees.
According to Michael the implementation of the slot machines at Hastings are still in the development stages and they are currently working with the City of Vancouver as well as architects and planners.
Phase one of the redevelopment is scheduled to begin sometime in 2005. This phase involves renovations to the grandstand to make way for the slot machines as well as construction of a 1500 space parking lot which is planned to be built underneath the current infield. Michael says that with the parking lot underground it will allow for more green space on the property, “The area residents wanted more green space so we didn’t want a paved parking lot to take over the grounds.”
Phase two which involves the barn area of the racetrack is scheduled to begin in 2006 or early 2007. The existing barns will be leveled and replaced with brand new barns.
The question that every horseperson is asking is though is “when will the purses begin to increase?” Michael says that the
company’s goal is to increase purses proactive to the slots. “That is our desire and the plans are being worked on but it is not definite at this time.”
However one thing is definite, there will be twelve additional race days added in 2005 and with the average purses per day remaining the same, this shows a slight increase already in the overall purses money available in 2005.
In 2005 the plans are already underway to open two of the seven lower mainland teletheatres which should help to maintain revenue.
Michael also mentioned the company’s updated cross promotion and marketing plans for 2005, stating that Great Canadian Gaming is determined to promote racing in the province. “It is one step at a time but clearly we are moving forward.” said Michael.
The following is a recap of the 2004 thoroughbred season at Hastings Racecourse:
Hastings Racecourse Live Thoroughbred meet came to an end with a 9-race card Sunday, November 28th. The 71 day meet concluded with a small increase in live handle on track, but suffered a small decrease in total handle overall.
With 691 racing opportunities the all-source Hastings handle was $53,271,443 in 2004 compared to $53,671,295 in 2003. The total on-track handle was $24,795,649, which was an increase of 1.0% from 2003. The largest all-source one-day handle was on June 5, with $1,171,719 wagered. The largest on- track handle was August 2 BC Cup
Day, with a total of $763,597 being wagered.
The largest $2 win payoff came on November 14 when Sir Mombo returned $138.20.
CONTINUED PAGE 38 - SEE HASTINGS RECAP
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