Page 2 - March 2019 Thoroughbred Highlight
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Improvements & Purse Increases at Fort Erie Race Track in 2019
The board of directors of the Fort Erie Live Racing Consortium held a board meeting in early February for strategic planning purposes. Looking ahead for the next seven years the directors discussed developing revenue and expense models that will make the race track more sustainable.
The  rst time since the inception of the FELRC, funding has been secured to operate the facility and it’s horse racing product.
Fort Erie Race Track’s Chief Executive Of cer, Jim Thibert and Chief Operating and Financial Of cer, Tom Valiquette, have been given the policy direction of the board which will bring about many positive changes taking effect for this coming  scal year, beginning April 1, 2019.
“As we  nalize our budget for 2019, we know that
there will be many improvements for the upcoming racing season,” said Valiquette. “Most notably for our horse people will be a 20 percent increase in purses, which will help improve the economics in our backstretch and provide better racing for our customers. Our fans will see many improvements to our venue as well, such as updates to our dining room and a new in eld tote board. We expect that 2019 will be an exciting year at Fort Erie Race Track, and look towards opening day with great anticipation.”
Fort Erie Race Track will host 40 days of racing every Tuesday (4:20pm  rst race post) and Sunday (1:20pm  rst race post) in 2019 beginning Tuesday, May 28 through to October 15.
The 84th running of the Prince of Wales Stakes, the second jewel in the Canadian Triple Crown will be held Tuesday, July 23. The popular Puss N Boots Cup is scheduled for September 1 and non horse related events include wiener dog races after horseracing on Sunday, August 11 and added this year will be Bassett Hound races after horseracing on Sunday, September 15 as well as a Farmer’s Market every Sunday during racing.
On The Cover:
Peter Armata with Molinaro Deputy, trained by his dad Vito, and rider Ray Raganuth after a
few turns around the sand ring on February 28 at Woodbine. The now 7 year-old mare by Paullinus - Acting Deputy is a winner of 2 races with 7 seconds and 5 thirds in her 49 lifetime starts for owners Enza Armata and Paul Figliano. Vito had 12 horses ship in to the track when the backstretch opened February 26.
Jockey Club of Canada Announces One Graded Stakes Upgrade for 2019
The Jockey Club of Canada’s Graded Stakes Committee held its annual review of the Graded and Listed Stakes races in Canada. The number of Graded Stakes in Canada will increase from 45 to 46 with the addition of the Jacques Cartier Stakes being upgraded from Listed to a G3 Stakes.
The Monashee Stakes and the Lieutenant Governors’ H, both run at Hastings Racecourse, were downgraded from Listed Status to Black-type for 2019.
Additionally, the Canadian Derby will maintain G3 status after ap- proval of a change in distance from 11 furlongs to 10 furlongs at its new location, Century Mile in Edmonton.
The Jockey Club of Canada Graded Stakes Committee meeting was conducted by Committee Chair, Ross McKague with Committee Members, Jim Bannon, Tom Cosgrove, Mark Frostad and Jockey Club of Canada’s Chief Steward R. Glenn Sikura in attendance along with race track representatives Julie Bell, Matt Jukich, Nichelle Milner and Paul Ryneveld.
The Jockey Club of Canada Graded Stakes Committee evaluates and reviews the Graded Stakes in Canada annually and determines whether races should be upgraded, downgraded or remain the same. The Committee bases their decisions on the cumulative NARC rat- ings for  ve consecutive years as well as the most recent and Black- type RQS Scores.
For complete information visit:
https://jockeyclubcanada.com/2019-graded-stakes-in-canada/
Thoroughbred
Highlight
More information upcoming events and a detailed racing schedule can be found at www.forterieracing.com.
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