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Edition # 1 - December 2000 PRESIDENTS MESSAGE ~ This is the first newsletter for
our newly elected Board and is being sent out much later than we originally
planned. We have been busy dealing with a long list of problems and issues
- opportunities that affect our industry and we hope this newsletter will
bring all of our members up to date.
RACING DATES ~ We have been working closely with Prairieland to finalize the 2001 racing dates with the primary objective to secure 50 racing days with a bottom purse level of $ 2,000. To accomplish our objectives, we as an HBPA Board have been negotiating with a number of sponsors, government agencies and with Prairieland. We are optimistic that we will succeed with our negotiations and we hope to make some significant announcements over the next two months. Throughout the process, we have had the complete co-operation from Mark Regier and his staff at Prairieland. At a day long meeting on December
9th, 2000 the following dates were agreed to:
The choice of days was a compromise between our
hopes and the realities of certain days not having good attendance numbers.
WEB SITE ~ We have established a web site which is up and
running - please check it out
EXECTIVE DIRECTOR~ We are pleased to announce that Steve Tatarniuk
has
agreed to become our exective director. Steve's first duties are
to work on our sponsorship programs and we are beginning to see results.
Please contact Steve at 306-222-8203 with your ideas.
LEGAL COUNCIL ~ The HBPA-Sask Division has retained Dean
Mattison of the Merchant
Law Group to act as our lawyer. He is available to deal
with issues that HBPA members have that relate to racing.
PRAIRIELAND CAPITAL PLANS ~ On December 9, 2000, we had a meeting with Mark Regier and Doug King of Prairieland, our board and Jean Hayden of the CTHS- Sask. Division. At the meeting, Mark detailed Prairieland's 2001 capital which include:
HORSE RACE (SEGA) GAME ~ We are sure that a number of our members have seen the Sega horserace game at all of the Saskatchewan casinos (except Saskatoon) and at Alberta racetracks. As a part of our activities to increase purse levels, Prairieland has offered us all the profits from the game if we can convince Sask Liquor and Gaming to install the game at the Emerald Casino and Marquis Downs. We feel that Prairieland's offer helps show their commitment to racing and we have submitted a request to the Minister of SLGA (Doreen Hamilton) and we have been dealing with all of the Saskatoon MLA's for their support. So far Pat Lorje, Eric Cline and Chris Axworthy have written letters. Achieving success in getting the game into Saskatoon
will be an important contribution to our purse pool.
MAILING LISTS ~ We are trying to develop a good mailing list and
any help you can give would be appreciated.
VLT'S ~ Anyone who has visited racetracks in Alberta and Manitoba can easily understand how much a good VLT program can mean to racing. Marquis Downs has difficulty competing when a track like Lethbridge has 68 slot machines and puts 33.3% of machine profits into purses while the Sask. Liquor and Gaming Authority gives Marquis Downs 12 machines for part of the year and allows 7.5% of machine profits for purses. Having SLGA treat horse racing in the same way that the Alberta's government does has to be a primary goal of our Board. Previous Boards have worked on this issue and that pressure resulted in the 12 machines being installed in late July. We have to build on that success. To work towards the VLT improvements that we need, the HBPA Board hosted a brunch meeting on December 9th with our Board, Prairieland's Mark Regier and Doug King, CTHS's Jean Hayden and with Chris Axworthy - a candidate for the leadership of the Saskatchewan NDP (the winner of the leadership convention in January will become the premier). Chris Axworthy impressed everyone at the meeting
with his response to the problems that our three groups are having trying
to survive. We received his commitment that he will work with us
to put racing in Saskatchewan on an even footing with Alberta.
SUPPORT FOR CHRIS AXWORTHY ~ Our Board passed a unanimous resolution to support the candidacy of Chris Axworthy for the leadership of the New Democratic Party. We hope that all of our members that are in a position (as members of the NDP) to vote for the leadership will seriously consider supporting Chris. The HBPA Board, Prairieland management and the CTHS President all believe that Chris Axworthy is our best opportunity to be heard by the provincial government. Over the past months Chris has taken the time
to meet with the HBPA president and has become knowledgeable about horse
racing in Saskatchewan - we need Chris
Axworthy .
SPONSORSHIP ~ For the 2001 race season, we plan on having every
stake race sponsored, bringing back the nightly feature race (with a blanket
for the winners) and introducing a starter allowance series involving 7
different sets of three races (3 for fillies and mares and 4 for colts
and geldings). More news to follow.
RULE CHANGES ~ We are working on rule changes to change vet times
to a pre-paddock check rather than the morning check and to allow a lasix
program. More news to follow.
FINAL WORDS ~ The Board is happy with the progress we have made
over the last few months. We have committed ourselves as Board members
to work together and all of the individuals have shown their commitiment
by attending 4 meetings since being elected while working on other related
committees. The Board has also committed itself to approaching horse
racing as being a partnership between all of the concerned parties (Prairieland,
CTHS and the HBPA) and that sense of co-operation has been evident in our
negotiations. We are looking forward to a successful 2001 - we hope
that some of the trainers, jockeys, grooms and owners that went elsewhere
in 2000 will return home in 2001 and work with us to re-establish a sucessful
race meet.
Posted December 22, 2000 |
