Lakeshore Horse Racing enjoys a record year

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There was no need for a photographic review of the end of the 2021 season that the Lakeshore Horse Racing Association enjoyed.

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The action at Leamington Raceway produced a banner year, setting a single-day betting record and surpassing the reduced numbers of COVID from a year ago in terms of total bets.

Bets on the site tripled and bets from all sources skyrocketed over $ 200,000.

Stakes at the venue were $ 306,928 compared to just over $ 100,000 a year ago. Bets from all sources were $ 537,182 compared to $ 324,000 in 2020. Bets from all sources also increased significantly from the 2019 pre-pandemic season total of $ 463,000.

They set a single day betting record with $ 46,700 wagered and surpassed the $ 40,000 mark on 11 out of 13 race dates compared to just three times during 2020.

Gambling is very important to the future of horse racing in Ontario.

The average per bet in Leamington was second best among Ontario’s six grassroots (small) racetracks and the average purse was over $ 4,000 compared to $ 3,600 in 2019.

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“It was one of our best seasons,” said veteran Lakeshore rider and Mayor Tom Bain. “I think we got a better caliber of horses and changed our focus a bit, we really focused on making it a family day.”

House-weary families took advantage of the wide outdoor bleachers and several Sunday crowds hovered around the 1,000 mark.

“We met all the COVID requirements with space and we have a lot of space, so we were allowed to bring in a ton of people,” Bain said. “With COVID, there weren’t many activities for people to do as a family and I certainly think that was an advantage for us.”
There were opportunities for the children to get up close to the horses, pet them, ride them, and participate in other games and activities.

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“We are run by horse racing people,” said Mark Williams, LHRA president. “So we never lose sight of the fact that we don’t have an industry if we don’t have fans. We create a family atmosphere and that goes hand in hand with our own horse people ”.

Riders began arriving from Toronto and across southwestern Ontario to compete at Leamington when word spread about how well they were treated there.

“We did a few little tokens of appreciation and that was very, very long,” Williams said, mentioning the free hot dogs on the back leg.

John Hayes, president of Ontario Racing Management, called Leamington’s season “rewarding.”

“There is a really dedicated group of people who are totally committed to horse racing and that just cascades down. His stake was really high. Stakes are very important to the future of horse racing in Ontario. “

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LHRA’s success is a testament to perseverance. When the provincial powers shut down the Windsor Raceway circuit, a group of hardcore riders refused to go out to graze in silence.

“When they removed our race track here, we came together and said we don’t accept it,” Williams said. “We have been able to show that there is still a market here for horse racing. If we hadn’t declined, they were quite willing to let us go. We’ve made our way back and we’re here in a big way. “

As they have done unsuccessfully for the past several years, LHRA has requested additional career dates in 2022.

“We’ve come a long way from three or four years ago when we were afraid they would shut us down,” Bain said. “I think we have built a very good case for more dates.”

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Hayes said the race dates are divided among all the province’s tracks, both large and small, and that through a financing agreement with the provincial government “apparently we cannot change any race dates at any track.”

He did add: “I think we are agile enough, if there was a reduction for some reason (on another track) we can easily change those race dates.”

The local association looks forward to hearing a decision on additional dates in the near future.

“We are an optimistic group,” Williams said. “We have been preparing more race dates for a few years. We’ll see what happens. There’s always hope.”

The 2022 Leamington racing season begins in August.

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