Hi, this is Fred Wallace with ” Off the Wire “,….. proudly sponsored by Pete’s Auto Body.
Pete’s Auto Body; because we care about our community….
Last week we were talking about golf in the province of Ontario and how I felt the restrictions imposed by the government which more or less made the activity forbidden was misguided.
Thankfully that’s been rectified and I’ve got two very enjoyable rounds under my belt.
I feel the same way about the horse racing industry.
Like golf, the thoroughbred and standardbred operations in Ontario had an incident free year in 2020 as it pertains to COVID-19.
In my view, there was no reason to halt the launch of the 2021 racing season, yet, like golf, in a somewhat curious decision tracks were shuttered and the season was delayed.
Again, similar to golf, the provincial government gave the horse racing industry the green light last week, but the scheduled opener in many cases has been altered.
At Hanover Raceway for example, Opening Day will now be June 19th, which is 2 weeks later than their initial target date to start.
On the year, Hanover was granted 15 race dates, so the question that hangs above is whether that season will now be 13 dates, or will they be able to make up the 2 delayed dates at a later date ?
There will be other alterations at Hanover Raceway and at tracks around Ontario.
I think those involved in the industry are universally happy to be progressing towards a start, but I’m sure everyone connected to the sport are asking, ‘ what took so long ? ‘
For Pete’s Auto Body, I’m Fred Wallace.