Horse racing is an honourable sport that is steeped in tradition; built by generations of hardworking and passionate individuals and families. It’s an industry that brings people together from all walks of life, and is critically dependent on everyone’s contribution to its stability and success. While this diversity of roles and shared passion is racing’s greatest strength, it exists within a very complex and challenging business environment that results in constant pressure to plan, adapt, and aggressively fight to secure our future.
At Woodbine Entertainment, we own and operate two racetracks: Woodbine Mohawk Park (Standardbred racing) and Woodbine Racetrack (Thoroughbred racing). If you are reading this with interest, it’s important to understand that Woodbine operates as a not-for-profit minded organization. The late, great breeder and visionary, E.P. Taylor, donated a large piece of land in Toronto where Woodbine Racetrack is now situated. His vision was to provide this land, and this racetrack, to the hardworking horse people of Ontario so they would always have a place to race horses and earn a living doing so. Woodbine Entertainment, formerly the Ontario Jockey Club, carries the responsibility, mandate, and obligation to honour his vision. We do not have an owner nor shareholders. We have an independent and committed Board of Directors whose job is to ensure that this mandate is strictly followed. Our executive management team is accountable to this Board. Every decision we make is to create a strong and sustainable Ontario horse racing industry. That’s why Woodbine exists, and for no other reason. Every dollar of profit we make is invested to support the entire Ontario horse racing industry. Our vision and ambition is to support all current industry stakeholders as best we can while also thoughtfully investing to grow the Ontario horse racing industry towards a strong, vibrant, and sustainable future. It’s a very difficult balance requiring judgment and trade-offs. We recognize that not everyone will agree with the decisions we make to achieve this balance, however, we hope and expect that everyone will respect our motivation and purpose to support the present and future of racing in Ontario.
A decade ago, the provincial government in power at the time ended a lucrative funding agreement that was supporting horse racing. This decision almost killed the industry in Ontario. At the time, the only path forward was for Woodbine Entertainment to lead the industry – something that was asked of us by the government, and staying true to E.P. Taylor’s vision, we agreed. We worked tirelessly to reach a new long-term funding agreement that is now in place. To this day, we continue to lead the industry at a substantial cost to our operations, and we do so proudly.