Ontario Horse Racing Industry Association president, Sue Leslie, was Norm Borg’s guest, on November 1st, for a special edition podcast of At the Gate, Racing at the Crossroads. Leslie expressed her thoughts and concerns on the recent release of the Horse Racing Industry Transition Panel’s final report.

First and foremost, regarding the Sustainable Horse Racing Model, Leslie said, “I want it clearly understood by the industry that this is a model that the Panel are recommending. This isn’t an OHRIA model, this isn’t an OHRIA plan. This is a model that the OMAFRA Panel has come up with to begin negotiations with.”

With cautious optimism, Leslie outlined the positive points of the report. “From the Panel’s point of view, they have accomplished three things on behalf of the industry,” she said. “They have identified that the industry cannot survive on pari-mutuel wagering. When this thing started out, the government thought we would shrink, but they thought we could have a robust horse racing industry based just on pari-mutuel. In their report, they say that no jurisdiction they checked into operated horse racing based on pari-mutuel alone.”

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