During the COVID-19 pandemic, the small-town tracks in
Ontario who usually have their grandstands full every weekend with happy
fans, were forced to race without spectators for a good part of their racing
season. Seeing these popular grandstands empty was extremely sad, but
understandable considering it was in the best interests of everyone’s safety.
At one point in each track’s season they were all subject to a restriction of
100 spectators which was at least a step in the right direction. The majority
of these spots were filled by owners to watch their horses race, leaving hundreds
of people disappointed who wanted the opportunity to go to their hometown track
and catch the excitement of harness racing.
There was a lot of uncertainty about how the handle was
going to be affected at the small-town tracks, considering they all bet around
the range of $3,000-$10,000 on the online platforms historically. Online
wagering wasn’t a concern for these racetracks as they would usually handle
over $25,000 every race card, that being just on track and that’s something to
be proud of. We have an amazing group of small tracks in Ontario, Hiawatha
Horse Park, Hanover Raceway, Dresden Raceway, Leamington Raceway, Kawartha
Downs and Clinton Raceway. The opening weekend of June 6th and June
7th really set the standard for what the handles were going to be
like. Some tracks really hit the mark and scored significant bets online and
exceeded all expectations for small tracks. Kicking it off for small tracks was
Hanover Raceway who really set the bar high with their production. They had a brand-new broadcast set with a very
solid live steam. This seemed to be the theme as many other tracks also
invested in brand-new graphic packages and other exciting features like new
wagers, Facebook live streams, broadcasts on You Tube and engaging social
media. During COVID-19 all these tracks did an excellent job keeping everyone
as safe as possible, at the same time doing everything they could to let a
limited number of spectators on the grounds.
As opening day was approaching at my home track Leamington
Raceway, I happily accepted the job of track announcer for the 2020 racing
season, my first break through role in the industry. Going into the racing
season I knew we were up against some big challenges and our focus would have to
be different to drive our handle than in previous years. In the past, we enjoyed
one of the highest on track handles and really only offered online wagering
since 2019. We needed a new strategy to build an online audience because it was
our only option, and it wasn’t going to be an easy mission to gain a massive
audience online like we do in person. We are very thankful for Gerald Hill and
the team at OnTrack for setting up a brand-new graphics package for us for the
2020 racing season. That was the first
step in setting up our online presence. Before the meet started, we also
purchased a brand-new camera so we could film some interviews of
drivers/trainers to incorporate into our live stream, to fill the dry air. It was also very important that we remind our
fans that although you can’t be there in person, that you wager online through
the Hpi.com platform and we shared videos how to sign up and place a bet. It
was very challenging transitioning fans to wagering online and it wasn’t as
easy for us as it was for other tracks in Ontario as a lot of our fans prefer
the on-track experience and wagering in person. Being active on all social media platforms was
key to reaching out to all audiences of all ages, and twitter was very valuable
to attract horse players online. The online product, or viewer experience was
definitely something I wanted to improve and a good solution was having On
Track set up a live camera in my announcers both, so I could be on camera between
racings offering commentary and selections.
After much preparation and anticipation, opening day was not
a good start to the season as we had a low handle. It was disappointing to say
the least, but it provided motivation to work out the bugs and fix the issues
for the following weeks. The technical challenges we experienced (including
losing our stream for the first 3 races) were not the only reasons for the low
handle. For the first two weeks spectators were not allowed, coupled with
the challenge of only being available to wager in some parts of Canada and no US
wagering sites the odds were against us. The first couple of weeks were a struggle but it gave a chance
for us to work on the brand-new stream, making sure it was stable, clear and
adding new features. As the third week rolled along, things started to turn the
corner as we were allowed 100 spectators and we got back our pick 4 and pick 3 that
we had in previous years, but still weren’t on US wagering sites. By the fourth week we finally got on a couple US wagering sites like the other small tracks
and it certainly gave our handle a boost, we were also available in more parts
of Canada and fans were happy about that. We were thankful for the team at Hpi
Bet for doing all they could to get us on those sites, also fans in the US for
requesting the sites to add us as a racetrack.
At this point, post time coordination was very important
because we didn’t want to be running over other racetracks and have our races
going off at the same time. As for the drag the most we would ever go past 0
minutes is 1 minute, anything past that is not fair to our fans, horse people
and drivers, also could make you lose interest. Wagering really began to pick
up in September as we started to gain more of an online audience, consistency
on social media began to pay off as we started to gain more of an audience
online. People started to share our content online and talk about wagering on
Leamington, Twitter is a must to build an Online audience. Our Facebook live
streams of each race card were getting more views every week along with our
YouTube live stream. These streams
really opened our races up to a brand-new audience that typically wouldn’t watch
the races. In October, our last month of the racing season, we were seeing over
100 horses entered in the box each week which was amazing, our race secretary
Jan Adams always does a fantastic job at making the races competitive. It was
surprising to see how strong the wagering was in October as that was usually
our weakest month, it was also great to see our online fan base grow and people
taking about our racing on social media. Our strongest day of the meet was
closing day on October 25th with wagering just shy of $39,000 and
most of that was wagered online, that’s pretty impressive for a small-town
track. In 2019 on closing day, we wagered around $33,000 with only $5,000 of it
wagered online, in 2020 there was around $27,000 wagered online and just under
$12,000 on track and that’s with only 100 spectators. That was a great way to
cap off the season with a challenging start, we are so thankful for our amazing
fans and the support they have shown us since the return of racing.
As I reflect on the racing season, I am super thankful for
the opportunity to be the announcer and for everyone’s support I received. Hats
off to Hoof bid and USHWA Canada for offering a great youth handicapping
contest I participated in with Nick Barnsdale, thanks to Garnet Barnsdale and
Melissa Keith for all their hard work. Seeing different handicappers with
selections really makes it exciting, that’s why we had 3 handicappers offer
selections on our live stream every week to give our racing fans a varity of
selections. Our live stream also made incredible advances with new graphics,
following of horses after the post parade along with statistics, instant
stretch replay after the race and the races being a lot clearer. The biggest achievement
of the meet I have to say is that the Lakeshore Horse Racing Association kept everyone safe; a big thank you to all the amazing horse people, staff and fans, who
did a fantastic job following the protocols. When the 2021 season kicks off, I
hope we can continue to improve our live stream and add new features to it,
also hoping we can have more of our fans back and get back to getting more
young fans. On the wagering side I’m
hoping we can expand our wagering menu and add some exciting bets, it would
also be nice to get a lower take on our pick 4 because I think the wager really
finished off nice at the end of the meet. I cannot wait for opening day at
Leamington Raceway on August 8th with a brand-new post time of 1pm,
l believe that it will be a very exciting racing season.
In Conclusion, I am very hopeful for the future of small
tracks in Ontario as they have made major advancements with technology in the
last year. Its very important that we keep our small tracks around as they are
very important to rural communities and give young people like myself a chance
to start out in the industry, lets continue to support these tracks in any way
we can.
By Nathan Bain
