Ontario's horse racing industry is feeling the heat as the province looks to find ways to eliminate the deficit. Finance Minister Dwight Duncan made a comment earlier this week, that the province could repeal a horse racing "subsidy". Horse racing gets a 20 per cent share of slot machine revenues at their racetracks, which amounts to $345-million per year. General Manager of the Ontario Harness Horse Association Brian Tropea fears what losing that money would mean for the industry. "It would be a devastating blow to the industry, as a matter of fact, I predict it would be the end of horse racing as we know it." Tropea believes by just making the suggestion, Duncan has caused enough uncertainty to affect the industry. He says people are making decisions now about whether to breed their mares in Ontario to produce offspring that wouldn't be ready to race for another 3-years by the time they are born and trained. Tropea tells Heart FM that would mean the loss of thousands of jobs and economic impact. "There's 65,000 direct and in-direct jobs. Going back to the "subsidy" comment, if horse racing goes away, Dwight Duncan is truly going to understand what "subsidizing" horse racing means. Because these people will not be able to find jobs and he's truly going to be subsidizing them." Tropea takes issue with Duncan calling the slot revenues a "subsidy" for horse racing. He says that money was designated to help rural Ontario when the deal was first struck 12-years-ago to pair live horse racing with slot machines. There are 17 race tracks in the province with slot machines, including the Woodstock Raceway. Duncan made the comment this week, as the province awaits today's release of the Drummond Report. The report by former T-D Bank economist Don Drummond will offer 362 recommendations on how the province can reduce costs.
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