Windsor Raceway complaints aired at meeting

Veteran Ontario-based horseman Gord McDonnell was quoted at a meeting held at a hotel near Windsor Raceway Tuesday and attended by the chairman of the Ontario Racing Commission (ORC) that officials of the racetrack are “driving it into the dumper.”

Last week the racetrack, the Ontario Harness Horse Association (OHHA) and the ORC reached an agreement that the track would continue to race its entire race schedule as scheduled through May 27, although purses would be cut 25 percent. Wednesday’s Windsor Star reported that the Tuesday three-hour meeting was “well attended” by horsemen and some gamblers.

The horsemen reportedly raised concerns about poor conditions in the barns, and there were also allegations that there was limited food service or patrons and unsanitary bathrooms.

“Windsor Raceway does very little to promote live harness racing,” OHHA District 11 president Louis Moison was quoted as saying, adding that the owner of the racetrack “fails to realize that he purchased a racetrack, not a slot parlor.”

A racetrack representative refuted Moison’s allegations and that the bathrooms were not sanitized. He said he would have the track look into the complaints about the food service, which is outsourced.

“We recognize and sympathize. We hear your complaints about issues,” said ORC chairman Rod Seiling.

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