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Proud,
Grateful Careers,
Training Apologies for
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Proud, Grateful and Determined
Visitors to Fraser Downs lately will have noticed that most of the lower level of the grandstand complex has been sealed off. The first phase of a $25 million construction program is underway, a plan to open an interim facility with 200 slot machines by April of this year. The complete new Fraser Downs Entertainment Centre will open for business April 1, 2005. Not only will everything we have now be renovated and modernized, much will be completely new, including a gaming floor with up to 400 slot machines.
When Surrey City Council gave final approval of our plan following a December 16 public hearing, it was a milepost in a marathon that began for me as a 1995 research project. That year, we became convinced that without the ability to compete in the modern gaming business, the horse racing industry would slowly wither toward insignificance. As I listened to more than 70 speakers at the public hearing, the vast majority of whom were in favour of our proposal, I reflected back over the many years of the campaign and the tremendous number of people who helped. It is indescribable how proud I am of our staff and the horse racing community, all of whom have had to make sacrifices over the years to help us survive impossible business conditions. And how thankful I am to so many. The Cloverdale District and Surrey Chambers of Commerce, the Cloverdale Rodeo and Exhibition Association, the Cloverdale Business Improvement Association and dozens of neighbours went out of their way to pledge support.
From 1996 onwards, every time the slot machine issue was debated, in any venue, we have consistently argued that our principal motive was defensive, not a quest for undeserved profit. Lotteries and gaming competition were killing us, both on the home front and beyond our borders. Slot machines at racetracks elsewhere in Canada greatly inflated purses, causing us an out-migration of both horses and horse people. Yet every time I made these statements, I sensed scepticism within my audience. Nobody actually winked, but I could feel the wry smiles and questions. We make no apologies for an ambition to improve compensation for everybody in horse racing, including the shareholders of our company. We have all suffered together. But now we are determined to prove the sincerity of everything we said along the way. We will make the provincial government, Surrey City Council and everyone who believed in us, forever proud of their role in this story. Building fan appreciation The ultimate measurements of success will be larger crowds, a more youthful fan demographic, new and enthusiastic owners of horses, better racing, more media attention and a higher pari-mutuel handle for live racing. The entertainment value of what we do must be squarely addressed by every participant, and particularly the creation of events that will test our owners, trainers, drivers, breeders and horses against superior talent from other jurisdictions. Slot machines will win for us an opportunity to arrest our sport’s decline, attract many new people and substantially improve purses. All of us who love horse racing - operators, staff, fans and horse people - should be judged in the future by what we are now able to achieve. That’s what this publication is all about: a VISION for an industry. Let’s pursue this dream together. Read these pages and see a potential far bigger than most race fans may have imagined.
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by Chuck Keeling
More than one member of Surrey council remarked that the public support was “overwhelming” and “unprecedented.” Some councillors have been consistently supportive for years and our industry will be forever grateful, but so many people have helped in different ways, I will refrain here from naming names. And, as much as I wish the process could have moved faster, we were impressed by the dedication and diligence shown by both elected representatives and officials at Surrey City Hall. They left nothing to chance and even the critics, through their thoughtful questions and objections, helped make our proposal better.