Ontario Racing’s board of directors has voted to allocate some $9 million to Standardbred purses and add $5 million to the Standardbred Improvement Program that administers the Ontario Sires Stakes.
Toronto, ON – Ontario Racing is excited to announce that it is immediately contributing additional funding of more than $14 million to the Ontario Standardbred horse racing industry as part of the Ontario government’s plan to increase support to protect agriculture and rural jobs across the province.
The new money for the Standardbred industry is part of $35 million in additional funding for all three racing breeds, combined, for each of the next five years.
Ontario Racing’s industry representative board of directors voted to direct 83 per cent of the additional funds toward Ontario’s breeding sector and racing participants.
Standardbred racing is conducted at 11 of the province’s 14 racetracks.
Highlights of how the additional funding will be allocated this year specific to the Standardbred industry in Ontario include:
• An increase of $5 million for the Standardbred Improvement Program (SIP) that conducts, among other programs, the Ontario Sires Stakes (OSS).
• An additional $4.3 million will be directed through SIP to races restricted to overnights for Ontario Bred and Sired horses held at Woodbine Mohawk Park.
• OSS Gold Series Legs now carry total purses of $200,000 for legs split into multiple divisions and a purse of $150,000 for those conducted in a single division. Super Final purses have increased from $300,000 to $350,000. Purses for Grassroots Legs have increased to $30,000 and each Grassroots Championship event will now go for $100,000. Prospect Series Legs have been increased to $10,000 and the Prospect Series Finals will each have a purse of $25,000.
• $4.79 million in additional purse funding – $1 million to purses at Woodbine Mohawk Park and $3.79 million, total, to the province’s other 10 tracks – to push total core Standardbred purses funded by government to $58 million.
• At the Premier level (Woodbine Mohawk Park), overnight purses will rise about 11 per cent from an average of about $18,000 to around $20,000.
• At the Signature level (Flamboro, Georgian, Grand River and Western Fair), overnight purses will increase about 42 per cent from approximately $7,000 to $10,000.
• At the Grassroots level (Clinton, Dresden, Hanover, Hiawatha, Kawartha and Lakeshore), overnight purses will increase about 22 per cent from about $4,500 to $5,500.
Ontario Racing thanks the Ontario Government for investing in jobs in the province’s horse racing sector.
The funding increase will be used to create a more competitive horse racing industry, protect jobs and support the nearly 18,000 Ontarians who earn a living from the horse racing sector. The additional funds will also address inflation that has risen by approximately 25 per cent since the province signed an important long-term funding agreement with the industry eight years ago.
The horse racing industry in Ontario annually injects over $1.9 billion to the Ontario economy and provides approximately $330 million in provincial taxes. Horse racing drives economic activity in dozens of communities across the province, particularly in rural areas where economic opportunities may be limited.
The funding comes through the fifth amendment to the Amended and Restated Funding Agreement for Live Horse Racing, signed in 2018. The additional funds will position the Ontario horse racing sector to better invest in breeding, capital infrastructure and purses.
It is important to note that since the fifth amendment was finalized in June 2026, purse levels through March 2027 will have some incremental funding not available at the start of the season blended into purses for the remainder of this season. Purse levels may fluctuate slightly in the remaining four years of the additional funding to reflect the overall increase being spread over a full year.
For more information:
Dave Briggs
Ontario Racing
dbriggs@ontarioracing.com
(416) 557-4716