Participants from across the nation have backed Standardbred Canada's call for a national set of rules and regulations for the country's harness racing industry.
Fred Gillis, Executive Director for the Alberta Standardbred Horse Association (ASHA), has been a participant for four decades in both Alberta and Ontario. He sees the benefit of a single and unified rule set for Canadian racing.
"I believe a national set of rules for Canada would have an extreme benefit if coordinated by all of Canada," Gillis told Trot Insider. "Input from all jurisdictions would be imperative to the success of such an endeavour."
Joe Faucher, the new General Manager for the Quebec Jockey Club, agrees a unified set would benefit racing especially with the amount of seasonal overlap between horses in Quebec and other jurisdictions like Ontario.
"We don't need to reinvent the wheel," said Faucher, who feels we should look to the jurisdiction that currently has the best set of rules and use that as the base model for other racing jurisdictions, with an allowance for feedback and commentary on those rules from others.
"It's easy; you take the best one...right now, it's Ontario....everybody comes from Canada, the United States to come to race [at Woodbine and Mohawk]. So why not have the same rules as Ontario? That's my opinion."
Standardbred Canada wants members to either vote “Yes” or “No” on whether you believe it will help or hinder the industry by having one set of rules. We also want to know your opinion on what the industry needs to focus on the most; consistency in licensing, officiating, regulating, or all of the aforementioned. To take part in the survey, click the following link: National Rules & Regulations Survey
The survey will be open until 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 28.