Hello Members of CTHSBC

As you may be aware Gary Johnson on behalf of BCTOBA and HPBA has invited B.C. Breeders and Owners to an informational meeting in Vernon on April 12^th.  CTHSBC members are encouraged to attend. Several of the CTHSBC executives will be in attendance. 

Gary Johnson has presented CTHSBC with a document entitled THOROUGHBRED RACING BRITISH COLUMBIA,  Joint Trust Agreement.  This document as was THOROUGHBRED RACING BRITISH COLUMBIA created by Gary Johnson to be the One Voice on behalf of the Racing Industry Partners in negotiations with B.C. government representatives to request funding for the Horse Racing Industry in B.C.

CTHSBC was not invited to assist with the drafting of the Trust Agreement. It was presented at a board meeting that Mr. Johnson attended and we were advised that if we wanted to be a part of the industry request for funding we would be required to sign on to the Trust Agreement. 

There is no provision in the agreement as to allocation of industry funding. There is no representation from the other parties as to what percentage of funding would be allocated to the breeders through CTHSBC.

For those of you who were breeders back in 2010, the government at that time asked the Racing Industry Partners HPBA and CTHSBC to have one representative on behalf of both organizations so that government  did not have to negotiate separately with Thoroughbred breeders, owners, and Standardbreds separately.  To that end, BCTOBA was created to be the Industry Representative.   The late Glen Todd was the spokesperson who the government dealt with. The industry funds flowed through BCTOBA and were allocated. 

THOROUGHBRED RACING BRITISH COLUMBIA (TRBC) is now being created to do what BCTOBA was created to do. Now, within this Joint Trust Agreement structure, BCTOBA is given 2 votes, HPBA is given 2 votes and CTHSBC is to have 2 votes. Once again, this is designed so the breeders will have no meaningful voice. 

We understand funds for the industry funding comes from

1.     The handles from Hastings and Fraser Downs;

2.     The TBC sites;

3.      The Provincial Levies credits on that are received on 1 & 2 revenues less the costs to operate GPEB at both tracks for the year;

4.      The slot revenue (25% of the net slots income-Hastings and Fraser Downs) this is split 50/50 between the two sectors-Thoroughbred and Standardbred;

The total revenue from 1, 2 and 3 above less the $1M is taken of the top for the Industry Management Committee to distribute for marketing and business is then distributed amongst the Track Operator, Thoroughbred and Standardbred sectors. The distribution for the monies is decided by the HRIMC. Currently the split is 43.200% for the Track Operator, 33.635% for the Thoroughbred sector and 23.165% for the Standardbred sector. The monies for the CTHSBC incentive programs would be from the Marketing Fund. 

The monies for the Breeders Awards programs are 10% of the total that is given to the Thoroughbred Sector.

Under the Joint Trust Agreement there is no guarantee the CTHSBC would continue to receive the 10% of the Thoroughbred sector’s revenue portion or any monies for breeding incentives or breeding improvement

Since 2020, CTHSBC has not received funding for breeders improvement, or breeders incentive programs. Virtually all of the B.C. protected races have been dropped so the Futurity is the only B.C. bred race.  While this has been going on CTHSBC have not been included in the decisions for funding allocation. 

CTHSBC has offered to work with HPBA to provide programs that will enhance and promote racing with the development of breeding incentives that will bring back breeding and increase the foal crop for the betterment of Hastings Racecourse. 

As we all know, the horse population at Hastings is dwindling because breeding has fallen off for the most part due to lack of funding. 

CTHSBC would like to be a part of the solution, we do not want the current status quo funding allocation to continue, which will eventually lead to the demise of Racing in B.C. and the TB breeding industry. 

The CTHSBC Board of Directors