by Perry Lefko

Fort Erie Racetrack, one of the oldest tracks in North America, is facing an uncertain future. In fact, there is concern among the town of 30,000 that the picturesque border oval, which provides the city of Fort Erie, Ontario, with its primary source of income, may not return for another season of racing.

The track’s owner, Nordic Gaming Corp., headed by Israeli billionaire land developer Yitzhak (Isaac) Tshuva, has told both civic officials and horsemen that the track could close as early as 2009 unless the provincial government partners in a $300-million project that would develop a hotel, conference center, spa, and condominiums plus improvements to the grandstand and backstretch. Nordic hopes to break ground in 2009.

Nordic has been waiting for government support since it proposed the project in 2007, but changes in the ministries that oversee such projects have caused delays. Nordic does not want to assume the financial risk alone and according to spokesman Richard Ayers seeks “non-cash incentives,” possibly in the form of tax breaks, although Ayers would not confirm that.

The track opened in 1897 and is the home to the Prince of Wales Stakes, the second leg of the Canadian Triple Crown. Business was down in the late 1990s, but slots helped rejuvenate the track across the Peace Bridge from Buffalo, and purses practically doubled from an average of $110,000 a day in ‘99 to $200,000 in ’02. Purses returned to their pre-slots level this year, however, as casino competition has siphoned business away with full-service gaming facilities in nearby metropolitan Buffalo and in Niagara Falls.

“There has been a proliferation of competition in terms of the slots and there’s also been the big casinos and hotels on the New York side, both Niagara Falls and now coming up on the Buffalo side,” Ayers said. “Four, five, six years ago we were one of [only a few places with] slots. By next year, there’s going to be about 18,000 [slot machines] in a 90-mile radius.”

Ayers claimed the track has been losing $4-million annually in operations since 2004 and some $7-million each season in negative cash flow. Nordic bought the track from the Ontario Jockey Club for $10 and debt-free in 1997 on the condition it continues operating for at least five years.

Fort Erie will conclude its 2008 meet on October 28 and Nordic has yet to apply for 2009 dates. Sue Leslie, president of the Ontario Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, said this is the most critical economic situation in the track’s history.

“I implored [Nordic] not to close Fort Erie in 2009,” Leslie said. “We have enough purse funds to run a meet for 2009, and I think it would be atrocious and grossly unfair to penalize the horsemen because the government hasn’t moved. Mr. [Tshuva] has lots and lots of money, and to drop a bomb on the horsemen in October, November or December that [they’re] not going to open next year is very, very unfair. If the decision is going to be made to close Fort Erie Racetrack, then it needs to be done in a responsible way, where horsemen are basically given a year’s notice.”

Perry Lefko is an Ontario, Canada-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent