Racing seasons are business deals made between the track and the local racing commission. The commission looks at regional athlete availability, animal welfare restrictions, and parimutuel betting expectations to negotiate the number of race days allowed per year and rental agreements for barn space. Racetracks are businesses and so financial strain, like reduced income in response to pandemic-related gathering restrictions, force tracks to make difficult decisions.
In 2025, following years of poor attendance and a lack of marketing, both Marquis Downs (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) and Fraser Downs (Surrey, British Columbia) were officially slated for demolition. In two days, harness racing track, Rideau Carleton Raceway (Ottawa, Ontario), went from negotiating the 2026 racing season to shuttering its doors in response to financial difficulty. Workers in Vancouver, British Columbia, were similarly blindsided by the closure of the 130-year-old Hastings Racecourse; much like with Marquis Downs, the decision to end racing was partially informed by the attractiveness of soccer and its (potential and yet unrealized) replacement in those spaces. As of 2026, there are only four active thoroughbred tracks and 20 remaining standardbred tracks, none of which remain in Saskatchewan.
From a short term business perspective, the closures unfortunately make sense. The problem is that it ripples through the racing community, impacting decisions that were made years prior. Track closures in 2025 affected individuals in 2023, who raised their yearlings only to be told there was no market for them. While activist groups may praise the end to racing, it does very little to address the legitimate welfare concerns with the sport and may actually limit quality of care depending on whether the cut off services can be substituted elsewhere (i.e. across interprovincial borders).
Equine services are not independent from agricultural challenges faced in other sectors (i.e. education constraints, labour loss, land availability, feed prices, etc.), which makes short term or year-to-year negotiations confusingly naïve. The breeding cycles of performance horses necessitate long-term planning with direct and indirect stakeholders. Especially as Canada struggles to realise where it can invest in its agricultural industries, the cascading annual loss of revenue generation in the hundreds of millions limits who and what we can attract. If we’re not going to adequately leverage our agricultural opportunities, we cannot be surprised when we lose them altogether.
