Fort Erie Race Track in Ontario, Canada, will offer a live meet this year, with details to be released at a later date.
The announcement came Feb. 7 from the Ontario Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, which represents horsemen at the track. It remains to be seen how long the meet will be in the absence of revenue from slot machines, which were pulled from the track after the Ontario government opted to end the province-wide slots-at-racetracks programs.
"Meetings to organize, schedule, and promote the race meet at (Fort Erie) are taking place," the Ontario HBPA said in a release. "It will be essential that we as an industry continue to showcase our commitment to live racing at Fort Erie, to improving the game, and growing our fan base."
There had been talk last year about having a racing "festival" at the track during which all horses would ship in to race.
The horsemen's group credited the government and others for bringing a live racing agreement to fruition.
In 2013 Fort Erie raced 41 days from May 26-Oct. 15 for average daily purses of $115,148, according to The Jockey Club Information Systems. The track offered 74 live racing days in 2012 and 78 days in 2011.
