Ontario Racing sets out how new $35M a year is split across three breeds
Standardbred racing gets the largest share of the provincial top-up, with more than $14 million, followed by thoroughbreds and quarter horses.
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Ontario Racing has announced how the province's extra horse racing money will be divided, with the standardbred sector receiving the biggest boost.
The province set aside an additional $35 million a year for five years in June. Ontario Racing, the industry's official authority for breeding, scheduling and promoting racing in the province, decided how to allocate it among the three breeds.
Standardbred
Harness racing, held at 11 of Ontario's 14 racetracks, will get more than $14 million in new money. That includes $5 million more for the Standardbred Improvement Program, which runs events such as the Ontario Sires Stakes, and $4.3 million through the program for overnight races for Ontario-bred and sired horses at Woodbine Mohawk Park. Another $4.79 million goes to purses: $1 million at Woodbine Mohawk Park and $3.79 million at the other 10 tracks. Government-funded core standardbred purses rise to $58 million.
Thoroughbred racing, run at Woodbine and Fort Erie, will receive more than $10 million. The Thoroughbred Improvement Program gets $5 million for Ontario-bred stakes races, breeders' awards and incentives, plus $4.5 million for restricted races for Ontario-bred and sired horses at Woodbine Racetrack. Fort Erie's average purse per card rises 15 per cent, from nearly $127,000 in 2025 to more than $146,000 in 2026.
Quarter horse racing gets $780,000. That covers $500,000 more for the Quarter Horse Improvement Program and about $280,000 to lift government-funded purses to more than $2.63 million. The average purse per card rises 28 per cent, to nearly $120,000 for the rest of 2026.
The rest of the money is going to track infrastructure, running programs, capital improvements and administration.
The $175 million comes on top of an agreement that began in 2019 and provides up to $120 million a year through 2038. The province cancelled the Slots at Racetracks Program in 2012. That program, created in 1998, sent about $345 million a year in casino revenue to racing. The government says the new money is meant to protect jobs and offset high inflation in the industry.
An OLG report from 2023 found horse racing contributed $1.91 billion to Ontario's GDP, supported more than 17,600 full-time jobs and generated $329.8 million in tax revenue.