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FRIDAY, AUGUST 20, 2010
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Fraser Downs
The gamble didn’t pay off ‘Now’reporter Ted Colley takes an in-depth look at what happened to the once-promising racetrack
❚GRAPHIC/Adhil Naidu
The latest
Our view
Two racing days of 14 cut are restored
Chuck Keeling’s Slots weren’t racing’s promises weren’t kept saviour as promised
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F
The background
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wo of the 14 race days cut from Fraser Downs’ 2010 season have been restored. An Aug. 13 letter from Derek Sturko, chair of the BC Horse Racing Industry Management Committee, announced Great Canadian Gaming was chopping 14 days out of the track’s season between Oct. 15 and Dec. 31. The decision came as attendance and wagers at the Cloverdale pacer track continue to fall. On Thursday, Sturko told the Now an agreement has been reached to add four additional race days – Oct. 1, 2, 8 and 9 – while cutting Dec. 17 and 19 from the schedule. “Those days in December aren’t productive, they’re too close to Christmas,” Sturko said. “So we’re adding four very productive days in October and removing two unproductive days in December.”
raser Downs in Cloverdale has been in the news this week as Great Canadian Gaming announced it’s cutting a dozen days out of this year’s harness racing season. The move isn’t popular with many who work at the track, the grooms, drivers and others who depend on Fraser Downs for their living. Those backstretch people have told us what they fear the reduced season could mean. Great Canadian has told us why they believe the cuts are necessary. So has the head of a committee formed to re-jig the ailing harness racing industry in an attempt to save it from obilivion. The only voice missing from the discussion is that of Chuck Keeling, whose family sold Fraser Downs to Great Canadian back in 2004 for a cool $40 million.
ight years ago, Surrey began to buzz with rumours a casino – and slot machines – might be coming to the city. Surrey Coun. Bob Bose let the cat out of the bag back in October 2002 when he leaked to the Now details about a secret council meeting held earlier that month to talk about a casino on the city-owned Cloverdale Fairgrounds. When Bose ignored the province’s request for secrecy and spilled the beans, he launched the controversy that still hounds Fraser Downs and its slot machines. The latest wrinkle in this saga is last week’s revelation that the Great Canadian Gaming Corporation, which bought Fraser Downs in March 2005, has decided to dramatically cut the number of race days at the track in order to save money.
see ‘CRISIS’ page 3
see HE SAID HE WOULDN’T SELL page 3
see A HISTORY page 3