Quebec racehorses

[dutchboy]

http://www.thestar.com/News/Canada/article/560007

[Tom]

Nice country. :ThmbDown::ThmbDown::ThmbDown:

[JustRalph]

Quebec Horses should never be bet in Conditional wagers,

They hardly ever actually run.


They don't scratch from races........................


They secede.............

[Sea Biscuit]

The Quebec harness industry has been in trouble for many years.

Attractions Hippiques the company who runs the harness tracks in Quebec are more interested in promoting their french language than harness racing. First they introduced the all french harness programs which was a slap in the face of all the English speaking people who loved and supported this game for so many years. Then as if that was not enough, they introduced the first ever french announcing of race calls and they kicked out the old and very talented bilingual announcer they had . The new unilingual french announcer they brought in could hardly call the races. He could not even call the races by the names of the horses and was calling the races with just the head numbers. After a few weeks of this nonsense they had to bring the old announcer back as there a huge backlash from the fans and mostly french I presume.

A despicable act by a well known horseman.

Yves Filion, father of Sylvain Filion who is currently driving at Woodbine, was himself a top notch driver for many years in Montreal way back in the 70s and 80s before he went into the breeding business and formed the very successful Bayama Farms. This guy has made a lot of money of horses and broodmares and now we hear this very revolting story about how he had to sell two of his prizewinning broodmares to the abbattoir as horse meat for a lousy $400 a piece. What does he need $800 for. He used to make this kind of money with just one of his winning drives.

Shame on you Yves Filion for this truly horrifying and totally revolting act.
The least you could have done was try and find them suitable homes for the broodmares to spend the rest of their lives in dignity and in peace.

It just proves one thing. Yves Filion was never ever interested in the horses, just the money they brought him.

Sea Biscuit.

[Ray2000]

The Quebec harness industry has been in trouble for many years.


A despicable act by a well known horseman.


Sea Biscuit.

Well said, Sea Biscuit

[Zman179]

The Quebec harness industry has been in trouble for many years.

Attractions Hippiques the company who runs the harness tracks in Quebec are more interested in promoting their french language than harness racing. First they introduced the all french harness programs which was a slap in the face of all the English speaking people who loved and supported this game for so many years. Then as if that was not enough, they introduced the first ever french announcing of race calls and they kicked out the old and very talented bilingual announcer they had . The new unilingual french announcer they brought in could hardly call the races. He could not even call the races by the names of the horses and was calling the races with just the head numbers. After a few weeks of this nonsense they had to bring the old announcer back as there a huge backlash from the fans and mostly french I presume.



The Montréal program and racecalls were bilingual, but I did notice that the Trois-Rivières and Québec programs were printed only in French. Plus, the Trois-Rivières and Québec races are only called in French by a talented announcer. Mind you I've only been following the circuit for the past five years.

Nonetheless, even though I am a staunch francophile, I fully realize that the circuit needs to be 100% bilingual in order for the circuit to be recognized by race fans outside of the province; it makes zero business sense to regionalize your product regardless of the linguistic divide which Québec and the rest of Canada have been living for the past 50 years. A fan in Ontario, or in the USA for that matter, will not bet on a signal in which he/she cannot understand.

Think about this: Trois-Rivières has had a Tuesday evening program, a day which normally has very little competition for the wagering dollar and should perform fairly well in the simulcast market. Yet on a ten race card they often handled around $60,000 to $80,000. How? Why? Because Attractions Hippiques made their card(s) unilingual (a big mistake) and made next to zero effort to export their signal and make it available to outside entities such as TwinSpires and Youbet, which have never handled a single dime on a Québec race. Three to five years ago, Montréal had races going for $10,000+ purses. How do you not export such a potentially strong signal to as many places as possible?

It is evident that Attractions Hippiques mismanagement led to the collapse of the industry and that, when AH was chosen by the provincial government to take control of the tracks from the state-run SONACC, that the government never cared about the industry and only wanted to wash their hands of it.

[Sea Biscuit]

The Montréal program and racecalls were bilingual, but I did notice that the Trois-Rivières and Québec programs were printed only in French. Plus, the Trois-Rivières and Québec races are only called in French by a talented announcer. Mind you I've only been following the circuit for the past five years.

Nonetheless, even though I am a staunch francophile, I fully realize that the circuit needs to be 100% bilingual in order for the circuit to be recognized by race fans outside of the province; it makes zero business sense to regionalize your product regardless of the linguistic divide which Québec and the rest of Canada have been living for the past 50 years. A fan in Ontario, or in the USA for that matter, will not bet on a signal in which he/she cannot understand.

Think about this: Trois-Rivières has had a Tuesday evening program, a day which normally has very little competition for the wagering dollar and should perform fairly well in the simulcast market. Yet on a ten race card they often handled around $60,000 to $80,000. How? Why? Because Attractions Hippiques made their card(s) unilingual (a big mistake) and made next to zero effort to export their signal and make it available to outside entities such as TwinSpires and Youbet, which have never handled a single dime on a Québec race. Three to five years ago, Montréal had races going for $10,000+ purses. How do you not export such a potentially strong signal to as many places as possible?

It is evident that Attractions Hippiques mismanagement led to the collapse of the industry and that, when AH was chosen by the provincial government to take control of the tracks from the state-run SONACC, that the government never cared about the industry and only wanted to wash their hands of it.

Thanks for your input Zman.

From my post, I may have given the wrong impression that I am some sort of guy who was anti-french. Nothing like that. I have the greatest of respect for Francophiles and I have many Francophile friends.

I lived in the Montreal Suburbs (DDO) for 22 years (not anymore though) and I am still unilingual English.

I have taken French classes many a time trying to learn the language, but I am a real dud when it comes to languages.

I also wished you would have commented on Yves Filion’s actions.

My best to you

Sea Biscuit

[Zman179]

From my post, I may have given the wrong impression that I am some sort of guy who was anti-french. Nothing like that. I have the greatest of respect for Francophiles and I have many Francophile friends.

Actually that's not the impression that I had received at all. What I did feel was somebody who felt like he was being ostracized by Attractions Hippiques.


I have taken French classes many a time trying to learn the language, but I am a real dud when it comes to languages.

It's not easy learning a language, especially if it doesn't truly interest you. I easily learned French because it is something that I always wanted to do; however, learning Greek has been a chore since my wife and in-laws (of that persuasion) have pressured me to learn it. Forget teens, there's nothing like a rebelling upper-30's-ager. :lol:


I also wished you would have commented on Yves Filion’s actions.

No question that what Filion did was deplorable. He just proved that many horsemen look at their charges simply as an investment, though he did say that the owners hinted that they just wanted to get rid of the broodmare. On the other hand, what does one do when faced with such a situation? Breeders have loads of Québec-breds that nobody wants to buy and Québec based horsemen now have no place to race until further notice. Yet...I can't see sending living beings to the abattoir just for a few sous.

[LottaKash]

The Quebec harness industry has been in trouble for many years. First they introduced the all french harness programs which was a slap in the face of all the English speaking people who loved and supported this game for so many years.
Sea Biscuit.

I remember back in 69', on a trip to St.Chatherines to see the Harness Races at the then "Blue Bonnets Raceway"....to my surprise, I got a program in French, and then discovered that the T-breds were racing that day and not the Trots.....I discoverd this, when in broken French- English the track announcer said "ahnd da Chucky iss".....haha..surprised to be sure.....

best,