These days "development" is typically not a word racing participants and fans want to see in the same sentence with their racetrack, but thanks in part to the vision of the late champion breeder E.P. Taylor, Woodbine track executives believe an ambitious plan to develop land near the track for housing and businesses will benefit racing.
Taylor, a two-time Eclipse Award winner as outstanding breeder and one of Canada's richest men until his 1989 death, donated hundreds of acres to the Ontario Jockey Club. Today, that charity means Woodbine Entertainment can develop about two-thirds of its 684 acres near the Toronto neighborhood of Rexdale while still having plenty of room for racetrack barns and operations.
In fact, the plan is for the development to generate revenue to support Woodbine racing while incorporating the track as an attraction.
"This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to create something truly special for Toronto," said Woodbine Entertainment CEO Michael Copeland. "At the heart of this new urban center will be Woodbine Racetrack, a cultural landmark that will now also serve as the centerpiece of a thriving, inclusive, and connected city within a city."
As urban and suburban development has continued outward from many city centers, a number of tracks in the past 20 years have fallen victim to development. In this case Taylor's foresight means Woodbine has plenty of land that can be developed while keeping the racetrack in place. Copeland said that when Taylor donated the land, he specifically noted it would be an asset that could be developed to benefit racing.
But this isn't only about preservation. Copeland views the project as a revenue generator that will help ensure racing's future in a "very, very challenging market."
Sue Leslie, president of the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association of Ontario, said new revenue streams are needed. She also credited Woodbine Entertainment with keeping horsemen informed through an HBPA advisory committee on the project.
"The HBPA recognizes the importance of Woodbine's property development plans and the significant role they can play in generating new and recurring revenue to support horse racing and purses in Ontario for generations to come," Leslie said. "We appreciate Woodbine's commitment to engaging with the horse racing community throughout this process."
Besides offering new revenue streams, there's also hope the track and its 1,700 horses who call it home will be viewed as an asset by the residents who live in the new neighborhoods. A long-developing challenge for racing is connecting with people who have moved away from rural areas and are less connected to horses. This project could provide a path back to that connection.
"I think it just keeps racing at the center of everything," Copeland said. "What we envision is a community where people are going to be working, going to school, living, raising families; but racing is going to be embedded in their day-to-day lives.
"You can imagine going to your local park. You go for a walk in the morning and the park wraps around the training track. You're watching training and seeing horses in the barns, and it just sort of gets weaved into everyday life. That is going to make horses front and center and part of the consciousness of the people of Toronto, and that's what we're really intending to do; to make sure that the track is at the center of it."
To understand the size of this project expected to take 25 years for full completion, it should be noted that the core downtown area of Toronto covers less than the project's 450 developable acres. Complete neighborhoods will be constructed with plans for 29,000 houses, along with new high schools, community centers, fire stations and the like. It's expected to create 40,000 construction jobs.
The project, which Copeland credited former Woodbine CEO Jim Lawson for helping to get rolling, continues to move forward. On June 26 it was announced a new $170 million train station will be included. It will provide easy access—about a 30-minute trip—to downtown Toronto. Lawson retired as CEO in the fall of 2023.
Copeland said the project also will include new facilities on the backstretch, such as dorms and barns. Woodbine Entertainment will develop and retain ownership of the land and explore strategic joint ventures to generate ongoing revenue that will continue to support horse racing in Ontario. But for residents and visitors, the promise of the project is about much more.
"This isn't just about building housing. It's about creating a complete community, a connected urban center, with culture, entertainment, green space, and horse racing at the heart of it all," Copeland said. "When we talk to our agencies and designers about what this could look like, it's amazing. When you think of this project being truly woven into a fairly established community, it's neat."
Kevin Attard, Canada's reigning trainer of the year, likes the vision.
"Horse racing has been a way of life for my family for generations—it's not just a career, it's part of who we are," Attard said. "I believe Woodbine's property development plans represent an important step toward building a bright future for our sport. Creating new sources of revenue beyond wagering is a smart and necessary move to help ensure that other families, like mine, can continue to build their lives around racing for generations to come. This is a great step forward for the long-term health of the industry we all care so deeply about."
The track does not anticipate any loss of race days as construction continues and has put noise barriers in place in an effort to maintain a backstretch as quiet as possible during building.
Copeland thanked Canadian lawmakers for advancing the project, including Premier of Ontario Doug Ford as well as Ontario Minister of Transportation Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria, Ontario Minister of Infrastructure Kinga Surma, as well as Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, Toronto Councillor Vincent Crisanti, and City of Toronto staff.
