Monday, July 20, 2009

Seeing "Red"... a silly change..

Most of my friends know I'm a big "red" supporter and usually willing to make changes when they make sense.... but I'm sticking with the liberals, Habs and Ferrari’s... so when I heard the news about the CDP name change to Red Shores I thought about it for a second... and it "stinks"... I've always loved the track and as a small boy spent a good deal of time at the Summerside Raceway where my Dad had a few horses and I couldn't wait until I could get in the game myself... in fact one of my "mentors" W. G. Barbour or "Wendell", as he liked to be called, once said to me... "don't buy a horse until you can afford ten of them" and as usual he was bang on... so over the last dozen years I go involved in buying and breeding Atlantic Sire Stakes horses and true to Wendell's advice it's money to burn.... so as a horse owner and supporter of this industry, built on tradition, I like a lot of other racing fans want to lodge my protest of the name change.... and you can bet that tomorrow I'll be firing off a letter to Atlantic Lottery and Minister Sheridan objecting to the name change and I'm only hoping they see "red" over this issue....
P.E.I. horsemen fight track name changes
Monday, July 20, 2009
CBC News
Atlantic Lotto's plan to change the name of the Charlottetown Driving Park is running into opposition from the harness racing industry.
Last week Atlantic Lotto announced the facility will soon be known as Red Shores Racetrack and Casino. The Summerside Raceway will share the new name, becoming Red Shores at Summerside.
Many P.E.I. horsemen don't like the new names and have begun a lobby to keep things as they are.
"We've heard from an awful lot of folks over the last three or four days and, to be honest, most of it has been in the way of concern," Tom Clark, president of the Prince Edward Island Horseowners Association, told CBC News on Monday.
"Most [concerns] seem to centre around the tradition and the heritage and the history of racing on Prince Edward Island, which is almost approaching, I think, 150 years there. I do believe that there is a sense, almost, of infringement on that name, just to wipe it away."
A poll over the weekend on the Standardbred Canada website asked readers if they gave the name change a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down. Almost 1,300 votes had come in by late Monday afternoon, with 75 per cent against the name change.
Clark expects there were will be plenty of discussion in the days ahead with Atlantic Lotto on efforts to persuade it to keep the traditional names.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You are bang on!! You don't see McDonalds changing the golden arches. Look what happened to Coca Cola when they changed their formula. CDP has been around since 1898. It is an institution and a brand name.

Anonymous said...

One poster on The Guardian or CBC (cant remember which one) suggested naming it "Red Shores Casino at the Charlottetown Driving Park" and "Red Shores Casino at The Summerside Raceway"

I could live with those names. It would allow them to market their Casino separately and still have the history and brand recognition of the Island racetracks.