At the same time Prairieland Park came to the tough decision to permanently cancel Thoroughbred racing at Marquis Downs, it has been presented with an opportunity to be part of the discussion and negotiations with the Canadian Premier Soccer League, in conjunction with Living Sky Sports and Entertainment.

Prairieland Park has been home to Thoroughbred racing for 50 years and the Board of Directors says the decision was not made lightly.  The Board feels the opportunity provided by the Canadian Premier Soccer League will help take Prairieland Park into the future. The track space at Marquis Downs will be transitioned for soccer.

CEO Mark Reiger says the thoroughbred racing industry has struggled, and is very expensive to run.  He says Prairieland was one of the last exhibition associations to be involved with thoroughbred racing.  “If you look back the Regina Exhibition closed in 2003, the Calgary Stampede in 2008 and Edmonton Northlands in 2018. We had this opportunity in front of us for soccer and a CPL league here, that is just once in a lifetime, we had to take advantage of that and look to the future.”

Prairieland Park is offering financial compensation in a one time payment to horse owners. Reiger says for each horse that ran in three or more races in 2019, Prairieland will pay $1,000 to the horse owner. he says some horse owners could get between 10 to $15,000, “this potentially could be $200,000 we are offering to the horse owners.  In a year where Prairieland, right now the way it’s shaping up, if we can’t run the fair we could be losing 2 to $3 million this year.”

Prairieland Park still plans to host agriculture industry related events like the Canadian Crop Production Show, Saskatchewan Equine Expo, Beef Expo, Gardenscape, plus they are negotiating with First Nations Groups to create and operate a First Nations Equine School and Indian Relay Racing Event.