Hastings Racecourse halts live horse racing events, effective immediately

It's the end of an era: Vancouver's Hastings Racecourse has announced it is shutting down horse racing immediately.

There will be no more live thoroughbred horse racing events at Hastings Racecourse and Casino, effective immediately, the venue announced Friday.

As races are normally held between April and October, there aren’t any horses currently stabled at the East Vancouver facility.

In a statement, Wayne Odegard—regional vice-president of Great Canadian Entertainment, which owns the track—said ceasing thoroughbred racing was “strictly a business decision based on a lack of economic feasibility to move forward with another season.”

“This was an extremely difficult decision, especially given the historical legacy of Hastings Racecourse in the local community and its importance to the province’s racing industry,” Odegard said.

“Our focus moving forward will be supporting our impacted team members through this transition, as well as racing participants as they assess their options for thoroughbred racing in the province in the future.”

Casino operations as well as simulcast racebook won’t be impacted, according to the venue.

The Vancouver Humane Society has called on the city to abolish horse racing, pointing to catastrophic injuries suffered by animals during some of the events.

There were four deaths at Hastings Racecourse last year, three of which were related to races. The other took place during training.