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Casinos Won't Cut Racing, Tracks Say
Bill would require same number of days

January 22, 2008

The potential financial windfall that casinos at racetracks could bring their owners won't mean that horse racing will be abandoned, track officials say. Presidents of the two Kentucky tracks with the most racing dates said recently that they aren't considering fewer racing days if they get casinos.

The issue has come up in the General Assembly in previous years and is addressed in one bill filed so far this year. Bob Elliston, president of Turfway Park in Florence, Ky., said Kentucky tracks have pledged to race the same number of days they do now.

Churchill Downs track President Steve Sexton said Churchill has no plans to cut racing dates, noting that some states require keeping a certain amount as a condition of getting the casino license.

"We're in the racing business," Sexton said. "Keep in mind you're talking to the operator of the Kentucky Derby, the world's signature horse racing event as well. … We're interested in live racing; we don't plan to abandon it. That's the business we're in."

Sexton said he doesn't imagine Churchill would follow the lead of Iowa, which has expanded gambling at the Prairie Meadows racetrack.

The number of racing days at Prairie Meadows could be cut by about half, according to the Des Moines Register.

The newspaper has reported that Prairie Meadows, which raced 108 days last year, estimates it lost $29.2 million on racing last year. Sexton said Churchill could seek to modify its racing schedule, possibly with shorter live racing weeks at its track, as has been tried at its Calder Race Course in Florida.

But Sexton said those scheduling issues are discussed regardless of whether the company's tracks have expanded gambling.

At Turfway, the track that holds the most dates on the Kentucky circuit, Elliston said racing would be a centerpiece of a casino operation there.

"I can't envision a scenario where we would give up or reduce our dates," he said. "… I happen to think part of the destination that we're trying to create includes a very competitive racing product, and I think that appeals to a broader audience. And I don't look at it as a drain on a casino operation."

A casino bill filed by Sen. David Boswell, D-Owensboro, would require tracks to keep racing the same number of days they do this year. So did a bill filed last year by House Speaker Pro Tem Larry Clark, D-Louisville.

Clark repeated that desire last week during a House task force meeting on expanded gambling.

"I think any legislation we pass, tracks have to guarantee the same number of racing dates, that they can't shift all their priorities from racing dates to casinos … and put it in law so there's no going back to the (Kentucky Horse) Racing Authority" and changing it, he said.

"It would have to be in the statute to make sure that we don't compromise the signature industry," Clark said.