LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky horse tracks are suddenly jostling one another as state regulators hit the homestretch in assigning next year’s racing schedule. Most notably, Churchill Downs is competing for September racing dates traditionally allotted to struggling Turfway Park.
Some thoroughbred trainers say the turf squabbles are a sign of the struggles of Kentucky’s beleaguered horse racing industry in competing with out-of-state tracks offering higher purses sweetened with revenue from slot machines.
“It’s probably a sign of the times to come,” Kentucky-based trainer Paul McGee said in a phone interview Tuesday. “Less racing but maybe better-quality racing. It’s kind of a survival of the fittest.”
Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby, is requesting 12 racing days next September, which would encroach on the traditional racing calendar of Turfway Park in northern Kentucky.
The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has a Nov. 1 deadline for assigning race dates. Its next regular meeting is Oct. 17.
Churchill is seeking permission for racing during four, three-day weekends next September. That would augment the famed Louisville track’s traditional spring meet and a fall meet run mostly in November.
Track President Kevin Flanery said Churchill could offer purses of at least $200,000 per day in September, about twice the amount of daily winnings Turfway offered on average during its 16-day racing schedule last month.
That could help entice more trainers to keep their horses in Kentucky to race. Trainer Dale Romans said he thinks September races could be a winner for Churchill, adding that could help strengthen the Kentucky racing circuit.
“It’s a matter of survival,” said Romans, who has shifted much of his racing operation to New York, which offers casino-enhanced purses. “Something has to change in Kentucky because we can’t just keep declining.”
Flanery said Churchill would look to include night racing and stakes races, possibly tune-ups for the Breeders’ Cup.
“We certainly think there’s an opportunity for us to play big on the national stage in September,” Flanery said.
Meanwhile, Kentucky Downs at Franklin is asking for three racing dates next March, another time traditionally set aside for Turfway. That would be on top of five days of racing the southern Kentucky track is requesting in September.
“We have the purse money to afford to do it,” said Corey Johnson, president of Kentucky Downs, which has benefited from an influx of revenue from casino-style Instant Racing, which allows gamblers to wager on previously run but unidentified horse races.
Turfway Park operations director Chip Bach said Tuesday that September and March are “critical racing months” for the track.
“We will actively work with the Horse Racing Commission to ensure that our horsemen, customers and employees are considered in all discussions about future race dates,” he said in an email statement.
On Monday, Bach said the track’s September racing helps pay for its racing in the winter, The Courier-Journal reported. The loss of its September dates would cost $500,000 in revenues related to live racing and result in cutbacks, likely in the winter, the Louisville newspaper reported, citing another Turfway official.
Turfway’s daily purses have sagged in recent years, outpaced by tracks in other states that boost their purses with an infusion of casino gambling money. The suburban track in Florence scratched its Kentucky Cup Day of Champions, its premier racing event in the fall, to prop up purses for other races during the September meet.
For years, Kentucky’s tracks have been united in pushing for a proposal to allow them to add slot machines, but their efforts have been stymied in the state General Assembly.
Romans didn’t blame the tracks for the sudden cracks in that cohesiveness.
“It’s not Churchill muscling; it’s not Churchill’s fault,” the veteran trainer said. “It’s the legislators not passing expanded gaming. What else are we supposed to do? They just can’t sit on their hands and let Kentucky racing completely die.”
