Kentucky Downs Picks Up Sixth Race Day for 2020

Kentucky Downs picked up an extra race day for 2020 in a compromise the Franklin, Ky., racetrack worked out with Ellis Park, which had submitted overlapping race date requests around the Labor Day holiday.

Per the terms of the deal, Kentucky Downs will run live racing Sept. 2 and Sept. 7, the latter of which is Labor Day. Meanwhile, Ellis Park was awarded race dates on Sept. 3, 4, 5, and 6, with Sept. 3 as an optional day. Ellis, which is along the Kentucky-Indiana border near Henderson, Ky., also would retain host status for simulcasting for each of these dates with the exception of Sept. 2 and Sept. 7 when Ellis will split the simulcast host fees with Kentucky Downs.

Kentucky Downs raced five days this year. In 2020, the track that runs an exclusively turf meet will race Sept. 2, Sept. 7, Sept. 9-10, and Sept. 12-13.

Ellis Park has been awarded 30 days that begin June 28 and run three days a week through Sept. 6.

The two tracks had not worked out this compromise by the time the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission's Race Dates Committee met Oct. 8, so the committee put together a proposal for the full commission to consider during its Oct. 29 meeting while urging track executives to work out a resolution. The committee's proposal turned out not to be needed and the full commission approved the compromise.

During the race dates presentation at the KHRC meeting, general counsel John Forgy noted that Bluegrass Downs, a harness track owned by Caesars near Paducah, Ky., had withdrawn its dates request and will allow its pari-mutuel permit to expire.

The KHRC meeting also gave Churchill Downs its first step toward building a new historical racing casino alongside the racetrack. Commissioners gave conditional approval to the second historical gaming facility and to expanding Churchill's total number of wagering terminals to 3,000.

Churchill Downs currently operates an 85,000-square-foot historical racing casino called Derby City Gaming along Poplar Level Road, the site of the company's former Trackside off-track betting site and current training track. Derby City Gaming operates 1,000 machines and has generated more than $954.1 million in handle since it opened Sept. 10, 2018.

The proposed second casino alongside the racetrack is part of a larger two-year capital improvement project that includes a hotel and additional seating, which CEO Bill Carstanjen told investors back in August the company was ready to move forward on.

The company has not yet identified the exact location or layout of the facility or ironed out proposed staff or other details. The KHRC gave conditional approval pending the later disclosure of those details.

"This is the first step in a long process," said Mike Ziegler, Churchill's executive director of racing. "This will be new construction that should be simultaneous to the hotel project."

How the 3,000 machines will be divided between the two facilities will be determined later, according to Ziegler, who said the company needed flexibility to allow that allocation to be determined by market demand.

Ziegler also assured commissioners that the project would not compromise any of the existing facilities that now support racing.