Texas Horsemen Welcome Potential New Austin Track

Plans are in motion for a third race track in Texas, this one would be built outside of Austin. 

Plans for this track were first reported by Thoroughbred Racing Commentary. 

The new track would join Sam Houston Race Park and Lone Star Park as Thoroughbred race tracks in the state.

Penn Entertainment, which owns Sam Houston Race Park as well as several other tracks around the country, is targeting 2030 for a potential opening of the new facility.

Penn Entertainment vice president and general manager of Texas racing operations Bryan Pettigrew told BloodHorse March 19 that his organization began considering the project during the third quarter of 2023. Penn Entertainment has held a Class 2 license at the now-defunct Manor Downs outside of Austin. 

He said the land would need to be secured by 2025 to stay on a timeline for 2030. 

"There is, as far as I know, no hard date set yet. There are just dates that are going to be coming up from the (Texas) Racing Commission," Pettigrew said. 

The state's horsemen believe this development has a great deal of potential. 

"It's an interesting development from Penn Entertainment. ... Austin is such a fast-growing dynamic area. I think a track would do very well there," said Marsha Rountree, executive director of the Texas Horsemen's Partnership. "There's a lot of young people looking for entertainment venues. So I think it'd be a positive addition to our racing circuit if it comes to fruition."

She said finding the land will probably prove the biggest factor in a hot real estate market such as Austin, which is rapidly growing. 

"Land prices are very, very expensive. And finding a piece of property that meets all their needs is probably going to be a challenge. But I think I think they're serious about it," she said.

Beyond securing the land needed to build the facility, Pettigrew said exporting the track's signal out of state would probably be "first and foremost" in terms of hurdles to clear. 

Currently, Texas tracks cannot export their signal out of state as part of the state racing commission's impasse with the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority. This limits how much money tracks can generate. 

Race dates can be applied for in Texas five years in advance, but while the new facility is being built the operator can offer simulcast wagering on-site or at an alternative location. By the third year of offering, simulcast wagering needs to be on-site.

Pettigrew said Penn will work with other tracks to find an agreement, but ultimately the company will let the state racing commission work on the legal issues with HISA. 

"As far as purses are concerned, we're holding our own in Texas without the additional purse money that's derived from export, and the proposed opening in 2030 is sort of too far in the future to speculate about, HISA or anything having to do with our export signal or those sorts of things. But I think it could work out," Rountree said. 

And should Texas green light gaming and sports betting, it would provide a substantial boost to purse size in the state. Pettigrew said if sports betting comes to the state there may be a place for an ESPN-branded sportsbook at the track. Penn Entertainment reached a licensing deal with ESPN last year to re-brand its online sports betting app, ESPN BET. 

"I can envision that and I just think Austin's a great sports town and would be a great marketplace to have sports betting and horse racing," Pettigrew said. 

He added that Penn Entertainment is also looking at "how to make it into a multi-use facility not just for horse racing, but for other equine sports that can be held there."

Rountree envisions a scenario in which Sam Houston, Lone Star, a new Austin track, and potentially Retama Park outside of San Antonio would create a Texas circuit that could keep horses and horsemen in Texas rather than going across state lines to states such as Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Oklahoma for larger purses. 

"Right now they're only racing quarter horses, but I know that Penn has made comments as recently as last week that they were hoping sometime in the future to be able to run Thoroughbreds there again," she said of Retama Park. 

And building a new track near the state's capital could also attract the Breeders' Cup to return to the state since it was held 20 years ago at Lone Star. 

"What an awesome opportunity that was for Texas at our track up in Grand Prairie and we've all been sort of hoping and waiting to see if we had something that we could offer to the Breeders' Cup to lure them back to Texas, and this might be it," Rountree said.