Victory Haven Closing, May Not Reopen

Citing a reduction in horses its managing partner blames on Kentucky's inability to compete with other states that offer purse and breeding incentives funded by added alternative gaming, Victory Haven training center in Lexington will be closed for the winter and may not reopen.

Lucian Anderson, managing partner of Victory Haven, said in the first four or five years after he and his brother Dennis purchased the training center in 2005 it was at its 300-horse capacity. But he said it has been well below that in recent years, and that after about 20 horses shipped to Tampa Bay Downs for winter the training center on Russell Cave Road was left with just 50 or 60 horses.

"When I looked at the numbers the other day, December, January, February, they weren't good; no sense in staying open if we can't make a little money anyway," Anderson said. "My brother and I discussed it and decided to shut it down at the end of November. You might say it's closed for the season, but it may be closed forever, or we could look at it and be re-opened next summer."

Dennis Anderson, the training center's co-owner, is a Lexington-based developer through his Anderson Communities. But Lucian Anderson said he's not sure about the future for the training center land, noting that growth recently has been slow in Lexington.

Lucian Anderson did acknowledge that while he and his brother thought they could make the training center work when they purchased it in 2005, they also thought if it failed the land could be attractive for future development.

The Andersons purchased the land from former owner Christopher Paasch, a trainer. Paasch had purchased a tract of the former 505 Farm and developed the training center he named Victory Haven.

Lucian Anderson said the training center enjoyed some strong years but things have recently been difficult.

"If you look at these farms around here, many of them are empty because the boarders have gone on to New York, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Louisiana; wherever the breeding programs have been enhanced. That's just dollars and sense," he said. "The fact other states have enhanced purses and Kentucky hasn't been able to get that legislation has definitely hurt us."

Anderson said he doesn't think the message was ever made clear to Kentucky voters that racetrack casinos would support jobs directly and indirectly tied to horse racing.

"The sad part about this was the people in the legislature and the campaign before the (casino) vote, they never showed the whole picture to people," Anderson said. "When a casino comes to town, they'll hire 400 or 500 people. They'll spend some money on supplies, utilities. Then all of the profits go back to corporate headquarters.

"But a racino, a combination racetrack-casino, helps thousands of jobs in the horseracing support industries. There are thousands of jobs out there not directly tied to the casino or the racetrack but they're part of the support industry. It's just kind of bad."