Ellis Park Reports Successful Meet

Ellis Park, which closed its 30-day meet Sept. 5, reported a rise in all-sources handle and a slight drop in on-track wagering.

"From my standpoint, the racing was the best since I've been here—by far," said racing secretary Dan Bork, completing his 10th year at the track. "We had more quality with the 2-year-olds and older horses and had some really great races. It just shows you what can happen if we have the right purse structure. It was by far the best jockey colony, best trainers we've had here."

Overall betting on the meet was up 9.23% for a total $35,287,952.95 compared with $32,305,180.27 last year. On-track wagering totaled $4,670,067.20, down 3.60% from $4,844,528.30 last year.

Record rainfall caused the cancellation of the July 4 card, as well as the final two races on the July 29 program, and forced racing off the turf four days. Construction on the Ohio River bridge the second weekend in August also backed up traffic for miles on U.S. 41, the major artery in front of the track.

Even with legendary track superintendent Glenn Thompson's yeoman's efforts, the record 10.24 inches of rain in July took a toll the first half of the meet. There were 103 scratches in races taken off the turf, a total almost double from the prior July, which had the third-highest recorded rainfall at 7.99 inches. But all-sources wagering shot up amid the better August weather, with the exception of a couple of days when the heat index reached 108.

In spite of challenges, the 2016 meet was a boon for horsemen. With Kentucky Downs contributing $1.35 million to the Ellis purse account and the increasing money generated from historical horse racing gaming terminals, purses were up 25% to average $197,000 a day. 

Even with off-turf scratches, field sizes averaged 8.1 horses per race, down slightly from last year's 8.3. 

"Clearly we're on an upward trend," said Ellis Park president Ron Geary. "You look at the trainers we attracted, the riders here, great purse money, great horses, and a lot of horses per race. ...Showing the quality of the racing at Ellis, four of the 10 winners running for the record purses on Kentucky Downs' opening card made their prior start here."

Gambling on historical horse racing terminals has been on an upward trajectory as well, adding to Ellis purses as well as to purse supplements to Kentucky-bred and sired horses through the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund and the state's General Fund.

The gaming terminals' play has increased every month this year, from $5.24 million in January to $8.19 million in August, with Ellis up 51 percent over the corresponding timeframe from last year. The $56 million bet on historical horse racing the first eight months in August already is more than double what was bet for the entire year in 2013, the first full year of play.

Geary said the track will add to its 179 current historical horse racing terminals in January. "By next meet we'll be at 300," he said.