Kentucky commission schedules committee hearing on dates proposals

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has scheduled a committee hearing for next Tuesday to discuss dates proposals from state racetracks, including a request by Churchill Downs to take the winter dates on the state racing circuit from Turfway Park.

The Race Dates Committee is scheduled to begin its meeting at 1:30 p.m. Tuesday to discuss the proposals. By law, the racing commission must award racing dates for the following year by Nov. 1. The full racing commission meets Oct. 15.

The issue of racing dates in Kentucky was thrown into disarray one month ago, when Churchill Downs submitted an application to run the winter racing dates traditionally held by Turfway Park, located in Northern Kentucky. In its application, Churchill also said that it would build a new track in Northern Kentucky if the company’s Louisville track was granted the 2020 dates.

Members of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission have expressed extreme dissatisfaction with Turfway’s corporate owners over the past five years due to the track’s delays in installing historical horse racing machines, devices that are similar to slot machines that are operated by every other track in Kentucky. A small portion of the revenue from the devices has been used to boost purses at Kentucky’s other tracks to record levels.

KHRC members have openly questioned the commitment of Turfway’s owners to promoting racing in the state, contending in public comments that the current owner, JACK Entertainment, has refused to install the devices to protect a casino that it operates just over the Ohio River in Cincinnati. (Both Turfway and the Cincinnati casino are in the process of being sold to Hard Rock International.)\

Following the filing of the dates applications, JACK Entertainment and Hard Rock released a statement saying the companies will “jointly defend the long-standing race dates that have regularly been awarded to Turfway Park and contest the inappropriate actions of Churchill Downs and their attempt to disrupt the Northern Kentucky racing community.”

Members of the dates committee are likely to spend significant portions of the dates meeting questioning Churchill and Turfway corporate officials over their plans for the winter dates. The recommendation of the dates committee is typically accepted by the full racing commission.

Churchill has said that its plans for a track and casino in Northern Kentucky would include the operation of 1,500 historical horse racing machines. The track would have a one-mile artificial racing surface, identical to the layout at Turfway. While the track is being built, the winter dates would be run at Churchill’s flagship track in Louisville, the officials have said.

In 2012, Churchill Downs applied for September racing dates that had been traditionally held by Turfway, but in that case, Turfway did not put up a fight, content to play a role as the winter base for Kentucky horsemen whose stock can’t compete at warm-weather tracks to the south.