Kentucky dates committee recommends racing calendar remains the same

A dates committee of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission on Tuesday recommended that the state approve racing dates that are largely identical to those requested by Kentucky racetracks over the past three years.

The dates committee voted unanimously to recommend approval, noting that the dates have been largely static over the past three years. The full commission is scheduled to meet next on Oct. 27, at which time it will take up the recommendation by the dates committee.

Prior to the vote being conducted, Frank Kling, the chairman of both the dates committee and the full commission, asked track co-owner Corey Johnsen whether he was interested in seeking more dates for Kentucky Downs. Kentucky Downs, which runs all of its races on the turf and which has used money from slot machine-like devices to boost its purses to nearly $2 million a day, requested five race dates for 2019, as it has in the past.

Johnsen responded that the track has requested five dates over the past several years out of a desire to work with other Kentucky tracks and the state’s horsemen. But he also said that Kentucky Downs “would like to run more days,” but that it was so far unclear where on the racing calendar to fit more live race dates at the track.

“The bottom line is, count us in if anybody has a good idea,” Johnsen said.

Kentucky Downs briefly considered expanding its meet several years ago when it became clear that Churchill Downs intended to seek racing dates in September, the month when Kentucky Downs traditionally ran its short meet. But both tracks, along with Keeneland, reached an agreement to maintain the five-day meet at Kentucky Downs.

Since then, Kentucky Downs has redirected millions of dollars that have been raised for its purse fund to other tracks in the state. At the same time, many horseplayers and horsemen have urged Kentucky Downs to run more dates, citing in part the rapid run-up in the track’s average daily handle over the past five years.

“We’re comfortable with [five dates],” Johnsen told Kling. “Unless Keeneland or Churchill Downs would agree to us adding days, I think we would stay where we are, because we would never want to impact them in a negative way.”