Portland Meadows to close, property to be developed

Portland Meadows, the 73-year-old racetrack in Oregon that has struggled financially for years, will not re-open this year and the property will be redeveloped, according to racing officials in the state.

Portland Meadows last held a live racing day on Feb. 5, as part of its 37-day 2018-2019 meet. The track, which is owned by The Stronach Group, has not applied for live racing dates, according to the executive director of the Oregon Racing Commission, Jack McGrail, and, according to Oregon newspapers, has filed a permit application to redevelop the 100-acre property for use as an “urban logistics center.”

Portland Meadows is one of a string of small-scale tracks without links to stronger regional circuits that have struggled to survive as horseracing loses relevance among the general population. The track, which was purchased by the publicly traded predecessor of The Stronach Group in 2001, routinely attracted crowds in the mere hundreds to its live race cards, and purses at the track over the past 10 years have hovered in the $50,000-per-day range. Its total live in-state handle, including betting at OTBs in the state, did not top $100,000 on any day during its most recent meet, according to state commission records.

The track will close despite several efforts to resurrect its business through the installation of historical horseracing machines, the operation of a poker room, and a rebranding campaign designed to attract younger crowds to the facility. That campaign focused on hosting music and craft-beer festivals.

Portland Meadows controlled simulcasting in the state at a network of 11 off-track betting locations, but that control will now pass to Grants Pass Downs in the southern portion of the state as of the start of the fiscal year on July 1, according to McGrail.

“We’re hoping for a seamless move from one operator to another,” McGrail said, referring to the availability of racing simulcasts at the OTBs, which are restaurants and bars. "That’s pretty important to the Portland area, which is obviously a pretty big market.”

Grants Pass, which has annually run a brief summer fair meet, has also applied for fall racing dates, and the track is expected to run perhaps two dozen live dates in the next fiscal year, according to McGrail.

Grants Pass Downs was recently purchased by a company started by Travis Boersma, the founder of the coffee company Dutch Bros., and he plans to invest a “significant amount of money” into improvements at the track, McGrail said. Boersma has already funded several improvements at the track, which is located in his hometown.