February, 2022 | Horse Racing Free Tips

CDI To Acquire Colonial Downs

Churchill Downs, Inc. is set to acquire Colonial Downs, as well as several historical horse racing facilities in the state, after the company announced it has entered into a purchasing agreement to acquire the assets of the Virginia racetrack's owner, Peninsula Pacific Entertainment LLC. A Tuesday morning release from CDI put the value of the deal at $2.485 billion.

“This unique set of assets expands our geographic footprint and provides additional scale,” said Bill Carstanjen, Chief Executive Officer of CDI. “P2E has done an exceptional job developing and managing this collection of assets, which we are very excited to acquire and plan to strategically grow in the years ahead.”

In addition to Colonial Downs, P2E's assets include six facilities hosting 2,700 historical racing machines throughout Virginia. Under state law, CDI will have the opportunity to develop up to five additional historical racing entertainment venues in Virginia with collectively up to approximately 2,300 additional HRMs.

As part of the P2E Transaction, CDI will also acquire the rights to build a large gaming resort (the “Dumfries Project”), with up to 1,800 HRMs in Northern Virginia. It will also acquire the rights to develop Rosie's Gaming Emporium in Emporia, the seventh historical racing entertainment venue under P2E's Colonial Downs license. The Emporia facility, located along I-95 near the North Carolina border, will have 150 HRMs and is expected to open in 2023.

Also included in the deal is the del Lago Resort & Casino in Waterloo, New York and the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Sioux City, Iowa.

Under the terms of the, P2E is expected to reach a definitive agreement to sell the real property associated with Hard Rock Sioux City to a third party. CDI will acquire the operating company and lease the Sioux City Property from that third party. Following the closing, CDI will operate Hard Rock Sioux City and lease the Sioux City Property pursuant to lease terms negotiated prior to the closing. In the event P2E is unsuccessful in reaching a definitive agreement with a third party to purchase the Sioux City Property by a certain date, the Sioux City Property will be included in the P2E transaction and the total consideration will increase to $2.75 billion.

The transaction is dependent on usual and customary closing conditions, including the Company obtaining approvals from the Virginia Racing Commission, the New York State Gaming Commission, and the Iowa Racing and Gaming Commission. The transaction is expected to close by the end of 2022.

The post CDI To Acquire Colonial Downs appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Court, Oldest Rider to Compete in Kentucky Derby, Aiming for Return at Age 61 With Ben Deisel

Tom Pedulla is interviewing prominent owners, trainers and jockeys as they travel the Road to the 148th Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve on May 7 at Churchill Downs.

Yo Cuz Authoritative In Second Straight Stakes Win

Dream Maker Racing's Yo Cuz overcame an outward start to earn her second career stakes win in Monday's $100,000 Maddie May, a one-mile test for New York-bred sophomore fillies.

Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, the daughter of Laoban continued her good form after breaking her maiden last time out in the $500,000 NYSSS Fifth Avenue going seven furlongs at the Big A by 1 3/4-lengths under Jose Ortiz.

With Ortiz in the irons again, Yo Cuz broke outwardly from the outermost post six but quickly recovered and sprinted to the front, racing 1 1/2-lengths ahead of the Kendrick Carmouche-piloted Stone Creator through an opening quarter-mile in 23.41 seconds over the fast main track.

The Horacio De Paz-trained Moam began to fade from third position through the turn as Ortiz roused Yo Cuz for more with Stone Creator looming to her outside. Ortiz continued to give Yo Cuz a hand ride as Carmouche was all-out aboard Stone Creator turning for home with Thinking It Over making progress along the rail under Dylan Davis.

Yo Cuz was swung three-wide at the top of the stretch, digging in gamely to keep Stone Creator in her wake as Caragate made a late bid in the center of the racetrack under Eric Cancel. Yo Cuz improved her lead with a few taps of the crop from Ortiz, crossing the wire 3 1/4-lengths the best in a final time of 1:38.91.

Stone Creator kept to task well under Carmouche to finish second, 4 1/4 lengths ahead of Caragate in third. Reigning Chick, Thinking It Over, and Moam completed the order of finish. Captainsdaugher and Sandy's Garden were scratched.

Ortiz, who made the trip from Florida to the Big A to ride Yo Cuz, said the bay filly shows plenty of promise.

“Bill asked me to come up and I said, 'Sure.' We won the $500,000 race last time, today it was just $100,000 but I really like her going forward,” said Ortiz. “She's very good.”

Ortiz said Yo Cuz had enough speed to make the lead despite the poor break.

“Being on the outside sometimes they break a step out, but I corrected her nicely,” Ortiz said. “She has very good early speed and she put me where I wanted to be without using her. I thought the one [Stone Creator] would probably go, but I took the lead so easy and I think that's why Kendrick let us have it. His filly is very nice but it was her first time going a mile and just her second race. She's a nice filly, too.”

Leana Willaford, Mott's New York-based assistant, said she trusted Jose's judgement.

“I told Jose to just play the break,” Willaford said. “I thought the horse on the rail [Stone Creator] would show more speed, but nobody wanted it and Jose went ahead and made an executive decision.”

Carmouche said he was pleased with the runner-up effort from Stone Creator, who was making her first start against winners after a debut win on January 16 at the Big A for trainer Charlton Baker.

“The horse ran good. We chased the winner,” Carmouche said. “I tried to push the pace a little bit, but that didn't help – that horse just kept running around the track. We were second best today.”

Tom Gallo, managing partner of Dream Maker Racing, said he was pleased to see Yo Cuz respond well to the one-turn mile.

“Off the last race, we were pretty optimistic. She was very impressive,” said Gallo. “This was sort of a test for her. There were horses with some legitimate form in here and she looks like she's improving. At this time, that's a great thing.”

Gallo said Yo Cuz may cut back in distance in her next outing, eyeing a start in the $200,000 NYSSS Park Avenue for eligible state-sired sophomore fillies sprinting 6 1/2-furlongs on April 24 at the Big A.

“I think what we're aiming for is probably the New York Stallion Stakes Series on April 24, unless Bill looks at the tape and says something else,” Gallo said. “This was sort of a prep race for that. We'll take it one step at a time. Hopefully, she eats up and is in good shape tomorrow.”

Bred in New York by Seidman Stables, Yo Cuz improved her record to 3-2-0-0 and banked $55,000 in victory, boosting her total career earnings to $332,800. The 4-5 post-time favorite, Yo Cuz returned $3.80 for a $2 win wager.

Live racing at Aqueduct resumes Thursday with an eight-race card. First post is 12:50 p.m. Eastern.

The post Yo Cuz Authoritative In Second Straight Stakes Win appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Churchill Downs Enters Agreement To Purchase Virginia’s Colonial Downs, Other Gaming Facilities

On Tuesday morning, Seeking Alpha revealed that Churchill Downs, Inc. has entered an agreement to purchase the assets of Peninsula Pacific Entertainment Virginia and New York, as well as the operations of its Sioux City casino property, for a price of $2.5 billion. The sale includes the property of Colonial Downs Racetrack in New Kent, Va.

Colonial Downs completed a record-setting meet in 2021, featuring 21 race days and an average daily betting handle of $2,240,000. A total of $10.4 million in purse monies were distributed and average field size was a healthy 8.36 starters per race.

The Virginia Racing Commission approved Colonial Downs to expand from 21 days to 27 race days in 2022, with dates from July 11 through Sept. 7.

Also included in the Churchill Downs deal are six historical horse racing facilities in Virginia, the del Lago Resort & Casino in Waterloo, New York, and the operations of Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Sioux City, Iowa.

Churchill will also acquire the rights to Peninsula Pacific Entertainment's ongoing effort in partnership with Urban One to develop a destination casino in Richmond, Va.