CDI will operate Race and Sports Books at its racetracks and Historical Racing Machine (HRM) facilities in Kentucky which include:

• Churchill Downs Racetrack: 15 sports betting kiosks, 168 sq. ft. video screen, 20 large format televisions;
• Derby City Gaming & Hotel: 15 sports betting kiosks, 300 sq. ft. video screen, 12 large format televisions;
• Ellis Park Racing & Gaming: 5 sports betting kiosks;
• Newport Racing & Gaming: 10 sports betting kiosks, 20 large format televisions;
• Oak Grove Racing, Gaming & Hotel: 20 sports betting kiosks, 300 sq. ft. video screen, 8 large format televisions;
• Turfway Park Racing & Gaming: 15 sports betting kiosks, 300 sq. ft. video screen, 16 large format televisions.

CDI's new sports betting kiosks will be located among existing bar and simulcast areas for guests to place wagers. Each of CDI's HRM venues will implement a “Bet & Jet” feature that offers guests designated parking spaces for 15 minutes in order to quickly and easily place their in-person sports wager.

“CDI is excited to bring our experience operating retail sports wagering experiences to Kentucky with many thanks to the Kentucky General Assembly, Governor Beshear, the KHRC and the Kentucky Public Protection Cabinet for their efforts in making this a reality,” said Bill Carstanjen, CEO of CDI,”

In addition to retail sports betting, the KHRC also approved temporary licenses for three online sports wagering service providers that will operate in partnership with CDI's racetracks: FanDuel, Penn Sports Interactive and Fanatics. Approved service providers can begin accepting online wagers on Thursday, Sept. 28.

The post CDI To Open Six Race And Sports Books At Kentucky Properties Sept. 7 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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The 2023 races are slated to be run on Aug. 12.

In November, it was announced that Churchill had acquired the assets of Peninsula Pacific Entertainment LLC, the owners of Colonial Downs.

“Churchill has made a request and the committee will review it,” said  Andy Schweigardt, secretary for the American Graded Stakes Committee. “They hope to have a meeting before Christmas to make a decision.”

Approving Churchill's request may not be a formality. Schweigardt explained that in order for the committee to grant approval to a track to move a graded race a number of factors have to be taken into account.

“They have a rule that covers this that was instituted many years ago,” he said. “We consider moves on a case-by-case basis. The basic requirements are that the new venue has to be in the same region as the old racetrack and the name, conditions, calendar date and purse of the relocated race have to be substantially similar to previous years.”

When asked if Colonial in Virginia is in the same region as Churchill and Arlington,  Schweigardt said: “To me, no. But that's just me. The previous tracks would be considered to be in the Midwest. I'm not sure Virginia would be considered the Midwest.”

The 2022 Secretariat was not run because Churchill was having issues with its turf course at the time and track officials wanted to limit the number of races run over it.

Colonial's turf course is a mile-and-an-eighth in circumference and is the widest grass course in North America.

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The number of racing dates had been a concern for mid-Atlantic horsemen who were leery about CDI bloating the racing schedule beyond what the region's horse population might be able to sustain.

Those concerns were raised back in July, when Bill Carstanjen, CDI's chief executive officer, said during a quarterly earnings conference call that it would be CDI's intent to expand the current boutique-styled summer race meet from 27 to 50 dates, for the purpose of maximizing the number of historical horse racing machines (HRMs) that it can operate throughout Virginia. A state law requires CDI to run one race date for every 100 HRMs.

“Over the next two to four years we expect to grow to up to 50 race dates as we reach 5,000 HRMs,” Carstanjen said in that July 28 call.

At that time, Frank Petramalo Jr., the executive director of the Virginia Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, told TDN that given the current harmony among racing schedules in the mid-Atlantic, “it's important to continue a cooperative relationship between Virginia and Maryland and Delaware [and] certainly Pennsylvania….. We have a lot of racing [in the region] and a diminishing number of horses. We think the way to success is to try to rationalize racing programs.”

The July 13-Sept. 9 schedule for 2023 was approved unanimously Dec. 14 by the Virginia Racing Commission.

The highlight of the meet, the GII Virginia Derby, will be run on closing day.

The switch to Thursday-Saturday racing “will allow for more Virginians to attend and enjoy live racing,” Jack Sours, the vice president for CDI's gaming operations, said in a press release.

But nationally, Colonial's switch to different dates and a 1:30 p.m. Eastern first post will put it in direct competition with Saratoga Race Course, the nation's dominant summer simulcast signal, and up against another CDI-owned track, Ellis Park, on Saturdays and Sundays.

After being closed for six years, Colonial reopened under new management in 2019, ushering in the HRM-fueled purse era in Virginia and carving out a reputation as an independent “comeback” track whose niche was turf racing.

In February 2022, CDI commenced a deal to buy Colonial and its HRM network in a sale announced as $2.485 billion.

The post Colonial Shifting To Weekend Racing For 2023 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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“Gary brings a wealth of varied industry experience that ideally positions him for success in this role,” said Bill Mudd, President and Chief Operating Officer at CDI. “In addition to strong relationships with key stakeholders, his unparalleled passion and vision for this sport will ensure that Churchill Downs and its racing assets remain progressive leaders in a rapidly-evolving industry.”

Prior to this promotion, Palmisano served in multiple roles at Churchill Downs Racetrack including Special Assistant to Track President, VIP Player Services Manager and, most recently, Director of Race Day Operations. Palmisano started his professional career in racing in Louisiana where he gained experience at Fair Grounds Race Course and with the Louisiana State Racing Commission.

“This opportunity is a lifelong dream realized for me,” said Palmisano. “Having grown up in the barn area of Fair Grounds Race Course with my dad, the late Gary Palmisano, Sr., being a longtime trainer and racing official, I quickly knew that racing would be my life's passion. Ever since moving to Louisville to pursue an Equine Business Degree at the University of Louisville and beginning my work as an intern at Churchill Downs Racetrack, I've maintained a focus on amassing as much knowledge as I could so I could serve the industry I love in a capacity like this.”

Palmisano's appointment as Executive Director of Racing will be effective immediately.

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Churchill Downs Incorporated has entered into a multi-year agreement with FanDuel Group involving different facets of FanDuel's sports wagering, advance deposit wagering and television business.

Under the Agreement, CDI will provide certain technology and services to enable FanDuel's customers to place pari-mutuel wagers on horse racing via FanDuel's sports wagering and ADW platforms. CDI will also authorize wagering on CDI's owned or controlled horse racing content via FanDuel's platforms in the United States and grant FanDuel certain television and media rights to broadcast CDI-owned racing content on FanDuel's television network(s). In addition, the Agreement provides FanDuel non-exclusive Kentucky Derby sponsorship rights within the sports wagering category.

Beginning in January 2023, FanDuel will pay for CDI technology and services provided by United Tote Company to facilitate pari-mutuel wagering on FanDuel's platforms in the United States, including FanDuel Sportsbook and TVG. As previously announced, CDI has entered into an agreement to sell 49% of United Tote to New York Racing Association (NYRA) in a transaction that is expected to close by the end of 2022.

CDI will provide FanDuel wagering rights to horse racing content owned or controlled by CDI, including the Kentucky Derby, and will receive customary content fees when FanDuel accepts wagers on CDI-owned content. FanDuel will also receive exclusive television rights to the racing content of all CDI Thoroughbred racetracks, including Churchill Downs, once its existing non-Derby media rights deal expires in 2023. The Agreement excludes certain specified racing content, including Kentucky Derby Week.

As part of the Agreement, FanDuel will also receive a non-exclusive sponsorship of the Kentucky Derby in the sports wagering category beginning in 2023 in exchange for an annual sponsorship fee.

The post Churchill, FanDuel Enter Into Agreement appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Last June, I became aware of the potentially permanent closing of Arlington Park at the end of its 2021 season. As a 40-year fan of horse racing and having never been to Arlington, it became a priority to experience 'AP' before they closed the doors this past September.

The style, grace and beauty of Arlington was on full display for the two racing days I spent there in August. And to come to the understanding that Churchill Downs, Inc. was the organization responsible for its ultimate disappearance from the Thoroughbred Racing landscape became something I–still–cannot comprehend. Of all the corporate entities to shutter what can arguably be described as one of North American racing's crown jewel venues, for CDI to be the one to pull the plug on AP proves once and for all that a) Thoroughbred racing is NOT immune from decoupling; and b) anyone will do it should legislation permit.

I'm disillusioned very much by the fact that the Thoroughbred industry has just stood by and watched this take place, without so much as a whimper. And to think that it has occurred as a result of the desires of CDI–an organization one would think would have Thoroughbred Racing's best interests at heart–leads me to wonder how much the industry, in general, is willing to fight for its survival.

The closing of Pompano last night was a sad story in its own right. But the closing of Arlington Park last September was, in this fan's opinion, an indelible stain on CDI's reputation as an industry leader and an example of how decoupling is already running rampant.

The post Letters To the Editor: Paul Farash appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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“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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Officials at Churchill Downs Incorporated (CDI) have announced that Nate Simon has been named Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer of the company. He will be responsible for providing strategic technology leadership and services. Simon replaces Ben Murr who was promoted to President of TwinSpires and Online Gaming in January.

Simon joined CDI in 2011 as Vice President of Operations for the Company's United Tote division before his promotion to President of United Tote in 2012. During that time, Simon was accountable for over 200 employees across the United States and Canada and over $25 million in global revenue.

“I am very proud of the results Nate has delivered in modernizing United Tote over the past 10 years,” said Bill Carstanjen, Chief Executive Officer of CDI. “We look forward to him building on these contributions by delivering further innovation and growth to the Company as the Chief Technology Officer.”

Prior to joining CDI, Simon was the Global Head of IT Operations for Clariant. He started his career with General Electric Co. where he completed the GE Information Management Leadership Program and worked as an Enterprise Resource Planning Project Leader. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Computer Science from Indiana University.

Simon's promotion is effective immediately. CDI will move quickly to fill the role of President of United Tote.

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The Holiday Meet covers a five-week stretch every Thursday-Sunday through Friday, Dec. 31 with the exception of no racing on Christmas Eve (Dec. 24) or Christmas Day (Dec. 25). The first of eight races every Thursday-Saturday is 6:15 p.m. Sunday's eight-race programs will start at 1 p.m. Only seven races will be staged on New Year's Eve (Dec. 31).

Following the Holiday Meet, Turfway will commence its 38-day Winter Meet on Jan. 1, which will continue for 14 weeks through Saturday, April 2 – the new date for its marquee race on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, the Jeff Ruby Steaks (Grade 3) for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles now worth $600,000, a $350,000 boost from the 2021 renewal.

The Jeff Ruby Steaks, which offers 170 qualifying points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby (Top 4 Points: 100-40-20-10), is the centerpiece of a revitalized stakes program thanks to increased interest by Kentucky horsemen and Churchill Downs Incorporated's investment and redevelopment of Turfway Park, which is scheduled for completion and to reopen next summer.

Turfway Park will present 24 stakes events – four during the Holiday Meet and 20 during the Winter Meet – that total $3.55 million. Four stakes are scheduled for the Holiday Meet and another 20 will be run during the Winter Meet. Each is worth a minimum $100,000 and there will be at least one stakes race carded weekly. Fourteen of the stakes have been brought back from an extended hiatus.

In addition to the Jeff Ruby Steaks, the $125,000 John Battaglia Memorial at 1 1/16 miles on March 5 will offer 17 “Prep Season” points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby (Top 4 Points: 10-4-2-1). The $250,000 Bourbonette (Listed) on April 2, now 1 1/16 miles, and $125,000 Cincinnati Trophy, now one mile, on March 5 will offer qualifying points for 3-year-old fillies on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks (Top 4 Points: 100-40-20-10 and 10-4-2-1, respectively).

A total of six stakes cumulatively worth $1.7 million highlights the Jeff Ruby Steaks Day card on closing day, which falls five weeks in advance of the Kentucky Derby.

Horsemen will compete for $4.974 million (all purses include prize money from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund) offered in Director of Racing Tyler Picklesimer's 127-race Holiday Meet condition book. Maiden special weight races are worth $62,000 and allowance races range from $63,000 to $68,000.

The average starters per race during last year's Holiday Meet was a strong 10.5, which produced highly competitive racing over the track's Tapeta synthetic surface. Installed during the summer of 2020, the Tapeta surface has received positive reviews from horsemen and jockeys alike and has proven to be a fair and rewarding surface for horseplayers.

Gerardo Corrales, who has ridden in the U.S. since 2015 after graduating from the Laffit Pincay Jockey Training Academy in his native Panama, is back to defend his Holiday Meet and Winter Meet riding titles from a year ago. He won 15 races during the Holiday Meet and another 40 at the Winter Meet.

There will be several new additions to the jockey colony including journeyman riders Joe Rocco Jr. and Joe Talamo.

“I'm excited to stay home this winter,” said Talamo, who shifted his tack from California to Kentucky in 2020. “I've been trying out different winter gloves and scarves to get ready for the winter in Kentucky. With the purse money that keeps going up at Turfway, I think it was a good decision to stay home.”

Rocco, who's been a fixture on the Kentucky circuit since 2012, typically spent his winter at Oaklawn but will stay “home” for the Turfway meet.

“As your kids start to get older, it gets harder leaving each winter,” Rocco said. “I think it'll be a good change staying at Turfway.”

Other Kentucky riders that are scheduled to be in the Turfway jocks room include Rafael Bejarano and Chris Landeros.

Bill Morey was the 2020 Holiday Meet leading trainer with six wins, while Wesley Ward dominated the 2021 Winter Meet trainer standings with 21 wins, nine more than Morey. In addition to Morey and Ward, trainers Brad Cox, Tommy Drury Jr., Mike Maker, Michael McCarthy and Mike Tomlinson are slated to have Turfway divisions this year.

“We'll mainly be based at Fair Grounds and Oaklawn this winter but we'll have a few horses that we keep in Kentucky to run at Turfway,” Cox said.

Turfway Park's wagering menu will feature a 15-percent takeout, 50-cent Pick 5 that starts in Race 1 each night as well as the 15-percent takeout 20-cent Single 6 Jackpot on Races 3-8. Also, there are two 14-percent takeout, 50-cent Pick 4 sequences on each card with the first offered on Races 2-5 and the second on Races 5-8.

The Single 6 jackpot will be paid only if there is a single winning wager with six winners placed at the required minimum bet value. If there are multiple winning wagers with six winners in the six-race sequence, 90 percent of the net money wagering into the pool will be paid, and the remaining 10 percent will carry to the Single 6 jackpot. If there are no tickets will all six winners, 100 percent of the pool will carry to the Single 6 jackpot.

Win, Place, Show, Exacta, Trifecta, Superfecta, Daily Double and Pick 3 wagers will be offered every race (on all races that qualify under Kentucky statutes for minimum field size) and the $1 Super Hi-5 will once again be offered in the last race.

Racing fans can wager on racing from Churchill Downs via www.TwinSpires.com, the official advance-deposit wagering service for Churchill Downs Incorporated and its family of racetracks. Also, fans of Turfway Park racing are encouraged to download the Churchill Downs LIVE app. The Churchill Downs LIVE app is available free of charge on streaming services such as Amazon, Apple TV and Roku. Fans can download the Churchill Downs LIVE app for full access to a free HD live stream of the simulcast signal for all Churchill Downs Incorporated-owned racetracks, including Turfway Park.

Jimmy McNerney will describe the racing action throughout the Holiday and Winter Meet.

For more information, visit www.turfway.com.

2021 TURFWAY PARK HOLIDAY MEET STAKES SCHEDULE

4 stakes cumulatively worth $400,000

* All purses include prize money from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund

2022 TURFWAY PARK WINTER MEET STAKES SCHEDULE

20 stakes cumulatively worth $3.15 million

The post Kentucky Racing Shifts To Turfway Park; Four $100,000 Stakes During 2021 Holiday Meet appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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The closing of the sale of the property is subject to the satisfaction of various closing conditions. The Company anticipates closing the sale of the property in the first half of 2022.

Following the closing of this transaction, CDI will retain ownership of approximately 54 acres of the current 170-acre parcel of land on which the Company's wholly-owned Calder Casino sits.

Calder opened May 6, 1971. Owned by Churchill Downs, Inc., it leased its horse racing operations to The Stronach Group and was rebranded as Gulfstream Park West from 2014 through 2020. The South Florida racetrack was closed last fall.

The post Churchill Downs Inc. Sells 115.7 Acres of Calder Land appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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