Services Scheduled For Donnie Richardson, Churchill Downs’ Former Senior V.P. Of Racing

Services for Donald Ray “Donnie” Richardson, former senior vice president of racing for Churchill Downs Incorporated until his retirement in 2012, will be held Friday at 10 a.m. at St. Patrick Catholic Church, 1000 N. Beckley Station Road, Louisville, Ky., with burial to follow in Calvary Cemetery.

In addition to Friday's services, a visitation will be held tonight (Thursday) from 4-8 p.m. at Ratterman Funeral Home, 12900 Shelbyville Road, East Louisville. Masks and social distancing are required.

Richardson passed away Tuesday at age 75. Born Jan. 27, 1946 to the late Elmer and Gertrude Richardson, the Louisville native spent a lifetime around racing. His father ran the program department at Churchill Downs, Louisville's defunct Miles Park and the old Latonia (now Turfway Park) for more than 30 years.

At 14, Richardson took his first job in racing when he started selling programs at Churchill Downs. He joined the track's racing office and worked as a patrol judge in 1969. After holding positions in racing at tracks throughout the Kentucky circuit, as well as racing positions at Florida's Hialeah and Oaklawn Park in Arkansas, Richardson returned to Churchill Downs as assistant racing secretary from 1973-78 and served as racing secretary for the extended Spring Meet at Churchill Downs in 1978. Richardson then became racing secretary for Ellis Park from 1978-79.

In 1979, Richardson moved out of the racing office and into a new career as a jockey's agent, in which he guided the careers of such notable riders as Hall of Fame members Chris McCarron and Don Brumfield and veterans such as Jim McKnight, Keith Allen, Darrell Haire, Mike McDowell, Earlie Fires and others.

He again joined Churchill Downs in 1990 as the track's stakes coordinator. Later, as senior vice president of racing, Richardson oversaw Churchill Downs' racing program and was responsible for policy development, strategy and horsemen's services for Churchill Downs Incorporated and its racing markets in Florida, Illinois, Kentucky and Louisiana.

“Donnie Richardson devoted his life to horse racing,” said Churchill Downs Racetrack President Mike Anderson. “He was a valuable Churchill Downs employee for 22 years and helped champion the growth of our stakes program, including the Kentucky Derby Week schedule of races we know today. Our hearts and prayers are with Donnie's numerous family and friends around the racetrack as they grieve during this difficult time.”

Richardson, who married the love of his life, the late Theresa Longazel Richardson, is survived by his two daughters, Jennifer Richardson (Scott Rech); and Shelley Dunn (Jason); and two grandsons, Jonathan and Jack Dunn.

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Services Set For Richardson

Funeral services for Donald Ray “Donnie” Richardson, the former senior vice president of racing for Churchill Downs Incorporated until his retirement in 2012, will take place Friday morning, Apr. 30, at the St. Patrick Catholic Church, 1000 N. Beckley Station Road in Louisville, with burial to follow in Cavalry Cemetery. A visitation was to be held Thursday evening.

Richardson, who was 75 at the time of his passing, was born Jan. 27, 1946, and spent the majority of his career in the racing business. His father, Elmer, ran the program department at Churchill Downs, the defunct Miles Park in Louisville and Latonia (Turfway Park) for more than three decades.

Donnie Richardson began selling programs at Churchill Downs at the age of 14. In 1969, he joined the track's racing office and also worked as a patrol judge. After holding a variety of positions at Kentucky's racetracks, as well as at Hialeah in Miami and at Oaklawn Park, Richardson returned to Churchill to become the track's assistant racing secretary from 1973-1978 and was the racing secretary for the extended Spring Meet at Churchill in 1978.

Richardson branched out in 1979 to become a jockey's agent, working with the likes of Chris McCarron and Don Brumfield as well as Jim McKnight, Darrell Haire and Earlie Fires, among others. In 1990, Richardson became the stakes coordinator for Churchill Downs and later, as the senior vice president of racing, oversaw Churchill Downs' racing program and was responsible for policy development, strategy and horsemen's services for Churchill Downs Incorporated and its racing markets in Florida, Illinois, Kentucky and Louisiana.

“Donnie Richardson devoted his life to horse racing,” said Churchill Downs Racetrack President Mike Anderson. “He was a valuable Churchill Downs employee for 22 years and helped champion the growth of our stakes program, including the Kentucky Derby Week schedule of races we know today. Our hearts and prayers are with Donnie's numerous family and friends around the racetrack as they grieve during this difficult time.”

Richardson was preceded in death by his beloved wife Theresa Longazel Richardson and is survived by two daughters, Jennifer Richardson (Scott Rech); and Shelley Dunn (Jason); and two grandsons, Jonathan and Jack Dunn.

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‘If You Can’t Split ‘Em, Dead Heat ‘Em!’ Putting Up The Wrong Numbers At Miles Park

For those racing fans old enough to remember, the recent Kentucky Downs race where the placing judges initially put up the wrong numbers of the first- and second-place finishers brought back memories of that same mistake on a dark and stormy night at Louisville's venerable Miles Park 46 years ago. There was one key difference: The error at Kentucky Downs this week was caught (and corrected) before the race was declared “official,” while the bad numbers at Miles Park were only changed hours after the “official” sign was posted, too late for those in attendance who held tickets on the real winner.

On July 4, 1974, during what turned out to be Miles Park's last full year of racing, the popular half-mile oval deep in Louisville's West End was enjoying good-sized crowds and handle for the one day (Saturdays) and five nights it raced. Opened in 1956 as a harness track, it was re-named in 1958 for noted businessman and horse-owner J. Fred Miles, but to its loyal patrons it was always called “Smiles” Park. I was helping to put myself through law school at the University of Louisville by working in the track's clubhouse dining room as a $20-a-night mutuel clerk.

That year was a traumatic one for Louisville — on April 3, 1974, a tornado had devastated several sections of the city, killing eight people. But barely a month later, Cannonade won the 100th Kentucky Derby before a record attendance including Princess Margaret representing the Queen of England.

At the end of the Churchill Downs spring meet, Miles Park took over on the Kentucky circuit for its traditional six weeks of racing. On Thursday, July 4, 5,344 fans turned out for the holiday night's nine races. The feature race, with a $5,000 pot, was the “Spirit of '76 Purse,” an “about” one-mile allowance test for older horses.

As the crowd roared, a 17-1 shot, Git, a 7-year-old gelding ridden furiously by Jesus Rosello, prevailed by a nose over Julia's Dash … or did he? Sometime after the race was made “official,” an embarrassed Frank Muth, one of the placing judges, informed the stewards that the wrong horse had been posted as the winner – that Julia's Dash's nose had reached the wire first, not Git's.

After a stewards' hearing the next morning, Mr. Muth and his two fellow judges, Bernard “Bernie” Berns and John Francis Dugan, were each fined $100 and suspended the final week of the meeting. (Mr. Berns unsuccessfully appealed his sanction to the Kentucky State Racing Commission and went to his grave insisting that Git had won the race.)

A press release and published ruling emphasized the integrity of the veteran officials and, eventually, as the story was re-told through the years, the mistake was blamed on the rainy weather, an outdated photo-finish camera, and a printed photograph that Mr. Muth – as good a racing official as ever lived – had called for that night that, to the naked eye, bordered on an optical illusion (see photo).

Frank Muth

Replacing the departed trio of judges was a new set abruptly pressed into service: assistant racing secretary Donnie Richardson, clerk of scales Jerry Botts, and racing secretary Warren Wolf. To their chagrin (and without their agreement), in a move that today would be labeled “transparency,” their full names were announced to the next night's crowd. Messrs. Richardson, Botts and Wolf got an immediate challenge in their new positions: In the first race, as fate would have it, there was an extremely close finish.

Understandably, the replacement judges took considerable time to study the printed photo. As the minutes wore on, the impatient bettors, mindful of the previous evening's debacle, began to ever more loudly chant in unison: “If you can't split 'em, dead heat 'em!  IF YOU CAN'T SPLIT 'EM, DEAD HEAT 'EM!   IF YOU CAN'T SPLIT 'EM, DEAD HEAT 'EM!!!” – until the result was finally posted on the tote board to thunderous Bronx cheer applause.

In those seemingly less-complicated times, no lawsuits were filed because of the placing judges' mistake, not even by Git's colorful owner, Henderson, Ky., automobile dealer George “Hoolie” Hudson, who, in later years, admitted that he more than made up the $2,000 difference in the purse redistribution with the bets he had legitimately cashed on his $37.60 “winner.” The fans' anger may have been assuaged, too, by the wise decision of track management (led by perspicacious general manager John Battaglia) to give out thousands of passes for free admission, food, and other giveaways.

After ill-conceived decisions to try Quarter Horse racing, a winter meet in late 1974, and even a gray, dud-of-a-new-name, Commonwealth Race Course, little Miles Park closed for good the following year. But its memories have endured for anyone lucky enough to have worked there during some wonderful summers, when everybody was young and our futures were all in front of us – even on the night the judges put up the “officially” wrong numbers.

Bob Heleringer is a Louisville, Ky. attorney, former racing official (placing judge), and is currently writing a second edition of his legal textbook, “Equine Regulatory Law.”

The Courier-Journal published the mis-read photo finish

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