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MSW Projections: Ellis $70,000, Kentucky Downs $150,000

Purse levels for maiden special weight (MSW) races on the Kentucky circuit have been projected for the summer meets at Ellis Park ($70,000 through 24 dates in July and August) and Kentucky Downs ($150,000 for seven days in September).

Those figures were disclosed by representatives of those tracks Wednesday during a meeting of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund (KTDF) advisory committee.

The projected Ellis MSW purses will be a boost from the $60,000 offered in 2022.

Kentucky Downs will remain year-over-year level at $150,000 after last bumping up MSW purses from $135,000 in 2021.

Ellis will be running its first meet under the ownership of the gaming company Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), which last September announced a $79-million buy of Kentucky's only Thoroughbred venue in the western part of the state.

Ellis executives said changes for 2023 will include an attempt to run nine races daily instead of eight.

The Ellis racing secretary, Dan Bork, said the stakes program will also be importing the GIII Pucker Up S., which had formerly been run at Arlington International Racecourse until CDI shuttered the historic Chicago track in 2021.

In 2022, the Pucker Up was initially scheduled to be run as part of the GI Arlington Million undercard at Churchill Downs. But the nine-furlong turf race for 3-year-old fillies was one of two races scrapped in an effort to preserve Churchill's slow-to-grow, new $10-million grass course.

Bork said moving the race to Ellis will come with a purse increase to $300,000 from last year's scheduled $200,000, and will place that stakes as the centerpiece of a two-day, seven-stakes turf weekend Aug. 5-6. The remaining six grass stakes will all have purses of at least $200,000.

As far as facility improvements, Jeff Inman, the Ellis general manager, said there is a lot of work going into the “water and drainage situation” that has long been a problem at Ellis.

“Churchill is taking some major steps to come up with a whole solution as opposed to the piecemeal ones that we have done in the past,” Inman said.

Inman also noted that “continued construction work on the grandstands” will start Apr. 6. “We are currently working on our entryway canopy to make a more pleasing entrance.”

CDI will be rebranding the Ellis simulcast presentation to standardize the signal with other tracks in its corporate portfolio, including transferring on-air talent from Churchill Downs to Ellis.

A new video board will be installed in the Ellis infield.

Kentucky Downs will race seven days again in 2023 after going from six dates to seven in 2022.

Ted Nicholson, the senior vice president and general manager at Kentucky Downs, said to expect the standard 10 or 11 races on weekdays, and 11 or 12 on weekends.

Nicholson said the hotel on the property will finally be open for the first time during a race meet.

Nicholson said Kentucky Downs “had tornado damage on a couple barns, so we're in the process of shoring those up.”

A new horsemen's “perch” is being built for 2023. Nicholson said it will be located between the paddock and the stewards' stand, with the weighing-in scale for riders being moved elsewhere to fit in the two-story, 25-by-25-foot viewing stand.

“It will allow for horsemen to go up and watch the race and get a better bird's-eye view of it than what they've been getting,” Nicholson said.

The KTDF advisory committee approved the recommendation of allotment requests that the Ellis and Kentucky Downs purse estimates were based on, but the full Kentucky Horse Racing Commission still has to vote on final approval of the funding.

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The Week in Review: A Good Year to Have a Tough Horse

With undefeated phenom Flightline (Tapit) and sophomore star Epicenter (Not This Time) headlining a respectably deep GI Breeders' Cup Classic, one oft-repeated quip is that 2022 is turning out to be “a tough year to have a good horse” aiming for a divisional championship.

Yet a few rungs farther down the class ladder–more than a few, in truth–a blue-collar starter-allowance stalwart is tweaking that phrase so it better suits his grind-it-out style, proving that '22 is actually “a good year to have a tough horse.”

Last week at Churchill Downs, Beverly Park (Munnings) won his 11th race of the season in start number 23 on the year. Both those numbers are tops in North America; his next closest rivals have eight wins and 20 starts, respectively.

Emblematic of his speed-centric, hard-charging nature, the 5-year-old broke running in a 6 1/2-furlong $20,000 starter-allowance Sept. 21, took pressure at the rail in a three-way speed duel, then repulsed a deep-stretch threat to eke out a 3/4-length score under Rafael Bejarano for owner/trainer Norman Lynn Cash, whose horses race under the name Built Wright Stables.

Eleven wins and it's only the first week of autumn. For perspective, no North American Thoroughbred has won more than 12 races in an entire calendar year since 2011, when Rapid Redux ran the table with a gaudy 19-for-19 record. More than three full months of racing are left in '22.

In fact, by the time you read this, Beverly Park could well already be on the cusp of being entered for his next race.

Colleague Bill Finley profiled Cash's “throwback” operation in mid-May, when Beverly Park had racked up his first six wins of the year. After having owned racehorses in partnership with his wife, Lola, for about a decade, Cash took out his trainer's license in April 2021. He now runs a 40-head stable (split between Laurel Park in Maryland and the Thoroughbred Training Center in Lexington, Kentucky) on the theory that as long as horses show they can thrive on frequent racing, they'll be in the entry box.

Cash claimed Beverly Park for $12,500 out of a NW3L win at Belterra Park on Aug. 5, 2021, hoping to catch lightning in a bottle with a horse who had won his previous NW2L condition in his previous start at the $5,000 level by 15 lengths. That meant Beverly Park would be eligible for some lucrative starter-allowance spots. But because improved horses who once ran for low claiming tags generally scare away entrants for those restricted races, Beverly Park had to hit the road to extend his winning ways.

So far in '22, Beverly Park has raced at Oaklawn, Charles Town, Turfway, Laurel, Mahoning Valley, Keeneland, Monmouth, Belterra, Churchill, Thistledown, Delaware, Colonial and Timonium. In the 399-day span between Cash's claiming him and last week's win at Churchill, Beverly Park is 18-for-31 with $424,024 in purse earnings. His lifetime record stands at 21-for-40.

Finally a favorite

The $200,000 Parx Dirt Mile doesn't yet have the status of a graded race, but Mind Control (Stay Thirsty) has made it worth watching the past two years on the GI Pennsylvania Derby Day undercard.

A tenacious middle-distance horse who is often perceived as having something to prove, Mind Control is known for clawing back leads when he appears hopelessly beaten (like in the '21 Parx Dirt Mile), and winning races by thinly sliced margins (of his 11 lifetime victories, two were by noses, three by heads, and one by a neck).

Something of a fan favorite, the Red Oak Stable and Madaket Stables colorbearer for trainer Todd Pletcher has not been a pari-mutuel darling: Going into Saturday's Parx Dirt Mile defense, Mind Control had started in 15 consecutive stakes, dating all the way back to Mar. 7, 2020, without once being favored in the betting.

Although feats like this are difficult to pin down as actual “records” (help welcomed from anyone with a deep enough database), it's unlikely the sport has witnessed too many (if any) million-dollar-plus purse-earners competing strictly in stakes over a 2 1/2-year span without once going postward as the public's choice.

That changed Sept. 24, when Parx bettors installed Mind Control as the 3-5 choice for the Dirt Mile. The 6-year-old tracked the Pennsylvania-bred pacemaker Far Mo Power (Uncle Lino) every step of the trip before the dueling duo pulsed away from the pack on the far turn.

The 12-1 longshot and the odds-on favorite raced in lockstep and close quarters through the length of the lane, exchanging heads on the lead and some brief brushing, with the innermost Far Mo Power under Parx journeyman Dexter Haddock twice shifting outward toward Mind Control and Hall-of-Famer John Velazquez.

Under the wire, Far Mo Power prevailed by a neck, but the objection and inquiry signs soon blinked to life on the tote board. When the numbers stopped flashing, Mind Control was elevated as the winner, with Far Mo Power and jockey Dexter Haddock placed second for interference.

“My horse is a fighter but, when [Far Mo Power initially] came out and touched him, I was okay,” said Velazquez. “[Mind Control] got a little intimidated, but my horse got head and head with him again…. At the sixteenth pole [Haddock] hit [his mount] left-handed and he touched [Mind Control], kind of got him off balance. That really got my horse intimidated and off balance and I couldn't get back on it.”

Regardless of the stewards' reasoning for the DQ, it's difficult not to view the takedown through the eyes of the demoted connections.

Far Mo Power's owner, Joseph Sutton, has only started 18 horses lifetime with a two-horse stable, according to Equibase. Trainer Louis Linder Jr., has been conditioning for a decade, and has never won a stakes at the graded level. Haddock, riding since 2017, has a lone Grade III victory atop his riding resume, earned only last month. A win in a $200,000 race over their home track would have been a big deal for everyone involved, yet Far Mo Power's people were diplomatic in the aftermath of the outcome.

“That's horse racing,” said Linder. “It hurts, but we'll live to fight another day. From the minute this horse has been in the barn I knew he was special.”

Added Haddock: “My horse tried hard. I am sad. I get on him in the morning every day. I am sad for me. I am sad for the trainer.”

As for Mind Control, his win-via-DQ earned a 100 Beyer Speed Figure. After running the vast majority of his races around one turn, he has now earned his only three triple-digit Beyers in his only three two-turn races at a flat mile.

Perhaps those figures will stand him in good stead in the November renewal of the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland. A fever knocked Mind Control out of last year's Dirt Mile at Del Mar.

Midwest musings

It's a little early to get the crystal ball fired up to see what changes might affect regional racing calendars in 2023, but three separate news items from last week hinted at some subtle shifting in the Midwest.

The pending $79-million sale of Ellis Park to the gaming company Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), was greenlighted by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission Sept. 20. Although Ellis is scheduled to race essentially the same block of 24 dates next year over the same summer template, CDI will naturally want to put its own stamp on operations there. Considering the deal was in large part billed as a way to shore up year-round racing in Kentucky, you can bet that the new management will be making a sizable push to recruit and retain outfits that might have traditionally raced elsewhere.

Meanwhile, on Sept. 22, Hawthorne Race Course was granted a slate of '23 dates by the Illinois Racing Board that will return a summer Thoroughbred season to greater Chicago after a one-year absence in the aftermath of the sudden and permanent closure of Arlington International Racecourse. Hawthorne will race Saturdays and Sundays Mar. 4-June 3, then add Wednesdays through Sept. 4.

That schedule could put a downstate squeeze on the former Fairmount Park, which is now known as FanDuel Sportsbook and Horse Racing. Those two Illinois tracks have some overlap at the lower end of the class hierarchy, and with FanDuel's Tuesdays/Saturdays schedule from Apr. 18-Nov. 18, there will be conflicting summer Saturdays within the state.

Another wild card in the Midwest mix is Canterbury Park up in Minnesota. Despite ending its 64-date season Sept. 17 with a reported record total handle rise to $97.6 million, Canterbury faces an uncertain future because a 10-year agreement between the track and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (that provides purse funding in exchange for the track and horsemen not pursuing additional forms of gambling) is set to expire Dec. 31.

Andrew Offerman, Canterbury's senior vice president of racing, told the Minneapolis Star Tribune the day after the meet ended that the '23 schedule will depend on how much purse money is available. The Tribune reported that Canterbury paid $15.7 million in purses this season, with $7.28 million coming from the purse-enhancement agreement.

Less purse money likely would mean fewer racing days next summer, Offerman told the Tribune, adding that Canterbury might consider running three days per week instead of four.

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KHRC Greenlights $79M Ellis Sale to CDI

The pending sale of Ellis Park to the gaming company Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), cleared a necessary regulatory hurdle Tuesday when the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) swiftly approved the transaction by a unanimous voice vote.

The KHRC members in attendance at the “special” meeting greenlighted the $79-million transaction in just 6 ½ minutes after a perfunctory read-through of the basic terms of the deal and a statement that the commission expects CDI to follow through with development projects that had been agreed to by the outgoing owner, which is the business entity for the Pueblo of Laguna tribe in New Mexico.

There was zero debate prior to the approval and not a single member of the KHRC posed any questions to CDI executives.

The transaction, which hinged on the KHRC's approval, is expected to close in the near future.

The intended sale was first publicly announced last Thursday, Sept. 15.

Within Kentucky, CDI already owns Churchill Downs Racetrack and Turfway Park.

Using the current schedule of Kentucky racing as a template, when the deal is finally inked, it will give CDI control of the vast majority of dates on the state's annual calendar. The Keeneland Race Course meets in April and October and the Kentucky Downs boutique meet in early September will be the only exceptions.

The only pre-vote comment at the Sept. 20 meeting was made by KHRC commissioner C. Frank Shoop, who said, “It is not only a great move for Churchill Downs, it's a tremendous economic enhancement for the state of Kentucky, and it's also great for Kentucky horsemen. It's a win-win for everybody.”

After the no-opposition vote, chairman Jonathan Rabinowitz said, “Thank you to Churchill Downs for its commitment to our year-round circuit, and for everything they do for the commonwealth. It's really exciting for Ellis.”

The transaction will be CDI's second attempt at owning Ellis, which it bought in 1998 but offloaded eight years later, describing it as an “underperforming asset” in Securities and Exchange Commission filings.

Ellis Park opened as Dade Park in 1922, and it's currently the state's only Thoroughbred venue in the western part of the state. From a demographics perspective, its unique geographic location in a little slice of Kentucky on the northern bank of the Ohio River that is contiguous with Indiana makes it more of an extension of the roughly 450,000-person Evansville, Indiana, metro market.

For much of the 20th Century, Ellis-with its folksy nickname “the pea patch”-was a summer staple of the Kentucky circuit that catered primarily to lower-level racing.

But the advent of historical horse race (HHR) gaming over the past decade has boosted its stature as a business opportunity, and in recent years other tracks in the state have come together to share gaming revenues from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund with Ellis an effort to shore up year-round racing statewide.

When CDI bought Ellis in 1998, it became only the fifth owner in track's history. Once this latest CDI re-buy closes, it will mark the fourth different owner for Ellis in the past 16 years.

CDI paid $22 million in cash, plus stock, to acquire Ellis from Racing Corporation of America back in 1998. That deal also included what was then known as the Kentucky Horse Center, a training facility in Lexington that in 2000 was bought by Keeneland for $5 million.

In September 2006, CDI sold Ellis to Louisville businessman Ron Geary for undisclosed terms.

Two years later, Louisville Business First reported that “Ellis Park has been in the red for eight consecutive years, including all seven it was owned by Churchill Downs.” The publication also quoted Geary as saying that CDI lost $17 million during its time running the track, and that Geary himself lost $2.7 million in his first full year at the helm.

Geary persisted, eventually teaming with the Saratoga Casino and Hospitality Group (SCHG) by selling that entity a 30% stake in Ellis for $4 million. Geary then invested that money into bankrolling the launch of HHR at Ellis.

In 2018, Geary sold his remaining 70% stake in Ellis to SCHG for undisclosed terms.

One year later, Ellis was flipped again, this time for $11 million to Ellis Entertainment, LLC, a subsidiary of Laguna Development Corporation in New Mexico. The Pueblo of Laguna Tribe later held Ellis under a different gaming subsidiary, Enchantment Holdings, Inc.

Waqas Ahmed, the KHRC's director of pari-mutuel wagering and compliance, read into the record details of the pending transaction at Tuesday's meeting, noting that beyond the $79 million purchase price, CDI plans to “further invest $75 million” to develop Ellis and its off-site HHR facility in Owensboro, although specifics on exactly how that money would be spent were scant.

“Due to the preliminary nature of the project CDI was not able to provide further details, but I would like to note that upon review of the purchase agreement, Ellis Park will maintain responsibility for the capital improvements promised to the KHRC earlier this year,” Ahmed said.

The installation of lights for twilight or night racing and the expansion of the turf course were big-ticket items that the outgoing Ellis management had previously told the KHRC were in the pipeline for improvements.

Ahmed said CDI is expected to make “substantial changes” operationally, but that the gaming corporation intended to honor the 2023 race dates request for 24 programs (up one date from 2022) that Ellis had already submitted to the KHRC for next year.

Earlier this month, CDI unveiled its completely rebuilt Turfway Park, which in recent years has hosted Kentucky's December-through-March portion of the circuit. That massive project has been viewed positively in Kentucky as a way to bolster winter racing in the state.

But although CDI appears to currently enjoy a benevolent reputation among regulators in Kentucky, its history of acquiring then shutting down other racetracks has been a major cause for concern for the sport in general over the last two decades.

Under CDI's stewardship this century, the gaming corporation closed Hollywood Park and Calder Race Course, and it is in the process of finalizing the sale of Arlington International Racecourse so the property can be potentially used for a new football stadium. All three closures have strained or wreaked havoc upon their respective circuits in California, Florida, and Illinois.

In particular, the shutdown of Arlington last year capped a decade-long series of acrimonious relations with horsemen, who are still reeling from CDI's decision to sell off one of America's most historic and aesthetically beautiful racing venues, even while the corporation continues to pursue other gaming interests in the very same Chicago market.

Earlier this spring, CDI entered a $2.4 billion agreement to buy Colonial Downs and its network of HHR gaming facilities in Virginia.

In July, before that deal was even formally finalized, CDI's chief executive officer, Bill Carstanjen, said during an earnings conference call that the corporation planned to nearly double Colonial's race dates over the next few years, from 27 to 50, to comply with a Virginia law that ties HHR expansion to live racing dates.

In response to Carstanjen's comments, Frank Petramalo Jr., the executive director of the Virginia Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, told TDN back in July that such a drastic expansion might be detrimental to the overall circuit and the spirit of cooperation that exists in the mid-Atlantic region, given the “diminishing number of horses” and a horsemen's desire for the Virginia track not to be “running over other race meets.”

In addition to the aforementioned three Kentucky tracks and Colonial Downs, CDI also has two other Thoroughbred tracks in its portfolio-Fair Grounds in New Orleans and Presque Isle Downs in Pennsylvania.

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CDI Signs Agreement to Buy Ellis Park

Churchill Downs Incorporated announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Ellis Park Racing & Gaming in Henderson, Kentucky, from Enchantment Holdings, LLC, an affiliate of Laguna Development Corporation, for total consideration of $79 million in cash, subject to certain working capital and other purchase price adjustments. CDI will also assume Ellis Park's opportunity to construct a track extension facility in Owensboro, Kentucky.

“This is an exciting announcement for the horse racing industry, the cities of Henderson and Owensboro, and the entire Commonwealth of Kentucky,” said Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear. “Churchill Downs has proven it has the experience, resources, and desire to reinvigorate Ellis Park into a premier racing destination and provide unmatched gaming entertainment.”

Ellis Park, located north of the Ohio River and just south of Evansville, Indiana, also features a gaming facility venue with approximately 300 historical racing machines.

“We are very enthused to welcome Ellis Park to the Churchill Downs racing family,” said Bill Carstanjen, Chief Executive Officer of CDI. “Our team is committed to building a summer meet at the 'Pea Patch' that keeps more Kentucky-bred horses and Kentucky-based trainers' in their home state while attracting top horse racing talent from across the country to the Bluegrass State each July and August.”

The closing of the transaction is contingent upon approval by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission. If change of control is approved, the parties expect to close the transaction shortly thereafter.

CDI has commenced planning to make both critical investments in the Ellis Park racing infrastructure and to construct Owensboro Racing & Gaming, a track extension and entertainment venue at Owensboro's Towne Square Mall that will feature 600 HRMs, a simulcast wagering center, and multiple food and beverage offerings. Over the next year, CDI expects its total investment in Henderson and Daviess Counties to be approximately $75 million in addition to the purchase price.

“The opportunity to bring Churchill Downs to Owensboro is particularly significant to us,” said Jason Sauer, Senior Vice President of Corporate Development for CDI, “We are eager to start the work to elevate Ellis Park's reputation as a summer destination for Thoroughbred racing while delivering a premier gaming and entertainment experience to Daviess County. We look forward to sharing more exciting details about our plans in the coming days.”

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