by Frank Angst

Noting they had little choice, a Kentucky Horse Racing Commission committee will recommend further cuts to the state’s racing schedule in 2010.

Representatives from the state’s five Thoroughbred tracks met with the commission’s Racing Dates Committee on Monday at the commission’s offices at the Kentucky Horse Park. Date requests were down 24.5% compared with last year’s requests, thanks largely to a 33-day reduction by Turfway Park in Northern Kentucky.

Turfway reduced its date requests from 114 for 2009 to 81 for '10. The track will cut most of the dates in January and February by shifting to a three-day racing week, Friday through Sunday. Turfway plans to race four days a week in March.

Churchill Downs reduced its requests from 73 dates for 2009 to 62 for '10. This year the Louisville track received permission to reduce those 73 dates to 66 when it was hampered by short fields. In terms of actual dates raced in 2009, Churchill will lose four dates in ‘10.

Churchill Downs racetrack President Kevin Flannery said the track will not race on Wednesdays during its spring/summer meeting and will eliminate the Tuesday card from Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) week. Also, the track will eliminate a single Tuesday card from its fall schedule, often contested on Election Day.

Ellis Park’s dates request was down from 48 last year to 27 for 2010. Those 27 dates actually are good news as owner Ron Geary had considered closing the Henderson track. While Ellis applied for 48 dates in ‘09, it later received permission to reduce its schedule to 23 dates. The 27 dates actually represents an increase compared with the actual 2009 schedule.

In terms of racing date requests for 2010 compared with this year’s actual dates, racing dates will be down at least 13.8%. Tracks could request further reductions during the year but Kentucky statutes make increasing racing dates difficult.

Keeneland Race Course again applied for 32 racing dates and Kentucky Downs plans to race four dates, matching its actual 2009 total although last year the Franklin track applied for six ’09 dates.

“I think we have to approve this,” said committee member Betsy Lavin. “What else are we going to do?”

Committee member Foster Northrop also expressed regret before ultimately approving the dates.

“I feel like I’m presiding over the beginning of the end of racing in Kentucky,” Northrop said.

Kentucky racing dates must be approved by November 1. The committee will recommend the dates to the full commission on Tuesday.

Turfway Park President Bob Elliston said the Florence track considered completely eliminating racing in January and/or February but ultimately decided to try a three-day race week in those months, following the lead of Ellis which took that approach this year after it cut dates.

“It’s very hard for horsemen to maintain a stable without an opportunity to race for purses,” Elliston said, noting that Turfway’s Polytrack surface and indoor grandstand make it the best option for Kentucky winter racing. “We thought if we dropped racing all together, we might lose a significant part of our horse population.”

Elliston said with the reduced dates, Turfway expects to increase average daily purses by 20% to 25% in those months, making it comparable to West Virginia’s average daily purses. He said with the reduced dates, if fields are filling up, the track will be more forgiving of locally based horsemen who choose to ship horses out for a start.

“You can’t fault somebody for having good business sense and following the money,” Elliston said.

This year the Kentucky House of Representatives passed a bill to allow video lottery terminals at state racetracks, but the bill failed to pass out of a Republican-led Senate committee. With purses and breeding programs in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia supplemented by added gambling revenue, Kentucky tracks have had problems attracting horses.

Flannery noted Churchill was seeing too many five- and six-horse fields during races last year, which prompted its move to cut Wednesday racing during the meet. He said the track considered about ten different options for this year—including reducing the number of races while maintaining dates and reducing average daily purses—before deciding to cut its Wednesday racing dates.

Flannery said the plan will allow the track to offer purses competitive with regional tracks to attract good horses and maintain field sizes. Field size is a key factor in generating betting handle, which fuels track revenues and purses.

Several of the track representatives said cutting races from cards while maintaining dates is not as cost-effective because of increased facility costs in opening extra days.

Ellis Park Owner Ron Geary said the three-day racing weeks were surprisingly effective last year. He said the track plans to compete with Indiana by offering Sunday racing—which is not offered by Indiana Downs; and plenty of turf racing, which is not available at Hoosier Park.

If approved, Turfway will race from January 1 through March 28 (43 days); from September 8 through October 3 (20 days); and from December 2-31 (38 days). Keeneland will race from April 2-23 and from October 8-30, a total of 32 days at its two meets.

Churchill would race from April 24 through July 4 (42 days) and from October 31-November 27 (20 days). Ellis would race from July 10 through September 6 (27 days) and Kentucky Downs would race from September 11-20. The committee will recommend a built-in makeup rain date for Kentucky Downs, which only offers turf racing, of September 27.

Frank Angst is senior writer for Thoroughbred Times