by Joe Nevills

Thoroughbred racing returns to the Detroit area on Friday for the first time in nearly a decade when the gates open for the inaugural card at Pinnacle Race Course.

The Huron Township, Michigan, racetrack, developed by banker and Thoroughbred owner Jerry Campbell, is based near the Detroit Metro Airport, marking the return of Thoroughbred racing to the area after the closing of Detroit Race Course in 1998.

“I think there’s a keen interest in racing in Michigan and getting back in the large Detroit area,” Campbell said. “It’s important to be back in a major metropolitan area.”

Because of schedule restraints and the necessity for racing to continue in Michigan following the closure of Great Lakes Downs in Muskegon last November, the track will open while still under construction.

On opening day, Pinnacle will feature racing on a one-mile dirt track. Theater-style temporary seating, similar to what was in place at last year’s Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Monmouth Park, will be used while the permanent 4,000-seat grandstand is built.

“It’s pretty much just a showcase that racing is back in the Detroit area,” Pinnacle General Manager Allan Plever said. “I think the fans that are genuinely interested in horse racing will stick by us until we can get this job completed.”

Following the second phase of construction, expected to be completed by the 2010 meeting, Pinnacle will feature a three-story clubhouse with nine restaurants. Future plans also include the addition of a seven-furlong turf course.

“We’re definitely going to have signs and pictures of Phase Two and what’s to come,” Campbell said. “But I anticipate people are going to understand it’s not all done.”

“It’s pretty remarkable in a sense that on August 31st of last year, this was just a thought in Jerry’s mind and here it is less than 11 months later, it’s become a reality,” Plever said. “If anyone would have said in September 2007 that you would be racing in July 2008 in Detroit, you would have had their head examined.”

Pinnacle will conduct 63 race days during its inaugural meeting with post times at 2:30 p.m. EDT on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays and 4 p.m. on Sundays. In September, the track will cease its Sunday races, running instead on Mondays with a 2:30 p.m. post time.

Joe Nevills is a Thoroughbred Times editorial intern