The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to approve a July 2 start to the Ellis Park racing season. The meet had originally been scheduled to begin June 28 and Tuesday's vote also approved the extension of the Churchill Downs meeting by one day to now end on the 28th.
Ellis Park general manager Jeff Inman said the track had requested the delay to have more time to institute all the safety protocols involved with staging horse racing in the COVID-19 era. Ellis Park is making up for not running June 28 by adding July 2, a date it originally had not planned to run.
“It's win-win for everybody, including the state and Kentucky horsemen picking up an additional day of racing,” Inman said.
Ellis Park will now run July 2-5, then be dark the following week to allow Keeneland to run July 8-12. Ellis then resumes its Friday-Sunday schedule on July 17, running through Aug. 30.
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