Officials from Keeneland and Kentucky Downs broke ground Monday on Cumberland Run harness track in Corbin, Ky. and Cumberland Mint, a satellite historical horse racing venue in Williamsburg, Ky. The project is a joint venture between Ron Winchell and Marc Falcone's ECL Racing Management and Keeneland Association. Winchell and Falcone are the majority owners and managing partners in Kentucky Downs and The Mint Gaming Hall in Franklin in south-central Kentucky between Bowling Green and Nashville.
Projections call for construction to be done in time for Cumberland Run to conduct its Oct. 16-Nov. 8 meet on the Corbin property at 75 Buchanan Blvd. off the Corbin Bypass. Combined investment in both enterprises will be about $80 million with more than 200 year-round jobs expected to be created.
“Cumberland Run and Cumberland Mint represent an $80-million investment in Kentucky's tourism and horse racing industries and serve as another example of how the economic momentum that we are experiencing is reaching every community in the Commonwealth,” said Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear. “These exciting new attractions will create good paying jobs for Kentuckians and attract new travel markets to Southeastern Kentucky.”
Cumberland Run will be the first horse track in Eastern Kentucky since Thunder Ridge, also a harness track, in Prestonsburg closed in 2017. It will feature a five-eighths mile limestone track, 150 historical horse racing terminals and a restaurant upon its completion, which is targeted for January 2023. Construction already has begun on the Williamsburg project, set to open in July with 450 HHR machines.
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