By T. D. Thornton
Two weeks away from opening its stables, and with work crews on target to complete facility upgrades at Oregon's only commercial track, Grants Pass Downs has 472 applications for 450 stalls, which racing director and chief operating officer Rod Lowe termed “a good problem to have” at the Mar. 18 Oregon Racing Commission (ORC) meeting.
But the balance of Oregon's mixed-meet summer circuit, which includes four county fair bullrings, remains in flux, with only two of those tracks committing to run this year. The other two are still trying to overcome pandemic-related logistics that might keep them from racing in 2021.
One month previously, at the Feb. 18 ORC meeting, stakeholders and regulators had articulated “cautious optimism” that all five Oregon tracks would run this year.
The Eastern Oregon Livestock Show meet in Union traditionally kicks off the summer fairs circuit in June. Crooked River Roundup in Prineville, which races at night and generally attracts the largest handles and average attendances on the fairs circuit, races in July. Tillamook County Fair in Tillamook (August) and Harney County Fair in Burns (September) usually round out the circuit.
Grants Pass Downs in the rural southern tier of the state, which transitioned from a fairs track to being the lone commercial licensee in Oregon in 2020 after the closure of Portland Meadows in the more densely populated north, now races 35 days over two staggered meets, May through July and September through November.
“We're hopeful that both Tillamook and Crooked River are going to run successful four-day meets,” ORC executive director Jack McGrail said during Thursday's meeting.
“Eastern Oregon is still on the fence,” McGrail said. “I know [track management] wants to run. They are having some difficult discussions with [the fair's] board right now. One of the challenges is horse population, because [Sun Downs in Kennewick, Washington] is not going to run. They've officially cancelled. And traditionally, a lot of horsemen go from Kennewick right down to [Eastern Oregon].
“Harney County is also in that state where we haven't really decided whether they're going to go or not,” McGrail continued. “They're trying to move two dates in July, which would be a new thing. It would not be in conjunction with their fair, and that's always a difficult place to get horsemen to go to anyway.”
Although Grants Pass has a dates allotment that does not conflict with the fairs, McGrail said there could be a brief timing crunch in July. Grants Pass is scheduled to race July 12 and 13, he explained, with racing at Crooked River to follow over the next four days.
“There are ways we can work around that,” McGrail said, noting that condition books can be written so that races for the same classes of horses don't overlap. “It's not ideal, but I don't think it's going to have a terrifically negative impact on horse population at Crooked River.”
And, McGrail noted, if Eastern Oregon opts not to race in June, Grants Pass can keep racing during that week instead of going dark as scheduled. In exchange, Grants Pass would give up its mid-July dates so there isn't such a tight time gap between the end of its meet and Crooked River's.
“We're trying to coordinate traditional fair race dates with the Grants Pass Downs dates,” McGrail said. Looking ahead, he added, “That will be an ongoing discussion for next year, because those [traditional] dates are somewhat inflexible for both Crooked River and for Eastern Oregon.”
Lowe said Grants Pass opens for stabling Apr. 2 and for training Apr. 5. Not only are stalls in demand, but so is living space at the adjacent recreational vehicle park, which currently has 39 applications for 32 spots.
Lowe said he is encouraging trainers not to ship in with 2-year-old Thoroughbreds to help ease the stall crunch a bit. Races won't be written for that group of horses until autumn, he added.
“We've tried it in the past. We've never been able to fill those kinds of races. Those are usually a better race in the fall,” Lowe said.
The track's chute extension so it can accommodate 440-yard and six-furlong starts is currently at the “rough grading” stage and is expected to be usable by opening day on May 10.
New lights at the finish wire are ready to be installed, Lowe said.
Grants Pass president Randy Evers told the commission that its statewide OTB network is currently operating at a pandemic-restricted 25% capacity at nine locations. He said February's handle of “a little bit under $1 million” was “a little disappointing” but that the projection for March was “looking better” at between $1.4 and $1.5 million.
April should bring increased capacities and the opening of all 11 OTB venues, and Evers said that Grants Pass is “still very interested” in expanding the OTB network to underserved areas the northeastern part of state and west of Portland. Partnerships to bring OTB to tribal casinos are also being considered.
“We're moving in the right direction. Just hopefully we can really take off and get that handle up,” Evers said.
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