Churchill Downs Inc.

Churchill Downs announced the closure of Turfway Park Wednesday due to the coronavirus pandemic, citing the "Healthy at Home" Executive Order 2020-257 issued by Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear. With the Turfway racing season scheduled to run through Saturday, March 28, the remainder of the meet has been cancelled. Turfway Park's backside will remain open for training because it falls under the "life-sustaining business" category as it provides "food, shelter, and other necessities of life for animals."

Churchill Downs Incorporated plans to invest $5.6 million to replace the existing track at Turfway Park with a new Tapeta synthetic track through an agreement with Tapeta Footings, Inc., CDI announced Tuesday. The removal of Turfway's existing Polytrack and installation of the new Tapeta synthetic track will take place immediately following the close of Turfway's Winter/Spring Meet Mar. 28 and is expected to be ready for the 2020 Holiday Meet beginning Dec. 2. CDI owns and operates three of the four synthetic tracks in the United States and Turfway will...

Purse contract negotiations between the Illinois Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association (ITHA) and Arlington Park remain deadlocked three weeks after missing a state-mandated deadline to have one in place for the 2020 meet. Despite the issue taking center stage with 90 minutes of testy back-and-forth debate at Tuesday's Illinois Racing Board (IRB) meeting, the two sides appear no closer to bridging the gap, which chiefly hinges on a daily average purse figure of $130,000 versus $200,000 for the 68-date, May-through-September meet. IRB chairman Jeffrey Brincat did underscore on Tuesday that the horsemen...