Oregon

Grants Pass Downs will not hold a 2022 meeting due to lack of horses. The meet was initially announced in February. "As a result of the Oregon Racing Commission's vote to deny an operating license to The Flying Lark, Grants Pass Downs has lost its economic engine," said Travis Boersma, owner of Grants Pass Downs. "While we remained hopeful we would be able to host a viable race meet, the uncertainty here and across the industry has resulted in a drastic reduction of race horses at Grants Pass Downs. At...

A new online gaming experience powered by historical horse racing has launched in Oregon through luckii.com. Wagers can be as low as 20 cents a spin. The results are determined by a database of actual horse races previously run at hundreds of tracks around the country. Luckii is licensed by the Oregon Racing Commission as an Advanced Deposit Wagering platform. A portion of proceeds from all Luckii games are provided to the Oregon horse racing industry, delivering much-needed revenues to support local jobs and communities in Oregon. Luckii's slot-style games...

Regulators and stakeholders in Oregon are making tentative plans for the state's four-track fairs circuit to be back in action in this summer after getting cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. But Oregon Racing Commission (ORC) executive director Jack McGrail said during a Feb. 18 meeting he expects those venues will need to be supported by some forms of outside funding in order to conduct mixed Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse meets in 2021. "I'm happy to report that the larger takeaway is that the fairs really do want...

The Flying Lark, a gaming, entertainment and dining venue is coming to Grants Pass Downs in fall 2021, the track announced Tuesday. Founded by entrepreneur and Grants Pass native Travis Boersma as part of a larger effort to revitalize the horse racing industry in Oregon, The Flying Lark will be located next to Grants Pass Downs at the southwest corner of the Josephine County Fairgrounds. The Flying Lark will boast a full-service family restaurant, a grab-and-go restaurant, a sports bar, a gaming bar, a state-of-the-art gaming floor, banquet facilities and...

Grants Pass Downs, which took over as the main stop on the Oregon circuit last season after the closure of Portland Meadows, has been awarded a $165,200 safety grant from the Oregon Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association in advance of the track's newly rescheduled opening date of June 20. The funds will be used to install new chain-link fencing, break-away foam distance markers, sand for racing surfaces, and a telescopic boom for safety mitigation along the homestretch straightaway chute. The immediate availability of funds will allow for completion of those...