Revolutionary Racing makes pitch to commission

Jun. 23—Leadership with Revolutionary Racing Kentucky laid out more concrete plans Tuesday for the proposed quarter horse race track near Camp Landing.

Meeting in Lexington, Revolutionary Racing President Prentice Salter told the commission that the track is projected to bring an annual handle — meaning the total of all bets placed at the establishment — of $500 million, with a net revenue of $40 million, although the officials declined to publicly state what the profit would be on the facility.

The track would bring in $1 million in taxes, Salter said.

"This will be a world-class facility in an area that has been underserved by the horse racing industry," Salter said.

In many respects, northeastern Kentucky is the last frontier for horse racing in the commonwealth — Whitley County, which has seen a battle for a track for 15 years — saw ground break on its track back in late January, bringing racing to southeastern Kentucky once again, after the closure of the Thunder Ridge harness track in Prestonsburg back in 2017.

"This is an untapped market and it would not compete with other tracks in the state," said Larry Lucas, chairman of Revolutionary Racing.

Salter told the commission the location of the track places it in an area with 350,000 in the Tri-State and a 1.9 million adults from a two-hour radius.

Much Tuesday's discussion revolved around live racing — renderings of the track show the facility being placed up on the hill behind Camp Landing, with the betting parlors for Historic Horse Racing Machines on at the former Sears Building.

Todd Gralla, a horse track designer, said the track would be based on the design of Los Alamitos Race Course out in California, known for running quarter horses and thoroughbreds.

The track would be built according to the specifications required for quarter horse racing, which is akin to drag racing. The track will be 2,300 feet long, with a 2,500 "cool down" loop for the horses to slow down after they've run their distance.

While in Thoroughbred racing more attention is paid to the inside, where jockeys pass one another, quarter horse race tracks require the 100-foot-wide track to be even and level to make it fair.

In Phase 1 the track, the facility would include 88 stalls, a picnic area, a laboratory to test the horses, an isolation barn for sickly steeds. Phase 2 would see a horse arena for shows.

HHRs the Big Money

Since 2011, when historic horse racing machines were legalized in the commonwealth, the machines have steadily outweighed bets on live ponies. In 2021, the annual handle statewide was $4.6 billion, with $331 million in commissions for the tracks.

That same year, Thoroughbred Racing — the true bread and butter of Kentucky horse racing — saw handles of about $1.3 billion statewide, out of 240 races run.

Back in 2008, a special report penned for Gov. Steve Beshear stated some type of gaming needed to legalized at tracks in order to help staunch the bleed on the horse racing industry, which was seeing less horses come to race in Kentucky due to higher purses offered at tracks with slot machines and table games.

Historic horse racing machines look to the common observer like machines and can be played like a slot machine by pressing a button and allowing the machine to take a bet.

Unlike slot machines, historic horse racing machines are not run on algorithms. They are instead run based on the results of past run races. When one wagers on an HHR, they are placing their money into a betting pool with other players of the machines, just like a horse race.

If player chooses to, a player can look up the odds on the race to make a more educated guess on what to bet.

Lucas confirmed that the 200 full-time jobs will be supported from 400 projected HHRs to be set up in the old Sears building.

Reviving racing and region

However, much of Tuesday's discussion revolved around the live racing — renderings of the track show the facility being placed on the hill behind the mall.

The track would be built according to the specifications required for quarter horse racing, which is akin to drag racing.

Quarter horse racing has been a bit of a struggle to establish in Kentucky, according to Dr. Richard Connelley, the president of the Kentucky Quarter Horse Racing Association.

With 30,000 quarter horses owned by 10,000 people in 119 out of 120 counties in the commonwealth, Connelley said if the track is built, racers will come.

"I'm from eastern Kentucky and this a dream come true," Connelley said. "I think quarter horses and thoroughbreds can work in symbiosis with one another. We need to present a united front for racing."

Some of the advantages of quarter horses are less catastrophic injuries compared to other racing horses and they are easier to re-home when past their racing prime, becoming pleasure horses or barrel horses, Connelley said.

While quarter horse racing is certainly much more popular out west, Connelley said exhibitions at trotter tracks around the state drew bigger crowds.

"I think they felt threatened by us and that's why they wouldn't let us race on those tracks anymore," he said.

One commissioner questioned Connelley on that, stating he found it unbelievable that the tracks would turn away bigger crowds from a business sense. Revolutionary Racing Chair Larry Lucas stepped in, stating that the main issue with the exhibition races was the purses weren't big enough.

Once up and running, Revolutionary Racing officials projected $500,000 in daily purses, well above what is offered in Indiana, home to the closest dedicated quarter horse track to Kentucky. With six to 12 races on the card a daily card, that's a pretty penny for the winning horse.

Boyd County Judge-Executive Eric Chaney and Ashland Mayor Matt Perkins also attended the meeting, beseeching the commission to consider the economic implications for northeastern Kentucky.

"I can tell you about the years of the good ol' days, when AK Steel and Ashland Oil was employing thousands of people in our region," Chaney said. "But that isn't the case anymore. If we can grasp this, this could lead to more growth in our region."

Continued Chaney: "There's lots of potential for the area and it could not only tap the potential for eastern Kentucky, but for the entire tri-state region."