Ellis Park after dark? New owners consider installing lights

Larry Jones has sweated through his share of muggy summer afternoons at Ellis Park, leaving the veteran trainer intrigued by the prospect of the Henderson, Ky., track installing lights under its new ownership.

“If there’s ever a track that needs nighttime racing, in the heat of the summer here, this is the spot,” Jones said Wednesday at a media day previewing Ellis Park’s upcoming meet.

Ellis Entertainment, LLC, a subsidiary of Laguna Development Corporation based in Albuquerque, N.M., confirmed this week that it purchased Ellis Park Racetrack for $11 million. 

Current owners Saratoga Casino and Hospitality Group of Saratoga Springs, N.Y., will continue to operate the racetrack and will serve as managers and operators during the 2019 racing season.

A news release announcing the sale touted a $55 million investment into Ellis Park from its new ownership. Skip Sayre, chief of sales and marketing for LDC, told Horse Racing Nation that track lights are “certainly something we are taking a serious look at.”

“Within our capital expansion and improvement plans there are lights,” Sayre said. “It’s a discretionary expense. We would need to decide on the timing if in fact we were going to do it. 

“All I can say at this point is it’s been part of our conversations with the folks at Ellis Park as well as with our group that it’s something we should seriously consider, so that’s what we’re doing.”

Ellis Park’s 2019 meet runs June 30-Sept. 2. First post times for its racing dates are either 12:50 p.m. or 2:50 p.m. CDT, meaning races are run at the track exclusively on summer afternoons.

Racing at night would allow fans, horsemen and, of course, the equine athletes themselves to avoid the worst of the summer heat.

“It’ll be a lot better for the horses because they’ll start to get racing in a little cooler part of the day,” said Jones, a Hopkinsville, Ky., native who began his training career at Ellis Park in 1982.

Nighttime racing would also put Ellis Park in a less-crowded simulcasting window than its current afternoon slot. The track could alternate post times with Del Mar, potentially upping visibility of its signal.

And primetime racing could help boost Ellis Park’s attendance. 

Jones said later post times would make it easier for people who don’t get off work until 4 or 5 p.m. to attend races.  The trainer also said he’s seen nighttime racing at other tracks attract younger crowds, especially when live music or other activities are incorporated.

“It brings in a fan that all of a sudden, maybe they didn’t think they were a great horse racing fan, they come out maybe for something else,” Jones said. “Then all of a sudden, they start getting that itch. They start getting it. They start learning a little more about it. And it grows. 

“I don’t know what it is about horse racing, when it’s in your blood, it doesn’t come out. It’s just there and it keeps circling.”

Chester Thomas owns horses that run at Ellis Park with his Allied Racing Stable LLC group. He was at Churchill Downs on Saturday for its “Downs After Dark” racing card and watched his colt Mr. Money win the Matt Winn Stakes (G3).

Thomas recalled the atmosphere Saturday under the Twin Spires and said lights could create similar evenings at Ellis Park.

“It would be fun,” the Madisonville, Ky., native Thomas said. “We had fun at the Matt Winn with night racing. Obviously when your horse wins, it helps a little bit. 

“But still, we were going to have fun anyway. And being able to come up here and do it here is even better because it’s closer to home.”

Horse Racing Nation editor Jonathan Lintner contributed to this report.