Mystery suitor emerges as possible savior for Turf Paradise

A mystery buyer has stepped forward with a bid to keep horse racing alive at Turf Paradise in Phoenix, according to testimony presented at an Arizona Racing Commission meeting Thursday.

News of the potential buyer, identified as Frank Nickens, came just 10 days after Turf Paradise management announced that the 67-year-old track would close on Oct. 1 after a tentative deal with a California real estate company collapsed. With no live racing planned going forward, the track also would have had to shut down its OTB and simulcasting operations at that point, shutting off an essential channel for purse money for the state's beleaguered racing industry.

But longtime Turf Paradise owner Jerry Simms and J. Lloyd Yother, president of the Arizona chapter of the Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association, both told state racing commissioners on Friday that a new potential buyer had emerged and that the horsemen's organization had approved a waiver allowing the track to continue conducting simulcasting and running its OTB network until Nov. 12.

Both identified the potential buyer as Nickens and indicated he and a partner were behind the new bid.

Simms told commissioners that they had signed a letter of intent to purchase and preserve racing at the 200-acre facility in north Phoenix and that a contract was being delivered to Nickens and his associate, who was not named, on Thursday.

Vincent Francia, general manager of Turf Paradise, stated that Nickens had planned to attend the meeting but was unable to do so. However, he read a statement that he said Nickens had asked him to deliver to the commission.

“We plan to keep live racing and bring this facility into a new era of horse racing for the benefit of everyone involved,” Nickens wrote, according to Francia. “We feel the preservation of such a wonderfully historical facility, and the preservation of the thousands of jobs that horse racing offers, can carry the legacy of Turf Paradise on for the next 50 years.”

A phone call by Horse Racing Nation to Nickens was not immediately returned on Thursday.

Turf Paradise officials foreshadowed Thursday's turnabout in a post on Facebook late Wednesday, that announced the extension of the simulcast and OTB operations and stated that "a new live horseracing meet is scheduled to start in early January," adding that details were still being worked out.

Word of the potential rescue was bad news for Arizona Downs in Prescott, which has been trying to gain access to the simulcasting and  OTB revenue headed to Turf Paradise in an effort to put on a meet late this year.

David Auther, co-owner of the track, urged the commissioners to thoroughly and quickly vet Nickens to ensure that he has the resources to complete a deal and mount a race meet at Turf Paradise.

"There’s an investigation that ought to be conducted. .. You have a job commissioners and I hope you do it,” he said.

Yother said officials with the state HBPA had met with Nickens last week and that he subsequently convened with board members of the organization to outline his vision for the track going forward and to persuade the group to grant the extension to keep simulcasting and the OTB network operating anbd give him time to finalize plans for a race meet beginning in January. The board agreed, and the lengthened lease on life was approved Thursday by the racing commission.

Yother said he and the other state HBPA officials knew very little about Nickens' background, but added that they felt the extension was warranted given the high stakes for the state's racing industry.

"We met on Tuesday for two or three hours and he shared his vision," Yother told HRN in a phone interview. "He talks good and has some good ideas but can he deliver? ... I have no idea."