Prairie Meadows names new racing secretary, starter

Prairie Meadows hired of two racing officials for the upcoming 2025 racing season. Eric DeCoster is the track's new Thoroughbred racing secretary and Kelly McReynolds has been hired as the starting-gate starter at the Iowa track.

Eric DeCoster is a recent graduate from the University of Arizona race track industry program and animal sciences with a minor in Business administration. He worked in the racing office previously at Prairie Meadows and Oaklawn in 2024, Rillito Park in 2022 and 2023 and interned at the New York Racing Association in 2022.

DeCoster has prior experience and accolades as an advisory group bember of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Administration's next-generation group, acting as sponsorships and exhibitor coordinator during the Global Symposium in 2022-23, attaining valuable horse-sale experience at Wanamaker’s in New York and working with horses hands-on also in New York during the summer of 2021.

Derron Heldt, Prairie Meadows vice president for racing, expects DeCoster will succeed in putting together attractive and lucrative race cards for Thoroughbred owners, trainers and the betting public this Summer.

“Eric really impressed me with his knowledge, abilities to support his decisions, and to get the job done at a high level when he joined our team in the office last season, and with him joining our experienced crew already in place, the sky’s the limit for Eric,” Heldt said.

Kelly McReynolds joins the team at Prairie Meadows with about 40-plus years of experience in horse racing. He learned the role of starting horses from the gate first as an assistant starter in the mid- to late 1980s in California, then moved up the ranks in various roles as a racing official or starter in Idaho, New Mexico and Oklahoma from the mid 1990s until 2022.

McReynolds started several All-American Futurity finals at Ruidoso Downs to solidify his professional experience within the racing industry. Heldt praised McReynolds overall experience and background with both Thoroughbreds and quarter horses, which makes him a great fit for the racing program.

“Kelly brings so much to the table with his experience, dedication and proven ability as a horse race starter in the industry and I feel confident that he will continue to provide a high level of integrity and fairness that we’ve had over the years with Tom Benjamin,” Heldt said.

McReynolds takes over after the retirement of former starter Tom Benjamin whose distinguished career at Prairie Meadows included his induction into the Prairie Meadows Racing Hall of Fame in 2018 and having a tenure with Prairie Meadows from its inception in 1989.

The 2025 live racing season at Prairie Meadows has 80 race days, beginning with 20 days of Thoroughbred-only racing from May 9 to June 14 followed by a mixed Thoroughbred and quarter-horse schedule of 60 race days from June 15 to Sept. 27.