Report: Arizona Downs aims to hold meet late this year

Arizona Downs announced plans for a possible race meet in late 2023 at Thursday's meeting of the Arizona Racing Commission, according to a news report.

Word of the potential new lifeline for Thoroughbred racing in the state came a week and a half after Turf Paradise's announcement that it would not conduct its usual fall meet in November pending a possible sale of the property.

Arizona Downs co-owner Tom Auther said Thursday that the track applied for dates in November and December, according to a report by Byron King of BloodHorse.

Auther told the publication that he could not guarantee that a fall meet would be held at Arizona Downs, about 80 miles north of Phoenix in Presscott Valley. But he said that the track hoped to arrange financing and present plans for a fall meet at the Sept. 14 meeting of the Arizona Racing Commission, it said.

Arizona Downs, the former Yavapai Downs under changed ownership, ran summer meets in 2019, 2021 and 2022, beginning in May or June and running into September. However, the track is not hosting a summer 2023 meet due to financial difficulties.

Turf Paradise owner Jerry Simms stated to the commission that he would not open the Phoenix track due to a desire for "continuity" in light of a possible sale of the property to CT Realty, BloodHorse reported. However, Simms also told the commission that the chances for a sale are only 50-50, according to CT Realty executive James Watson.

Though the sale of Turf Paradise is scheduled to close Dec. 17, Simms said that Watson will notify him by Sept. 15 of whether CT Realty plans to proceed with the sale. Simms also said that there were other possible buyers if the sale falls through, mentioning Louisiana Downs owner Kevin Preston as one possibility, according to BloodHorse.