Turf Paradise limps into meet as insiders wonder what’s next

Before the Suns and the Cardinals and the Coyotes and the Diamondbacks, there came Turf Paradise. The 68-year-old track bills itself as “Arizona’s first sports franchise.”

Now the racecourse that has been around while Arizona State University moved from the Border Conference to the WAC to the Pac-12 may be no better than a flip of a coin to see the Sun Devils into the Big 12 this fall.

“I’m optimistic about the future,” said Vincent Francia, the track’s general manager. He has been owner Jerry Simms’s right-hand man for more than 13 years, his employee for nearly a quarter-century and his friend even longer.

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Simms has been trying to sell the track and the 213 acres of prime Phoenix land that go with it. One deal fell through last summer. So did another in the fall. At least that was when there was word of another suitor.

“A lot of people just don’t think that that buyer was ever for real,” said Leroy Gessmann, a longtime racing professional who seven years ago became the executive director of the Arizona Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association.

On this uncertain foundation that feels like it could crumble at any moment, Turf Paradise limped into its 2023-24 season last Monday. Actually, because of the on-again, off-again sale of the track, it started nearly three months late, so there was no 2023 part to it. The meet that traditionally spans upwards of 130 race dates from November to May instead will run only 57 days this winter and spring.

“It’s scary,” Gessmann said. “We’ve had several people with interests in the market. They’re just not interested in Turf Paradise, and they’re not interested in doing any business with Jerry Simms.”

From paradise to precarious

Turf Paradise has had five owners since businessman and horse owner Walter Cluer bought 1,400 acres of undeveloped land 70 years ago. Even though it was remotely situated 25 miles from downtown Phoenix, the track opened Jan. 7, 1956, and it was an immediate hit.

Phoenix was booming, and Turf Paradise was not in the middle of nowhere for very long.

Construction baron Herb Owens, who died last February, bought the track in 1980, added a namesake turf course, expanded the clubhouse and built suites. The timing seemed good, because racing was going strong.

Bob Walker, who died last summer, made his money in the aerospace industry before he bought Turf Paradise in 1989. He convinced Arizona’s legislature to authorize off-track betting, a lucrative operation that grew to 55 statewide locations. Down to 33 now, Francia said the network is still “the largest in the country.”

Under the direction of R.D. Hubbard, Hollywood Park bought Turf Paradise in 1994. This was in an era when casinos competing for gaming dollars were opened by Native American tribes in Arizona. The dilution of racing handle was just beginning.

Himself a businessman, Simms came along in 2000, bringing with him more than just the $53 million he spent to buy the track property. As racing was about to go into a steep decline, he and his brother Ron Simms were business partners who called each other criminals and dragged one another through expensive, protracted lawsuits.

Through all that drama, Simms has owned Turf Paradise longer than anyone before him. Now, at 77, he said he wants to retire. He had hoped to do so by the end of the meet last spring. Instead, he agreed to see the track through the current season that ends in conjunction with Kentucky Derby day May 4.

“I decided to postpone my retirement because of the many stakeholders here in Arizona that want racing to continue,” Simms said in a Dec. 5 statement.

Not even Simms may know what happens next. Neither do Francia and Gessmann.

“One of two things will occur,” Francia said in a telephone interview Saturday with Horse Racing Nation. “Either a new buyer for the track will surface. There are people talking to Mr. Simms about that now. Or that will not unfold in that way, and we’ll see what decision is to be made if Mr. Simms, come May, if he doesn’t have a buyer. ... If a buyer does not appear and put down the earnest money and go through the regular process of a purchase, then a decision will be made then.”

To race or not to race? From the point of view of rank-and-file horsemen, Gessmann said that uncertainty starts with Simms himself.

“I don’t know his endgame,” he said. “He’s a gentleman that the endgame changes as we go along. It’s hard to say. One day he says he’s never going to sell it unless it’s to another racing entity. The next time you talk to him, he says he’s going to sell it to the highest bidder. I don’t know really what he wants to do.”

Buyer beware and beware again

Former California Horse Racing Board member James Watson looked ready to buy Turf Paradise in April. That was when his CT Realty firm was reported to be finalizing a deal that would have looped in partners who knew their way around the racing business.

Five months later, the deal was dead.

“There are better places to spend our time,” Watson told the Arizona Republic, adding that the project was “becoming too demanding.”

Watson wanted the Arizona legislature and the state’s Native American tribes who wield considerable power in the gaming sphere to approve historic horse-racing machines as a revenue source at off-track-betting shops. He also wanted horsemen to endorse his plans to redevelop the racetrack acreage. He got neither.

A few days later, developers Richard Moore and Frank Nickens were said to be new suitors. They talked up the idea of hotels and restaurants and businesses being built around the racetrack, which itself would get a $50 million facelift.

And then they vanished.

“There is no sale now under contract,” Simms told the Arizona Racing Commission during its Jan. 12 meeting. “There is no deal. The deal that was there before, the people never put up their money, and it just didn’t happen.”

That was as much as he said specifically about that second unrequited sale.

Stephen Nolan, a jockey agent who has been critical of the way Simms has run Turf Paradise, put it bluntly at that same commission meeting.

“We’ve had many people try to buy,” he said. “That track is really not for sale. It’s an illusion that (Simms) is trying to portray. He won. He got his OTBs. He collects that money. He puts nothing back into the industry.”

Off-track betting remains a big source of revenue for Turf Paradise, which is required by law to have a live-racing calendar in order to maintain that network of outlets that is a big part of Simms’s portfolio.

“Running a (shortened) 57-day meet here, he just did it because he was going to have to shut down his OTBs,” Gessmann said.

Financial motives notwithstanding, Francia insisted Simms just wants to make sure the racetrack outlives him and his time owning it.

“Turf Paradise is on 213 acres,” he said. “The racing operation takes up 103. The rest is open land, zoned commercial, so that someone could step in and do both. ... What Mr. Simms would like to do is sell the track to someone who wants to keep the racing product intact and nurture it and grow it, and then whatever they want to do with the rest of the property, that’s their business.”

Gessmann, though, is not convinced the eventual buyer would want to do both.

“The problem with Turf Paradise is it is valuable land,” he said, “and it’s valuable for things other than a racetrack. The racetrack part of it does not generate enough income to offset what it costs to buy the land. That’s the big dilemma.”

‘And they’re racing at Turf Paradise’

With his distinctive English accent, track announcer Craig Braddock uttered those words for the first time this year when the gates flew open last Monday at 12:43 p.m. MST. The $16,500 claiming race had a half-dozen 3-year-olds, non-winners of three, who were running a two-turn mile.

Eight races generated $2,028,112 in all-sources betting handle, according to the Equibase chart that day. Attendance figures were not immediately available, but the Arizona Republic said there were about 10,000 people at the track Wednesday on day 3. That appetite for the live experience at Turf Paradise was surprising even to track management.

“Generally we open on Saturday, like most tracks,” Francia said. “We didn’t anticipate that crowd. However, there’s such a groundswell in Phoenix right now of horseplayers that are just glad the track is back and running, and so we had more people than we anticipated. Food and beverage was a little challenging, but we quickly corrected for the second day.”

All-sources handle averaged $1,802,905 for the three days that figures were available at Equibase, which did not show an off-track total for Wednesday. As incomplete as the data may be, the betting revenue appears to be in line with a recent norm. Five years ago, the last full season before COVID, Turf Paradise’s daily average was $1,775,284.

“The mutuel handle was good, and our out-of-state market that’s into us is excellent,” Francia said. “So far, so good.”

The 57 days this season mean Monday-Thursday racing with the lone exception being closing day on the Saturday of the Kentucky Derby. That is by contrast to last year, when races were run five days a week until they were cut back to four days for the final month.

Counting six stakes, daily purses the first two weeks of the current meet will average $183,937, up 37 percent from the whole of last season.

“The purse money is there to get us through the 57 days,” Francia said. “We’re not concerned about that as long as the handle remains as good as it started out to be. We’re going to be OK.”

The condition of Turf Paradise is another matter. It is showing its age. It got to the point where the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority ordered course and rail repairs that were completed in time to pass a December inspection.

“HISA was very keen on us renovating the main track,” Francia said. “We did that. We just jumped into that as good as any track in the country would do and got everything back and balanced. The HISA people were impressed with what we did.”

Because of the questions about whether there even would be a meet this season, the turf course did not get its annual replanting until October. Brown patches were visible in the homestretch on the live video stream last week. Nevertheless, Francia expected the grass would be ready for training and subsequent racing by the middle of this month.

The remade dirt course, meanwhile, is getting widespread praise.

“The racetrack in the nine years that I’ve been here is in the best condition it’s ever been in,” Gessmann told the racing commission last month. “For the first time in nine years it was done properly. ... That is probably the best racetrack we have ever had.”

The rest of the infrastructure, though, did not get such high marks.

“It was once beautiful. It’s an eyesore to the community,” Nolan told commissioners, later asking, “Have you been by there? Have you even driven by? Did you see the urinals in the bathrooms? It’s not safe.”

In his interview Thursday for HRN’s Ron Flatter Racing Pod, Gessmann did not sound as incredulous as Nolan. But he did not mince words, either.

“Turf Paradise is a run-down racetrack that needs a lot of renovating and upkeep,” he said. “I think there’s a great market in Phoenix, but you have to make a place available that people want to come see and take care of them once they come. Right now the current ownership just isn’t doing those things. We’re just stuck in a bad situation, to be honest with you.”

“I would not describe it as that,” Francia said. “The track is 68 years old, and she needs a manicure. She needs a facelift. That’s what she needs. There’s nothing that needs to be done that cannot be done with some investment. And I don’t mean multi, multimillion dollars’ worth of investment. It has the feel of a track that was built in 1956, but it continues to attract people. It’s safe, but yes, things need to be updated so that they’re current. Worn out and run down? I wouldn’t describe it as that. It needs some TLC.”

Both Francia and Gessmann conceded that the tender, loving care would be left to the next owner of the track, presuming there is someone out there.

An exodus without a destination

If there is a chalky bet worth making at Turf Paradise, it is that Justin Evans will win the training title. With 125 total victories, he won the last two. With seven more during opening week, he vaulted to the early lead in the 2024 standings.

The top jockey is another matter. Harry Hernández won 138 times to make himself the track’s top rider last season. This winter he is at Oaklawn.

Evans and Hernández represent the polar opposites on the backside at Turf Paradise. Where there are men and women who want to spend a comfortably warm winter and spring in Phoenix, there are plenty of others who have moved on looking for a more secure future.

“There’s definitely a lot of horsemen that have left,” said Gessmann, who himself made a permanent move to Arizona in 2017 after 15 years as president of the Iowa HBPA. “Some of the people that race at Canterbury and Prairie Meadows in the summertime chose to go to Tampa and Sam Houston instead of coming back to Turf Paradise. I can think of about 10 or 12 trainers that have left Arizona and sold their homes here and starting going to other tracks.”

The names Jeffrey Metz, Joe Toye, Jorge Rosales, Alfredo Aspirino, Ashley Ann Potts, Scott Rollins and Jack McCartney, each of whom had at least 60 starters last season at Turf Paradise, have been conspicuous by their absence from any race card anywhere since last fall. Matt Williams, who had 66 starts in Arizona last season, is running his stable this winter out of Oaklawn.

California might have provided a closer alternative. But the higher class of competition at Santa Anita and Del Mar put the south end of the state out of Turf Paradise’s league. Northern California is in limbo because of The Stronach Group’s announced closing this spring of Golden Gate Fields and the lack of a firm plan for the state’s fair circuit to fill the void.

Conversely, the shakiness of California racing and the complications that paused Arizona Downs 70 miles north in Prescott Valley could turn Turf Paradise into a last refuge for mid-level racing southwest of the Rockies.

“I think it’s helped spark some interest,” Gessmann said, referring to speculators whom he suggested could “come in and say they can build a whole place for $60 million or $70 million.”

Francia said racetracks can be divided into the A level, like the big ones run by Stronach, Churchill Downs Inc. and the New York Racing Association, and the B level, like Turf Paradise. For those second-level operations, Francia said the loss of competition does not wipe out the challenges that are left for the racecourses still standing.

“You don’t really want to benefit from someone’s misfortune,” Francia said. “But at the same time, something has to be done for the B tracks. Surviving on a racing component alone has proven that that’s going to fall short. Money is lost mainly by track owners, and then it’s difficult to go through another season. Before you even get to opening day, you’re looking at, gee, how much money might we lose this season?”

An important ingredient to the solution, one on which Francia and Gessmann are in complete agreement, is a potential revenue stream that is out of their control.

A license to make money

Like its neighbors who operate tracks in California, Turf Paradise looks longingly to other states whose racing industries have survived and even thrived thanks to the infusion of money from casinos, slot machines and historic horse-racing terminals.

Also like California, there is a political reality that looms for Turf Paradise like the proverbial Sisyphean boulder.

“That particular rock would be a challenge for Sisyphus in this state,” said Francia, who used to be the mayor of Cave Creek, Ariz., a town of 5,000 people about a half-hour’s drive northeast of Turf Paradise. “There are 22 sovereign American tribes in Arizona, and they control the gaming component of the state.”

Simms tried to make inroads with the state legislature. So, too, did Watson when he offered to buy the track last spring. The idea of diluting the dollars that come into Native American casinos was a virtual non-starter.

Gessman said that has been a turn-off to would-be buyers, even those who already are invested in racing.

“The biggest problem with other racing companies is they want alternatives,” he said. “They want slot machines or HHR machines. In the climate in Arizona, it is all tied up by the Native Americans. Getting some kind of alternative gaming at a racetrack is just unheard of in Arizona in this climate right now.”

“It would be nice to think that by the next meet, historical racing machines would be in place,” Francia said. “That would be a sigh of relief to everyone, horsemen and management in Arizona. But the political reality and the climate does not seem open to that.”

That also was the prevailing feeling three years ago with sports betting. Then came secret negotiations between then-governor Doug Ducey and tribal gaming leaders that kicked the door open for pro sports teams and Native American casinos to host sports wagering in Arizona. Within months it was legal. The state budget got a boost, but not racetracks.

Could there be a similar sea change that would benefit Turf Paradise? Francia said a compelling case may be made by pointing to the track’s contributions to the Arizona economy and job force.

“When we are doing our regular November-to-May race meet, 125 days, we pour $93 million into the local economy,” he said. “That’s a plus. The people connected with racing aren’t just the trainers and owners. It’s a business with so many subsidiaries and area businesses that benefit from the racing operation. You’re talking about several thousand people, and they have livelihoods. It’s not something you just casually walk away from.”

Predicting the future

Gessmann might not want to be cast as a pessimist. The more apt word may be realist. Asked where he thought Turf Paradise would be in a year, he said it comes down to the owner who is counting the days until he retires.

“It just depends on what Mr. Simms does,” he said. “If he sticks around, he’s going to have to run a meeting next fall, or he’s not going to be in business as a racetrack. ... Without live racing, without committing to a meet next year, (the OTBs) will be shut down. We’re just going to have to wait and see how he plays his hand.”

Francia said he is optimistic about Turf Paradise’s future, and so is Simms. The basis for their upbeat attitude is the land that they say is perched on the verge of hoped-for sale.

“You have this very valuable, well-placed commercial property in north Phoenix which is just ripe for development of whatever it happens to be,” Francia said. “I think that’s the next step in Turf Paradise’s future.”

The Arizona Racing Commission meets Thursday, when more developments may or may not be revealed. For his part, Gessmann said he would be surprised if there will be any breaking news.

For now, instead of the old sports cliché of one game at a time, it is one race day at a time for Turf Paradise and the people who are intimately involved in making it go.

“I guess I’ll just play it out and see what happens,” Gessmann said. “It’s really all I can do.”