Penn National Gaming, Inc. held a groundbreaking ceremony on Thursday for it’s racino at Wagner Ford and Needmore roads in Dayton, which will open next summer. Miami Valley Gaming’s facility under construction just off Interstate 75 at exit 29 in Turtlecreek Township is scheduled to open the first quarter of 2014.
The racetracks will have ship-in barns, with stalls for every horse on race day, but there will be no boarding barns.
With a third harness track, Scioto Downs, nearby in Columbus, Knappenberger said there is potential to create a circuit of year-round racing. Scioto Downs has historically raced during the summer. Dayton tentatively would pick-up the live action in the fall until the end of year. Miami Valley Racing’s season would begin in January.
“Horse owners are going to be looking for stalls within that triangle,” Knappenberger said. “Obviously, horsemen are going to matriculate to the best facilities until they are full.”
John Weist, president of the Montgomery County Fair Board, said they’re already fielding phone calls about stall rentals. The fairgrounds at 1043 S Main St. in Dayton has 150 stalls. About 60 are rented at a fee of $45 a month.
“We’re gearing up,” Weist said. “Our track is in great shape. We usually have it open all year long.”
Debbie Long, the fairground’s office manager, said two grounds keepers and participants in the county’s Secured Treatment Offender Program (as a community service) have been cleaning and making repairs to the barns.
Weist said the fair board doesn’t have immediate plans to ask the county commission for funding to improve the barns. The minor repairs are mostly being paid for by the Montgomery County Agricultural Society.
Greene County has four horse barns with 128 stalls. The fairgrounds, which has a training track, only accepts standarbred horses. The fair board is currently considering its stall rental fee.
“We had a barn that needed work. We decided with the racinos coming we should spruce it up,” Esther Pierson, Greene County’s Fair Secretary, said. “We have stalls to rent. We’re accepting horses.”
The Warren County Fairgrounds is the current home of Lebanon Raceway and located seven miles from Miami Valley Gaming’s racino construction site. The fairgrounds south of Dayton has 18 barns with 700 stalls.
“Warren county is in the best position to increase boarding, because they have the best track which has been used for professional harness racing,” Knappenberger said.
About 450 of the Warren County stalls are rented at a cost of $60 a month.
“I’m not sure we’ve ever had every barn filled. We have had up to 600 at a time,” Tari Maddox, Warren County’s fair secretary said. “All the barns are usable. We do maintenance on them when we can.”
Warren County also has funding to recreate itself once Lebanon Raceway moves from the fairgrounds to the Turtlecreek Twp. location.
Miami Valley Gaming — a joint venture of Delaware North Gaming Companies Gaming & Entertainment and Churchill Downs, Inc. — announced in March plans to contribute $1 million in 2013 to support redeveloping the fairgrounds. Miami Valley Gaming will provide an additional $500,000 per year for the next four years.
“It’s going to be a very different situation for us,” Maddox said. “We’ve had live racing here for 50 years.”
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