Saturday, January 16, 1999
Keeneland brings Turfway prestige, historian says
BY JOHN ERARDI
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Turfway Race Course will flourish under its new owner, Keeneland, said Jim Claypool, a history professor at Northern Kentucky University and author of The Tradition Continues: The Story of Old Latonia, Latonia and Turfway Race Courses.
“The big races will continue,” Mr. Claypool said. “Keeneland is top of the barrel. The two biggest names in horse racing are Keeneland and Saratoga.”
Jerry Carroll, who is selling Turfway to Keeneland, has been “good for racing,” Mr. Claypool said.
“He brought an entrepreneur's point of view. I think Keeneland will take it to even new heights.”
Mr. Claypool agreed with the analogy of Keeneland buying Turfway being the equivalent of the New York Yankees buying the Cincinnati Reds.
“There is no way Keeneland will do anything but upgrade Turfway, because their name is involved,” Mr. Claypool said.
He said he expects Keeneland will work toward attracting a younger clientele to Turfway, as well as retaining the older regulars, because Keeneland's stock in trade has been making its track the fashionable place to go and be seen.
Mr. Claypool wonders what the next shoe to drop will be.
Keeneland is a nonprofit corporation, but Mr. Claypool isn't sure it will run Turfway the same way.
“It's a new, aggressive approach (at Keeneland in Lexington), and we'll just have to wait to see what develops,” he said.
Keeneland, set in the Bluegrass country near so many of the nation's greatest horse farms, may feel it can tap the Greater Cincinnati population as a betting source, Mr. Claypool said.
“They (Keeneland Race Course) had a small race book and expanded on it, and have gone to more gimmick betting than ever in the past,” Mr. Claypool said. “Maybe this is an attempt to secure some foothold statewide in the business of electronic betting.”
Having Keeneland and Turfway under the same ownership can only further the linkage of the tracks in continuing to bring the best horses and trainers to the area, Mr. Claypool said.
Whatever happens, cultivating the next generation of horse-racing fans is key, Mr. Claypool said, because of fierce competition with casino betting and, soon, stock-car racing.
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