Friday, September 08, 2000
Turfway partner may sell share
But that's back burner; meanwhile, three owners discuss operations
The Associated Press
LEXINGTON — A discussion of Turfway Park's future dealt more with preparations for the upcoming year than on a plan by one partner to sell its shares in the track, the meeting's participants said.
The partners — Keeneland, Harrah's Entertainment and Dreamport, a subsidiary of lottery giant GTECH — each own one-third of the northern Kentucky track. Dreamport indicated last week it wants to sell its shares. Keeneland and Harrah's have first dibs on buying out Dreamport.
The three bought the track in 1998 for $37 million. Since then, millions more have been poured into making the track successful.
The track in Florence has been profitable, but not impressively so, the partners said.
“It has been profitable, but when I talk about profit, we're talking less than $1 million so far this year,” said Gary Thompson, spokesman for casino giant Har rah's Entertainment.
Bob Vincent, vice president of business development for Dreamport, said that though the company “is looking to, in some rational, logical way, divest itself ... We haven't talked to the others yet about selling it.”
Mr. Vincent would not comment on a possible price.
Harrah's, a $3.4 billion company, has been happy so far with Turfway, but “it hasn't been on the top of the radar screen,” said Mr. Thompson.
“We'll look at things in a big-picture context, and if there is potential for future developments, that could be taken into consideration.”
Keeneland could also be interested in buying Dreamport's shares, said its president, Nick Nicholson. “Let's see what price they set,” he said.
Turfway president Bob Elliston said, as he was preparing for the opening of the race meet Wednesday evening, “In terms of Turfway, it's business as usual here.”
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