What they're offering this week at two racetracks in Nebraska stretches the definition of what a horse race actually is. Three-horse fields going one furlong may border on the ridiculous, but they are necessary to keep hopes alive for a revival for the state's struggling racing industry.
Led by Ak-Sar-Ben, Nebraska once had a robust industry, but it soon became one of the states that got left behind as its neighbors turned their racetracks into racinos.
Ak-Sar-Ben last raced in 1995, and all that's left now in Nebraska is 54 days of live racing, 31 of them at Fonner Park. But with the hope of getting casinos eventually legalized at the Nebraska tracks, two tracks have found a loophole that keeps them in the game. Under Nebraska law, all a facility needs to do to legally be considered a racetrack is to run one race a year. It can be at any distance, with any purse, with any size field. By doing so, a track can have year-round simulcasting and remain a candidate to get casino gaming if that ever becomes legal at the Nebraska tracks.
Lincoln Race Course last ran a full meet in 2012 and announced that the land would be used to develop a research campus for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. But the track didn't disappear entirely. In 2014, it introduced the concept of the sport's shortest races at the smallest “meet” possible.
According to a Louisville Courier-Journal report, the 2014 Lincoln race was not without its comical moments. Perhaps not used to such a short race, one of the competitors, Husker Ridge (Cactus Ridge), refused to stop after the race was over, dumped the jockey and was later found about a mile from the track.
A total of $2,220 was bet on the sprint.
Lincoln kept its license going in 2014 and 2015 each year by hosting one race run at one furlong. Yesterday, the 2016 Lincoln meet was held, this time with two one-furlong races, each with three horses and purses of $6,500.
Saturday, it will be Atokad's turn. A field of three will line up for the eighth-of-a-mile race for $3,500 Nebraska bred claimers. And about 12 seconds after the 2016 meet begins it will be over.
Atokad, “Dakota” spelled backwards, rose from the dead in 2011, holding two 6 1/2 furlong races, and then went away again. But there were hopes of a revival in 2012 when the track was bought by Ho-Chunk, an economic development corporation associated with the Winnebago Indian Tribe. Ho-Chunk's motivation was clear. It wanted the purchase of the racetrack to lead to its getting a casino.
This summer, a group backed by Ho-Chunk and the Nebraska HBPA gathered more than 120,000 signatures in order to try to get a referendum on the 2016 ballot to legalize casinos at the state's tracks. However, more than 31,000 signatures were rejected by the Nebraska Secretary of State, which meant Ho-Chunk had to go back to the drawing board. In the meantime, in order for Atokad to remain a “racetrack” it, too, has to run a race.
There is no grandstand and, for the most part, no racetrack.
“Years ago, Atokad used to be full oval and that was torn out probably two, three years ago,” explained Ho-Chunk's development director Alexcia Boggs. “They tore out the old track, tore down the grandstand. Everything was really old.”
Ho-Chunk rebuilt a short straightaway that is about 65-feet wide and ends in a slight turn so that the horses have a place to pull up safely. Boggs describes the new track as “candy cane” shaped.
Boggs said the Nebraska Racing Commission would only allow Atokad to allow three horses in the race because of safety concerns, but Nebraska State Racing Commission Director Tom Sage said that is not the case.
“It's not true,” Sage said when asked why the commission had limited the field to three. “All we have told them is they have to run one breed race. I don't care if they run 15 races on Saturday. More power to them. I wish they would.”
Boggs said efforts to get racetrack casinos passed in 2017 are on-going, and she is confident they will eventually become a reality. If so, Atokad and, perhaps, Lincoln, could become legitimate racetracks again.
“Our goal from the beginning has been to partner with the horsemen's association and help keep a dying industry alive in this state,” she said. “So, we partnered with them in hopes to provide other means of revenue to keep this historical entertainment business going for a long time to come. Racinos in other states have been very successful. It's two different industries supporting each other and both thrive. It's a successful business model in other states. We're simply trying to replicate that here in Nebraska.”
To do so, they have to put on a race, even if it is somewhat of a sham.
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