CDI

The 2026 Ellis Park meet will showcase 18 stakes races worth a record $4.125-million in purses, highlighted by the Ellis Park Summer Showcase Weekend that features seven turf stakes worth a combined $1.75-million, the track announced Monday. Set to run July 2 through Aug. 23, the stakes action kicks off Saturday, July 4 but begins in earnest on Summer Showcase weekend Aug. 1-2. Seven turf stakes are carded for both days with two on Saturday and five on Sunday, led by the $300,000 Green River Island Stakes. Another feature day...

Two days after Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI) announced its intent to acquire the intellectual property rights to the GI Preakness Stakes and the GII Black-Eyed Susan Stakes for $85 million, the firm's chief executive officer, Bill Carstanjen, said Thursday during a quarterly earnings conference call that the state of Maryland remains "in control" of the overall Thoroughbred racing product and its infrastructure, but that CDI's "real team of experts" is ready to assist if asked to help grow those assets. Although Carstanjen detailed the annual fee structure for licensing the...

In the ongoing battle between HISA and Churchill Downs Inc., HISA fired the latest shot Tuesday, ordering Churchill to pay it $5,024,848.56, plus interest in the amount of $250,631.77. In documents released Tuesday by HISA, the authority charged that if CDI does not comply with the order it will no longer be able to simulcast races from any of its tracks to out-of-state locations starting Mar. 27. The legislation that created HISA allows it to revoke a tracks simulcasting privileges if HISA believes a track is in violation of its...

The fifth pool of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager and lone Kentucky Oaks offering is set to begin Friday at Noon ET and will close Sunday evening, Churchill Downs said in a press release on Tuesday. Both pools feature $2 Win and Exacta wagering, as well as a separate Oaks/Derby Future Double linking selections in both races. The Kentucky Derby Future Wager closes Sunday at 6 p.m., while the Oaks Future Wager remains open until 6:30 p.m. Headlining the Derby wagering slate is GII Fasig-Tipton Risen Star winner Paladin (Gun...

by Dan Ross and T.D. Thornton The Horse Racing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) Authority on Wednesday summoned Churchill Downs Racetrack and its corporate parent, CDI, to a hearing before a panel of HISA board members in an attempt to secure payment of 2025 assessment fees that CDI has allegedly failed to submit on behalf of four racetracks the gaming corporation owns in Kentucky and Pennsylvania, including its flagship track in Louisville. HISA wants Churchill to pay $2,408,501 in allegedly overdue 2025 fees (plus $93,998 in interest) to the Authority...

Turfway Park Racing & Gaming will move its Wednesday and Thursday live racing cards to afternoon programs with a 1 p.m. ET first post in response to forecasted single-digit wind chills expected during the evening hours, the track said in a press release on Tuesday. Officials will continue to monitor the latest forecasts, with Friday and Saturday's cards currently scheduled for their regular 5:55 p.m. first post. Wednesday will mark the first day of live racing at Turfway Park since a winter storm and freezing temperatures forced the cancellation of...

Hallmark Media and Churchill Downs have partnered on an all-new original movie called Kentucky Roses that will make its Hallmark Channel debut May 2 and stream the next day on Hallmark+, the media company and track said in a joint release on Wednesday. The movie, which was shot at Churchill and wrapped production last year, unfolds across two timelines--present day and 1932. Kentucky Roses stars Andrew Walker (Three Wisest Men) and Odette Annable (Supergirl, Walker), alongside Ally Ledford, Peyton Meyer, Brynn Thayer and Gregg Henry. The partnership continues in Hallmark...

Turfway Park Racing & Gaming has canceled its Friday and Saturday live racing programs due to severe winter weather expected in the Florence, Kentucky area, according to a Thursday press release from operator Churchill Downs Inc. Officials from the National Weather Service are calling for wind chill values to dip into the single digits early Friday morning and persist through Saturday, along with the potential for significant snow accumulation. The canceled races from Friday and Saturday will be offered as extras on subsequent race days, including the Wishing Well Stakes....

The Week in Review - Last month, when parties on both sides of a pending class-action lawsuit over computer-assisted wagering (CAW) argued in federal court over allegations that the nation's biggest racetracks have conspired with "insider" high-volume bettors to rig pari-mutuel pools at the expense of small-scale horseplayers, the defendants in the case-the New York Racing Association (NYRA), The Stronach Group (TSG), Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), Racing and Gaming Services (RGS), AmTote International, United Tote, and Elite Turf Club-wrote letters to the judge purporting that plaintiff Ryan Dickey was using...

On the heels of winning a preliminary injunction last month in the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the advance-deposit wagering (ADW) platform TwinSpires on Tuesday scored a victory in its overall federal lawsuit against the state of Michigan. On Jan. 6, the lower-court judge in charge of the case issued a summary judgment in favor of TwinSpires, meaning Michigan can't make that ADW partner with a brick-and-mortar racetrack in order to do business in that state. The operator of TwinSpires, Churchill Downs Technology Initiatives Company (CDT),...

Colonial Downs racing secretary Dan Bork has released the condition book for the 2026 three-day spring meeting which runs from Thursday, Mar. 12 through Saturday, Mar. 14, the track said via a release on Friday. The meet is highlighted by the $500,000 Virginia Derby and $250,000 Virginia Oaks Mar. 14, which are points races on the "Road to the Kentucky Derby" and "Road to the Kentucky Oaks," respectively. Click here for access.

In the days leading up to and after Christmas, parties on both sides of the pending class-action lawsuit involving computer-assisted wagering (CAW) have sparred in federal court over whether allegations that the nation's biggest racetracks have conspired with "insider" high-volume bettors to rig pari-mutuel pools at the expense of average horseplayers constitute valid claims under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). The defendants in the lawsuit-which include The Stronach Group (TSG), Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), the New York Racing Association (NYRA), AmTote International, United Tote and Elite Turf...