Kandace French Contreras

After a nine-day delay to fix safety concerns that pushed back the opening of the 2024-25 racing season at Turf Paradise from Nov. 2 to Nov. 11, horsemen, jockeys, regulators and track management were all largely in concurrence Friday that the first four days of racing at the Arizona track this past Monday through Thursday were conducted in safe and sustainable fashion. The largely positive reviews and glowing articulations of cooperation at the Nov. 15 Arizona Racing Commission (AZRC) meeting stood out in contrast to the contention and infighting that...

A director of an independent accounting firm hired by the Arizona Racing Commission (AZRC) to audit the financials of Turf Paradise as part of the track's three-year permit application testified at a Thursday meeting that if $24 million in federal and state subsidies from the COVID-19 pandemic gets backed out of the equation, Turf Paradise has operated at a net loss for the past three years. Sean Tanner, a certified public accountant who specializes in forensic accounting with Keegan Linscott & Associates, further told the AZRC that based upon projections...