Oregon racing

After closing in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic and never reopening, local interests in Burns, Oregon are attempting to get Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing going again at the Harney County Fairgrounds in that rural, high-desert town, with the hope of regaining a three-date spot on the state's 2027 summer circuit. "The community is highly motivated to reinstate racing," Oregon Racing Commission executive director Connie Winn said during the board's monthly meeting on Thursday. Ideally, Burns, a county-seat town of 2,700 that is known as the "gateway to the...

The Oregon Racing Commission approved 18 fairs-circuit dates at four tracks for Thoroughbreds and Quarter Horses in 2026 during its Thursday meeting. The Eastern Oregon Livestock Show meet in Union traditionally kicks off the state's summer fairs circuit. It will race June 12-14 in '26. Grants Pass Downs, in the southern tier of the state, will race June 20, 21, 27, 28 and July 3-5. Crooked River Roundup in Prineville, which races at night, will race July 15-18. Tillamook County Fair in coastal Tillamook will race Aug. 5-8. In 2025,...

Nine days after the devastating news that Grants Pass Downs has called off its 2022 race meets and will let the track's commercial license lapse, Randy Boden, the executive director of the Oregon Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (OHBPA), revealed that plans are in the works to keep the southern Oregon track open for training and possibly a short fairs-style race meet this summer, with the ultimate goal of bringing back a larger slate of racing in 2023. "When it became apparent that [Grants Pass Downs] was not going to...