Ellis Park hoping to build on last year

The levee held, restraining the floodwaters from this spring's historic rainfall. Now, the horses and horsemen are returning to the stables.

And a week from Saturday, Ellis Park will open for its 88th annual live racing meet with hopes of drawing 125,000 horse racing fans over 31 dates.

Some changes are planned, ranging from a return to racing over the Fourth of July weekend to a new format for the popular wiener dog races to an expected return to Ellis Park of three-time Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Calvin Borel.

Some things will be the same, such as Ellis racing on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, plus two Mondays: July 4 and Labor Day. Post time for the first race will remain 12:50 p.m.

And though they won't be in place for several months, owner Ron Geary is planning to install Instant Racing betting machines at Ellis Park, providing a bit of the casino-style gaming that Kentucky tracks have yearned for.

In the meantime, he wants to build on the on-track success of the past couple of years, which have seen good attendance at the live meets and increases in average daily wagering by local bettors.

"Last year was the best year since I've been here," said Geary, who is entering his fifth race meet since buying the track from Churchill Downs Inc.

Buoyed by those results, he elected to launch this year's meet on Saturday, July 2, meaning Ellis Park will be racing once again on the Fourth of July.

Historically, the Henderson thoroughbred track raced on both July 4 and Labor Day, plus dozens of days in between. Those holidays traditionally were Ellis' biggest race days.

But in 2008 -- with both Churchill Downs in Louisville and Indiana Downs near Indianapolis also running on July 4, creating a scarcity of horses -- Ellis Park abandoned that race date and waited until nearly mid-July to open.

This year, Geary has faith that racing secretary Dan Bork can recruit enough horses on the holiday weekend to produce competitive racing fields and generate attractive betting odds.

"We've excited to have the July 4 weekend back," Geary said at the track's annual media preview on Tuesday. "It's something the Tri-state loves."

Last year, Ellis averaged 9.6 horses per race, up from 9.2 in 2009. "The field size this year, we feel, will be just like last year, possibly higher if the weather is good," Bork said.

"We think the quality of racing will be as good," he said, and the expected addition of the wildly popular Borel -- and the return of proven winners such as Corey Lanerie and Jon Court -- will create excitement, too.

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