Churchill Downs Incorporated Celebrates Construction Milestone of Turfway Park Racing & Gaming Revitalization
LOUISVILLE, KY., (September 10, 2021) – Churchill Downs Incorporated (“CDI” or “Company”) (Nasdaq: CHDN) celebrated the topping off of Turfway Park Racing & Gaming (“Turfway”) today as part of the Company’s $145 million investment in state-of-the-art live Thoroughbred and Historical Horse Racing facility in Florence, Kentucky. The project is part of CDI’s ongoing efforts to strengthen and bring innovation to Kentucky’s signature horse racing industry.
Speakers at today’s ceremony included Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear; State Senator John Schickel; Florence Mayor Diane Whalen; Boone County Judge Executive Gary Moore; Senior Project Manager for Wilhelm Construction Christopher Daley; CEO of CDI Bill Carstanjen; and General Manager of Turfway Chip Bach.
“My administration has made it a priority to bring new jobs to Kentucky – and it’s exciting to see our own hometown companies like Churchill Downs take a leading role,” Governor Andy Beshear said. “This expansion helps the entire region and will strengthen the industry that defines our commonwealth. Congratulations to Churchill Downs and Turfway on the wonderful progress that has been made and to all the stakeholders who have come together to make this a reality.”
“This project will revitalize the Kentucky winter Thoroughbred racing circuit as well as fuel the health of the Commonwealth’s entire signature horse industry,” said Bill Carstanjen. “Despite challenges over the past year, we are still on schedule to open Turfway Racing & Gaming next year and I couldn’t be more proud of our team for persevering to accomplish this milestone. We couldn’t celebrate a day like this without thanking all the people who helped make this possible including many in the Florence community, our state leaders in the legislature and, of course, Governor Beshear who remains a staunch supporter of this industry.”
CDI acquired Turfway in October 2019 and immediately commenced demolition of the existing grandstand following the close of the 2019-2020 race meet. In March 2020, Turfway’s existing Polytrack was replaced with a new $5.6 million Tapeta synthetic track, one of the world’s leading surfaces for racing and training. In March 2021, the Company broke ground on the final phase of development and construction which will include a new grandstand, a pari-mutuel gaming entertainment floor featuring up to 1,500 historical racing machines, a state-of-the-art clubhouse, a simulcast wagering area with VIP player amenities, an 18,500 sq. ft. event center, as well as several food and beverage venues.
The redevelopment of Turfway is anticipated to support up to 400 direct full and part-time positions and create an estimated 800 direct construction jobs. More information regarding job fairs and hiring will be released in the coming months. Turfway will continue to host live Thoroughbred racing for the Holiday Meet in December followed by their Winter/ Spring Meet in January through March 2022. The grand opening for Historical Horse Racing at Turfway is expected in the summer of 2022.
Video of Turfway’s Topping Off Ceremony can be viewed here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-mguirt3_A
About Churchill Downs Incorporated
Churchill Downs Incorporated is an industry-leading racing, online wagering and gaming entertainment company anchored by our iconic flagship event, the Kentucky Derby. We own and operate three pari-mutuel gaming entertainment venues with approximately 3,050 historical racing machines in Kentucky. We also own and operate TwinSpires, one of the largest and most profitable online wagering platforms for horse racing, sports and iGaming in the U.S. and we have seven retail sportsbooks. We are also a leader in brick-and-mortar casino gaming in eight states with approximately 11,000 slot machines and video lottery terminals and 200 table games. Additional information about CDI can be found online at www.churchilldownsincorporated.com.
Certain statements made in this news release contain various “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by the use of terms such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “predict,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “will,” and similar words or similar expressions (or negative versions of such words or expressions).
Although we believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Important factors, among others, that may materially affect actual results or outcomes include the following: the impact of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, including the emergence of variant strains, and related economic matters on our results of operations, financial conditions and prospects; the occurrence of extraordinary events, such as terrorist attacks, public health threats, civil unrest, and inclement weather; the effect of economic conditions on our consumers’ confidence and discretionary spending or our access to credit; additional or increased taxes and fees; the impact of significant competition, and the expectation the competition levels will increase; changes in consumer preferences, attendance, wagering, and sponsorships; loss of key or highly skilled personnel; lack of confidence in the integrity of our core businesses or any deterioration in our reputation; risks associated with equity investments, strategic alliances and other third-party agreements; inability to respond to rapid technological changes in a timely manner; concentration and evolution of slot machine manufacturing and other technology conditions that could impose additional costs; inability to negotiate agreements with industry constituents, including horsemen and other racetracks; inability to successfully expand our TwinSpires Sports and Casino business and effectively compete; inability to identify and complete expansion, acquisition or divestiture projects, on time, on budget or as planned; difficulty in integrating recent or future acquisitions into our operations; costs and uncertainties relating to the development of new venues and expansion of existing facilities; general risks related to real estate ownership and significant expenditures, including fluctuations in market values and environmental regulations; reliance on our technology services and catastrophic events and system failures disrupting our operations; online security risk, including cyber-security breaches, or loss or misuse of our stored information as a result of a breach, including customers’ personal information, could lead to government enforcement actions or other litigation; personal injury litigation related to injuries occurring at our racetracks; compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or applicable money-laundering regulations; payment-related risks, such as risk associated with fraudulent credit card and debit card use; work stoppages and labor issues; risks related to pending or future legal proceedings and other actions; highly regulated operations and changes in the regulatory environment could adversely affect our business; restrictions in our debt facilities limiting our flexibility to operate our business; failure to comply with the financial ratios and other covenants in our debt facilities and other indebtedness; and increase in our insurance costs, or obtain similar insurance coverage in the future, and inability to recover under our insurance policies for damages sustained at our properties in the event of inclement weather and casualty events.
We do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
We do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
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