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Keeneland Applies For Corbin Quarter Horse License
Keeneland Association is requesting a racing license to build a Quarter Horse track with historical gaming machines in Corbin, Kentucky.

© Keeneland
Keeneland Applies For Corbin Quarter Horse License

LEXINGTON, KY—DECEMBER 1, 2015—Before Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear leaves office and Governor-elect Matt Bevin can reconstitute the state's racing commission, the regulatory body is expected to take up key business as soon as today (Tues), including Keeneland Association Inc.'s plan to open a Quarter Horse track and with historical gaming machines in Corbin, Kentucky, approximately 90 miles south of Lexington.

The Lexington-based company requested a racing license for a track to be called Cumberland Run in Corbin in Knox County. Beginning in 2017, the track will host 12 dates of quarter horse racing annually in June and July, plus simulcast wagering and historical wagering, known as instant racing, according to the application.

According to an article published Monday in the Lexington-Herald the original proposed name for the track was Thunder Gap but Keeneland vice president Vince Gabbert said that the track is no longer pursuing the license currently issued to Thunder Ridge, a harness track in Prestonsburg, Kentucky. Keeneland had been negotiating a purchase of assets from Thunder Ridge for more than a year.

“We’ve submitted for the ninth license,” Gabbert said. He would not comment on why the strategy has changed.

Kentucky House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, on Nov. 20 pre-filed legislation for the session of the General Assembly that starts in January that would prohibit a track from having more than one license. According to the bill, a currently issued license could be transferred for the purpose of relocating the license as long as the applicant “acquires all assets and liabilities of the other current licensee.” The Prestonsburg track’s liabilities potentially could include $2 million in debt Floyd County used to build the facility.

Keeneland plans to build a $30 million track and operate about 350 historical wagering terminals year-round in Corbin. The application includes a layout of the track on 50 acres along the Corbin bypass between Allison Boulevard and Buchanan Boulevard. The facility will include a 750-seat grandstand, horse barns, a sales pavilion, 30,000-square-foot entertainment center, restaurants, bars, and eventually a 120-room hotel, along with more commercial, dining and entertainment options. The cost of both phases is expected to be about $59 million.

Kentucky Senate President Robert Stivers, R-Manchester, supports the plans for Corbin, which is in his district. Keeneland told him a few months ago their intention to drop the Prestonsburg acquisition, he said.

“They told me their rationale and I understood it. It’s just less expensive to go this route,” Stivers said. Floyd County has filed a motion in district court to block the commission from issuing the ninth license, a move he said he thinks is in concert with Stumbo’s bill.

“As long as the speaker’s home county was satisfied, everything was fine; there was no question with Keeneland obtaining that license,” Stivers said