Work is progressing on Wyoming’s first one-mile oval ahead of a planned Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse meet this fall.

© Shannon Rushton

By Lillian Davis, Paulick Report

EDMONTON, CAN–JULY 30, 2026– Work is progressing on Wyoming’s first one-mile oval ahead of a planned Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse meet this fall.

Located just to the west of Cheyenne, Wyo., the track originally known as Thunder Plains Park was acquired by Bally’s earlier this summer and has been renamed Bally’s Cheyenne Park, with the inaugural 16-day meet beginning on Friday, Oct. 2.

Cheyenne Park is the second racetrack that Bally’s owns on the Front Range. About a two-hour drive to the south is Colorado’s only racetrack, Bally’s Arapahoe Park, which concludes its summer meet on Aug. 17.

Opening weekend at Cheyenne Park will feature races on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. There will be a special Monday racing card on Oct. 12 for Indigenous Peoples’ Day. The first condition book will be available soon, and purses are expected to be comparable to those at Arapahoe Park.

Cheyenne Park, like the other Wyoming tracks and Arapahoe Park, will not be regulated by HISA.

Shannon Rushton, Bally’s Wyoming executive director of operations/racing and general manager, told Paulick Report that work at Cheyenne Park is “a little bit ahead of schedule.”

The property is powered, and concrete is drying on a 450,000-gallon cistern for water storage.

By the end of this week, structural work on all five barns for the 2026 meet will be completed. Rushton said there will be 400 stalls at Cheyenne Park with potential overflow stabling at Bally’s Arapahoe Park. Rushton hopes Cheyenne Park will eventually have stabling for around 1,000 horses. For the inaugural meet, the test barn will be an enclosed area with a temporary trailer, Rushton said.

Pending approval from the Wyoming Gaming Commission, horsemen could move onto the backside during the first week of September. The next commission meeting is scheduled for Aug. 21.

Guest areas and wagering facilities for the 2026 meet will have a “county fair” feel, with work on a permanent grandstand expected to begin in 2027.

“We’ll have open-air bleachers, tents, things like that for this inaugural season,” Rushton said. “Currently, we are working on the staging area for that, where the spectators will be able to watch the races from. From there, then we’ll begin work on the paddock.”

On-track patrons will be able to place wagers in “large” trailers that will each house 12 to 15 tote machines. Both self-serve tote machines and tellers will be available. Historical horse racing machines are legal in Wyoming, but Cheyenne Park will not have any onsite in 2026.

“We are looking forward to this inaugural season,” Rushton said. “I’m extremely proud of the construction crew that has put in a lot of hours to make this project happen. Look forward to having horsemen here, and I’m excited for year one at Bally’s Cheyenne Park”

This editorial was supplied by the Paulick Report. For more information, please visit www.PaulickReport.com.

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