Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City): OKC-based Remington Park's $32 M casino project brings early re

A day came when the future of Remington Park was bleak, uncertain and just plain scary to those who make their living in the 'Sport of Kings.'

Late last year, when voters were asked to approve alternative gaming for racetracks, fingers and toes were crossed, and some longtime regulars within the industry were formulating an alternative plan.

I can assume you Remington Park would've been closed by now, said Remington General Manager Scott Wells. There's no way (owner) Magna Entertainment Corp. would've continued operations here. Being a publicly held company, I'm sure the doors would've been closed by now.

A new day will come.

With the approval of Oklahomans and the ultimate approval of the Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission, Remington Park is well under way on its $32 million improvement plan that includes the addition of a casino on the track's existing grandstand level.

Nov. 21 is the target date for the opening of the casino, which will also feature dining and lounge areas, as well as horse betting facilities.

Wells and Magna are ready for their new day.

That could go double for horsemen.

It's a great deal for us, said Ron Canady, executive director of the Oklahoma Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association. Horsemen are understandably anxious to get it started.

Canady said an existing flow will be reversed.

Over the last seven or eight years there's been nothing short of an exodus of horsemen, he said. They've relocated and the breeding industry has suffered. The foal registrations have been down in the Oklahoma-bred program and some of the main operations have gone elsewhere.

Wells said the feedback he's received has been optimistic.

After its greatest days back in the late 1980s and early 1990s when the track hosted as many as 13,000 visitors a day, skepticism and often a plain old doomsday mentality had been prevalent within the industry.

Wells said the likelihood of a prosperous tomorrow has everyone involved optimistic.

From the standpoint of three groups, it really is a new day, he said. The customers are definitely curious. They are now seeing the physical aspects of construction. They see the signage. There have been lots of comments and the excitement is mounting for them.

Then, with the owners and trainers, there's really a sense of optimism, Wells said. They especially have longed for this. It means continued racing and breeding here. Some of them that had farms on the market have now taken them off the market. There are new mares and stallions in the state. I've been to horsemen's meetings, and in the past they've been contentious and downbeat. Now they are upbeat.

Wells said his forces also have been stepping toward the expansion with hopefulness.

We are more than doubling, sometimes tripling our total hours for employees, he said. We will go from 300 employees to 625 employees. Of those, there will be 450 full-time employees.

The hours of operation will expand. The track is usually open when the first simulcast begins at around 11 a.m. and is operational until the last simulcast of the evening, which usually ends by 11 p.m.

The maximum number of hours we'll be open on any given day is 18, and we are limited to 106 hours per week, he said. We will tweak our schedule to make 18 hours on the days that are most in demand, like Friday and Saturday. We'll probably open at 10 or 11 a.m.

Horsemen already have seen an increase in purses and will likely see much more next year.

Canady said that aspect alone gives horsemen hope that Remington will continue to be a place in which their horses can compete.

This (gaming) might be one of the most significant things that has happened for the industry, Canady said. Purses are about $100,000 per day, up about 30 percent from last year. And the barn area shows it. Some new people have moved in and have set up shop. Next year there will be more with the gaming. I expect there will be drastic increases. We're up 30 percent now without it, and we'll probably at least double that next year with gaming.

Canady said the purse increases allow Remington to challenge for the best horses in the area.

We want to be competitive with Oaklawn Park (in Hot Springs, Ark.) and Lone Star Park (also owned by Magna, in Grand Prairie, Texas), which means we would like to be up in the $180,000 to $200,000 range in purses per day, he said.

Wells agreed.

With purses in the neighborhood of $190,000 per day, we can definitely be on the same level as Lone Star, he said. Steve Asmussen, the nation's leading trainer, said he'll be here with the maximum number allowed (40 stalls) and others such as Bret Calhoun have already sent some here. Some of the horsemen who left over the years will probably return.

The casino will add plenty to the physical plant, but Wells said he never wants to forget the original function of Remington Park.

It's incumbent on us that we sent out the message that we are thrilled to have such a beautiful facility and that first and foremost we are a horse racing track, he said. We will have a motorized curtain that will open and show our night racing product, unlike other tracks. We are doing that because we are integrating horse racing more than others. Horse racing is our core product.

In other places, the separation (of gaming areas and horse racing areas) is done by design, he said. Las Vegas research says they want a focus on the games at hand. That's well and good for Las Vegas, but it's different at a racetrack.

Until the scheduled opening of the casino, Remington will be under 24-hour-per-day construction.

This could happen in two or three stages, Wells said. Our public stance is that we want it open before Thanksgiving. We are on target. The best thing is that the construction is occurring on the basic structure we've had.

Wells said he wants the old Remington Park attitude to return.

With the opening of the casino, we are anticipating a party like the Remington Park Derby parties of the past, he said.

Wells added the track's expansion plans have been well received by community leaders.

Among the people enthused about the changing nature of Remington Park are members of the business community I've met recently, such as members of various chambers of commerce and directors of the businesses around us, like the zoo, the Zoo Amphitheater, the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum. All the members of the Oklahoma City Adventure District, like the National Softball Hall of Fame and Six Flags are all very intent on the fact that an improvement of our business is going to be good for them, too.