Horse racing will return to Churchill Downs in September

Racing will return to Churchill Downs in September, and no changes will be made to its tracks after a review of surfaces and safety protocols brought about by the deaths of 12 horses during the 2023 Spring Meet in Louisville, CEO Bill Carstanjen said.

Speaking Thursday on a second-quarter earnings call, Carstanjen called the deaths "a series of unfortunate circumstances" and said the review "didn't find anything fundamentally wrong or different about our track from previous years."

"That, in a sense, can sometimes be unsatisfying," he said. "But that's business, and that's sports."

The probe was conducted after Churchill suspended racing operations June 7 and moved the remainder of its Spring Meet roughly 134 miles west to Ellis Park in Henderson, Kentucky, at the recommendation of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority.

"The takeaway is, the track is very safe," Carstanjen said. "What we needed to do was spend some of this time in the interim, while we ran the rest of the (Spring) Meet at Ellis to just go soup to nuts through every single thing we do at the racetrack. There was nothing that jumped out as an apparent cause of the injuries, of the breakdowns; and, as we went through and rebuilt our processes from the ground up to check everything that we do to make extra sure, we didn't find anything material."

Spring Meet moved: Churchill Downs takes racing to Ellis Park after 12 horse deaths at famed track

Churchill Downs horse deaths: What we know about the 12 who died during the 2023 Spring Meet

Training never stopped at Churchill, the home of the Kentucky Derby, during the pause.

After questioning if moving the Spring Meet to Ellis was necessary "without conclusive evidence" that there were problems with the track, Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association President Rick Hiles said the group is pleased to hear the September Meet is on schedule.

"We know all considerations were on the table and led to Churchill Downs making the decision they made," Hiles said. "We believe the track was and remains in good shape. We’ve been training on it every day. We don’t see any problems with the racing returning to Churchill Downs and look forward to it."

Another trainer, Tommy Drury Jr., told The Courier Journal he and his team also did not have "any out-of-the-ordinary issues" while working with 24 horses stabled in Louisville after races were moved to Ellis.

"In my opinion, the racetrack has been in good shape every morning," Drury said. "We’ve been very satisfied with it."

C.L. Brown: Ellis Park’s long history of resiliency puts it in position to help Churchill Downs

Carstanjen, Hiles and Drury's sentiment was echoed in June by two track surface experts.

Dennis Moore evaluated the grounds during a string of emergency meetings between Churchill and HISA and reported "no primary areas for concern." Mick Peterson of the Racetrack Safety Program for Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory also reviewed it and told The Courier Journal the track was "consistent" at the time with testing done prior to Kentucky Derby 149.

Churchill's September Meet is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m. Sept. 14 and run through Oct. 1, according to the track's website. Carstanjen on Thursday said Churchill Downs Inc. will release more details about "some of the safety protocols that will be had" during the meet at a later date.

"We just have to commit to continually doing everything we can, constant incremental improvements, to be as safe as we possibly can," he said. "We've done that."

Churchill Downs Inc. on Wednesday reported a record $768.5 million net revenue during the second quarter of 2023, which is a $186 million increase from the $582.5 million net revenue reported during the second quarter of 2022. Its second-quarter net income, however, fell from $339.3 million in 2022 to $143 million this year.

Stephanie Kuzydym contributed to this report.

Reach Louisville men's basketball reporter Brooks Holton at bholton@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter at @brooksHolton.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Churchill Downs horse deaths: racing to resume at track in fall