Beulah

[Actor]

I'm probably the last to get the word but I just discovered there is a possibility that Beulah Park in Grove City, Ohio (suburb of Columbus) may be moved to Dayton. I.e., they'll build a new track in Dayton and sell the Grove City facility to developers. I'm not happy about the prospect but of course it's out of my hands.

At a distance of 43 miles Beulah is not a place I can afford to visit often, maybe once a month. Distance wise Dayton is about as far as River Downs, Thistledown and Mountaineer. Mountaineer is probably closest.

Anyway, does anyone familiar with the Dayton have any information as to where they plan to build the new facility?

[JustRalph]

Near the intersection of 70/I-75 is what I read somewhere.

That doesn't narrow it down much. But I am sure they may try to locate it in a township (there are a few rural in that area or at least there used to be) for tax reasons. Just west of that location is the airport too.

[startngate]

Not only are you late to get the word, you got the old word too ... :)

Beulah is moving to Youngstown, not Dayton. Raceway Park is moving to Dayton.

All subject to resolving the VLT lawsuit, of course.

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/67256/beulah-park-will-likely-move-to-youngstown

[BMustang]

Not only are you late to get the word, you got the old word too ... :)

Beulah is moving to Youngstown, not Dayton. Raceway Park is moving to Dayton.

All subject to resolving the VLT lawsuit, of course.

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/67256/beulah-park-will-likely-move-to-youngstown

Raceway Park??? Where is Lebanon going. Churchill just bought them. I thought they were heading to Dayton which makes more sense. Raceway Park is in Toledo. However, I'd believe just about anything in this high stakes slots game.

[rastajenk]

Lebanon plans a new facility a few miles down the road at the Monroe (Rte 63) exit on i-75. It is in the vicinity of a huge flea market, a state prison, a successful new outlet mall, the church that had its giant Jesus statue burnt to a crisp by lightning recently, and a Hustler store. I can imagine the area producing some weird karmic vibe that can be seen from space, or cause earthquakes.

I don't know how the Penn National's Raceway move into Lebanon's space will play out, but I have suggested they co-exist like Maywood and Balmoral: same season, different days. But now with Churchill involved, I wouldn't mind seeing them (the Churchill/Delaware No. partnership, that is) apply for thoroughbred dates to fill the spring/fall void created by Beulah going to Youngstown; which I still can't quite understand.

The Dayton site is a former Delco auto parts manufacturing plant a few miles north of downtown. I don't know much more about the area than that, but it should have good access to major arteries.

[Actor]

Beulah is moving to Youngstown, not Dayton. Raceway Park is moving to Dayton.
That's even further away. Beulah would still be my closest track if located in Dayton. Mountaineer, Thistledown, River Downs and Turfway are all closer than Youngstown.

That's if you believe Mapquest.com

[porchy44]

Their actual on-track attendance probably averages between 100-200 people per day. Penn National (the ownwers of Beulah) has a full blown casino being built on the west side of Columbus (5 minutes away). it would be in a casino's best interest to not compete against themselves and move their slot operations farther apart. Bottom line, they dont care about racing, it's just their "IN'.

[Track Collector]

I visited Beu my first and only time a number years ago. The weather was horrible and races were cancelled I think after 2 races.

I wanted to re-visit under much-nicer weather conditions before they relocate.

Looks like Monday (03/19) will be the day where I'll be among the other 100-200 people! Pretty low class levels at Beulah, but in the style of Yogi Berra......if you win, they even pay you cash, which is just as good a money! :)

[ldiatone]

wow! at least they'll have a good water supply w/ Berlin Res! and i think the track will be closer to MNR just down rt 7 to e liverpool then across the bridge to newell wva. hell another 30 mins to the meadows! what 1hr(maybe) to PID! any one have an idea where in Y'town? and talk about a depressed city. is bordman mall still there? was once HUGE. i think built by the Debartlos. yea the same ones who owned the pens and 49'ers.
omg used to go to a bar called the "bavarian house" near Y'town state.
ok im done

[JustRalph]

I visited Beu my first and only time a number years ago. The weather was horrible and races were cancelled I think after 2 races.

I wanted to re-visit under much-nicer weather conditions before they relocate.

Looks like Monday (03/19) will be the day where I'll be among the other 100-200 people! Pretty low class levels at Beulah, but in the style of Yogi Berra......if you win, they even pay you cash, which is just as good a money! :)

35 years ago they had one hell of a good meat loaf sandwich......

[1GCFAN]

The local handicappers are not happy about the closure of Ohio oldest racing facility. The City made zero effort to retain the track. Before the Columbus casino was approved Penn was going to build their Hollywood style casino and hotel on the BEU property which would have been great for all of us who love BEU and its history.

Back in the day they did have a very good meatloaf sandwich and decent racing. Quite a few locals owned and trained horses on their farms. Even nearby Darby Dan Farm would send an occassional starter and Mr. Galbreath would come to the races.

Two harness tracks in the Lebanon/Dayton area does not make any sense. I know they are after the racino dollars but the state law will require them to run wellover 100 days each. Not enough horses to make that happen regardless of purse increases.

[JustRalph]

Back in the day they did have a very good meatloaf sandwich and decent racing. Quite a few locals owned and trained horses on their farms. Even nearby Darby Dan Farm would send an occassional starter and Mr. Galbreath would come to the races.

He was a decent guy. I met him a few times. My dad and I use to go out to his farm on the west side after the Derby to watch the planes land. Often he would return to Columbus after the Derby, or his family would.

I believe the Queen of England or some Prince came back to Darby Dan after the Derby one year. I was dating a gal out that way and after the Derby every damn road in the area was blocked by cops.

He would show up at a Columbus Clipper's game every once in a while when they were part of the Pirates organization.

I parked my Airplane at the Darby Dan Airport for a short while. It was long after the old man was gone. But it was a neat thing for me. Lots of memories driving past those white railed fences west of Columbus. Just landing my plane there after sitting outside the fence watching those planes come in when I was a kid, was a big deal for me.

I wasn't aware of his involvement with Aqu and Belmont. Just read it in the wiki.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_W._Galbreath

Looks like they still have the old training track ........that was always my offsite option to land should I have an engine problem going out...........

[rrpic6]

wow! at least they'll have a good water supply w/ Berlin Res! and i think the track will be closer to MNR just down rt 7 to e liverpool then across the bridge to newell wva. hell another 30 mins to the meadows! what 1hr(maybe) to PID! any one have an idea where in Y'town? and talk about a depressed city. is bordman mall still there? was once HUGE. i think built by the Debartlos. yea the same ones who owned the pens and 49'ers.
omg used to go to a bar called the "bavarian house" near Y'town state.
ok im done

The site of the track is in Austintown on Rt. 46 less than a half mile from I-80 (and less than a mile from my house). Actually Youngstown is one of biggest rebounding cities in the Midwest. The GM Lordstown Plant is about 10 miles away making the Chevy Cruze, V&M Star( https://www.vmstar.com/PublicWebsite/index.html) is being substantially upgraded, the Marcellus Shale Gas fields are causing a Texas oil-like boom.

The Southern Park Mall built by Edward deBartolo is still in Boardman. The Eastwood Mall, built by the Cafaro Family, in nearby Niles is the largest Mall by acreage in the country. They have a Minor League Ball Park on their property and are now building a Hotel Complex there.

RR

[1GCFAN]

JustRalph - Yes, the Queen was a personal friend of Mr. Galbreath and would visit the farm. Talk about a guy from a humble beginning! BEU ran the Decathlon Championship Stakes for many years a race for three year old fillies. Decathlon was a DD horse that set a record at BEU and had a career in the big time.

[ldiatone]

The site of the track is in Austintown on Rt. 46 less than a half mile from I-80 (and less than a mile from my house). Actually Youngstown is one of biggest rebounding cities in the Midwest. The GM Lordstown Plant is about 10 miles away making the Chevy Cruze, V&M Star( https://www.vmstar.com/PublicWebsite/index.html) is being substantially upgraded, the Marcellus Shale Gas fields are causing a Texas oil-like boom.

The Southern Park Mall built by Edward deBartolo is still in Boardman. The Eastwood Mall, built by the Cafaro Family, in nearby Niles is the largest Mall by acreage in the country. They have a Minor League Ball Park on their property and are now building a Hotel Complex there.

RR
glad to read about the town on the rebound. austintown..isn't it on the south side? and how far is rt 11 from there?

[CincyHorseplayer]

This is slightly off the subject,but I wish they would quit overlapping race dates in the summer.River Downs and Thistledown both run cards in the late spring and summer and both cards suck nearly everyday.If they had one track running with a 10 race card and maybe 12 on weekends,with more horses,people might actually want to bet their races.I sit down there all summer loving being ontrack and getting to see some horseflesh but average 1-2 bets a day per RD card.

Increased purses will bring some of the horses back and even though I'm biased because River is my home track I think Thistle should be eliminated.River Downs has always been a summer track and has a nice turf course.Beulah will be new and have run from October to April anyway.Extend River Downs to the end of September and the year is covered.

[Track Collector]

Increased purses will bring some of the horses back and even though I'm biased because River is my home track I think Thistle should be eliminated.River Downs has always been a summer track and has a nice turf course.Beulah will be new and have run from October to April anyway.Extend River Downs to the end of September and the year is covered.

Unfortunately, purse subsidies don't always increase field sizes. What larger purses sometimes do is bring in larger, outside stables, who then run their "lesser" stock (which is still much better than the stock of locals), and races seem to become much less competitive. Larger purses also seem to raise the cost of doing business, as everyone in the supply chain tends to want more for the same services. Trainers want more, the vets charges more, jockey agents want more, lodging costs go up, etc. Smaller, local stables get pushed out, and field sizes do not grow as hoped for.

I hope this is not the case, but past experience has shown otherwise.

Lots of low-level horses who currently run in Ohio (particularly at Beulah), will not be competitive enough to earn their keep, and may need a new venue. (Perhaps with all those Ohio fairs that currently run harness races, a few might consider thoroughbreds. :))

[CincyHorseplayer]

Unfortunately, purse subsidies don't always increase field sizes. What larger purses sometimes do is bring in larger, outside stables, who then run their "lesser" stock (which is still much better than the stock of locals), and races seem to become much less competitive. Larger purses also seem to raise the cost of doing business, as everyone in the supply chain tends to want more for the same services. Trainers want more, the vets charges more, jockey agents want more, lodging costs go up, etc. Smaller, local stables get pushed out, and field sizes do not grow as hoped for.

I hope this is not the case, but past experience has shown otherwise.

Lots of low-level horses who currently run in Ohio (particularly at Beulah), will not be competitive enough to earn their keep, and may need a new venue. (Perhaps with all those Ohio fairs that currently run harness races, a few might consider thoroughbreds. :))

That's another thing,Let me write the conditon book!!!

Seriously they have so many time restricted races for non winners 1-2-3 in a year or 2 years that there are no open claiming races anymore.It attracts all losers.And the turf races should get higher purses and better written conditions because most of those are guessing games.

In short they write races for losers and they wonder why the product doesn't get bet on.

[rrpic6]

glad to read about the town on the rebound. austintown..isn't it on the south side? and how far is rt 11 from there?

Austintown is directly West of Youngstown. Rt 11 goes thru A-Town. To the South its 45 miles to Mountaineer. To the North its 50 miles to Rt. 90 then 50 more East to Presque Isle. Good location for me!

RR

[AlbertButtry]

Austintown is directly West of Youngstown. Rt 11 goes thru A-Town. To the South its 45 miles to Mountaineer. To the North its 50 miles to Rt. 90 then 50 more East to Presque Isle. Good location for me!

RR

Me too

[AlbertButtry]

http://www.wkbn.com/content/news/local/story/Penn-National-Ohio-Reach-Deal-On-Relocation-of/OokGs4XyeUSzoolirYbfqg.cspx

Agreement reached with the State of Ohio

[PIC6SIX]

I was born and raised in Youngstown and know the area very well. The proposed track will be located in Austintown, a western suburb. To be more exact it will be located on Ohio RT-46 VERY near the I-80, I-76, Ohio RT-11 convergence and the Ohio Turnpike interchange. I think Penn National is counting on a lot of interstate /cross country traffic with an easy stop off. :)

[JustRalph]

http://www.wkbn.com/content/news/local/story/Penn-National-Ohio-Reach-Deal-On-Relocation-of/OokGs4XyeUSzoolirYbfqg.cspx

Agreement reached with the State of Ohio

"along with an undetermined amount to the Ohio horse racing industry."

why no agreement on this?