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Originally Posted by exactatom
Ron Geary has done a lot for racing in the Ellis Park area. He tries several promotions ot get fans of all types to come to the track. He walks around and speaks to his customers and amkes sure they have a good time. He could have kept the track dark and sold the ground for development, but took the risk of opening it another year. It is nice to see a racetrack owner care about his fans.
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There are several points about this track that make it a special case. Firstly this track sits on the Indiana side of the Ohio river because of an oxbow border. The geography of the entire area is very interesting. The stock running there is not the "blueblood' of Lexington. Much of the support for Ellis Park race dates fill a need for smaller stables in the multi-state region. Slots are on the Ohio River but no slot revenue flows to Ellis except thru marketing and community relations. When they refused to open as scheduled the local community was shocked and some local horsemen had no idea why they were cancelled.
Mr Geary appears very in tune with the community and he realized that he had to open immediately and avoid another prolonged dispute. There are other solid economic reasons for keeping Ellis Park running too. Indiana will be in a position to capitalize on any situation that eliminates live racing at Ellis Park with a shiny new racino. I-69 will finally be built from Indy to Evansville and the portion from Memphis to Evansville is due to finish in 3-5 years. Soon many more fans and horsemen will have better access to the region and they should enjoy a period of growth through the entire economy.
I support Ellis Park and Mr Geary because his facility supports good people.
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