Churchill begins repairs; track open for training on Thursday

Churchill begins repairs; track open for training on

Thursday

Life at Churchill Downs is not yet back to normal, but it's heading in that

direction as repairs to the dirt track, several barns and track offices were

underway on Wednesday, one day after a slow-moving storm packing torrential

rains flooded the track and left several vehicles either partially or completely

submerged in parking lots and on streets around the track.

Horses evacuated from the track because of rising water remained at a nearby

training center on Wednesday and might not return to their stalls at the famed

home of the Kentucky Derby (G1) for another day or two. But repair work on the

track's one-mile dirt course went well and veteran Track Superintendent Butch

Lehr said regular training over the track would resume on Thursday.

Lehr estimated that 25 dump truck loads of track materials were dumped on the

track's soggy racing surface during Wednesday's repair work. Members of the

track maintenance crew worked throughout the day to repair the track and restore

more seriously-damaged sections of the racing surface.

"It was washed-out in places where the water came across the track," Lehr

said. "We had to use shovels to dig out all that (dirt and mud) from around the

drains and pull it out where we could get it with the grader. I've been grading

it all day and probably will keep grading until early tonight."

Training at Churchill Downs was halted midway through Tuesday's scheduled

four-hour session when the storm hit. There was no training over the surface on

Wednesday. Horses are scheduled to return to the track on Thursday on the

regular 6-10 a.m. (EDT) schedule.

"We've got it in pretty good shape," Lehr said. "I think everything will be

normal in the morning."

Figures on the number of horses evacuated from Churchill Downs were revised

by track officials on Wednesday. Horses were moved from three structures --

barns 46, 47 and 48 -- as water rose as high as 2 1/2 to three feet in those

buildings. More than 40 horses were moved from those barns because of the rising

water, with 22 being evacuated to the nearby Trackside training center off

Poplar Level Road and the rest moved to empty stalls in barns that were

unaffected by the high water.

Efforts to clean and repair the three barns affected by the flood were

hampered when those structures lost electrical power. Power was restored late

Wednesday morning, which allowed the placement of fans and blowers in those

barns to aid in the drying of the stalls and tack rooms under those shedrows.

"It looks like the horses at Trackside will spend at least a couple of days

over there," said Ben Huffman, racing secretary of Churchill Downs. "Those

horses are training over that track."

Customers streamed in to Churchill Downs' Trackside simulcast wagering

facility, which opened on schedule at midday Tuesday, and most of the track's

business operations and offices opened on schedule. Some offices throughout the

sprawling facility sustained water damage and repairs were underway in those

areas on Wednesday.

No injuries were reported to either horses or humans during Tuesday's flood.