The epicenter of Oregon horse racing may want to flow to Grants Pass as Portland Meadows heads toward a future as a big distribution middle. It seems increasingly that not going to the North Portland race tune will see some other season. It hasn’t been bought, but a sale is pending, and plans have been filed with the town’s remaining year’s call redevelopment.
But another telling is that Dutch Bros. Coffee chief govt Travis Boersma has secured a commercial racing license for a track in Grants Pass, along with the rights for off-song making a bet and simulcast races held somewhere else, a first-rate cash-maker for roads.
The Oregon Racing Commission permitted a three-12 months license for Grants Pass Downs closing week without listening to a phrase of objection from Portland Meadows’ owners, said Jack McGrail, the commission’s executive director.
The choice wouldn’t preclude Portland Meadows from searching for a renewal of its license, which expires in June. But it’s not going. Oregon ought to maintain tracks through cut-up simulcasting sales, stated McGrail stated. In an email, Portland Meadows General Manager JT Corrales confirmed the pending sale but said, “nothing is for positive.””We are presently business as common, consisting of the Kentucky Derby Party coming up,” he wrote, including, “The deal is not accomplished.
Nonetheless, Boersma’s TMB Racing is preparing for a fall meeting in September and October, the first industrial race event at the elevated Grants Pass Downs. In the meantime, the organization will increase the grandstands and concession regions, upload midnight racing lighting, and make other improvements consistent with its software for the racing commission.
Boersma, a horse racing fan who attended truthful meets at Grants Pass Downs as an infant, said commercial racing at Portland Meadows—and particularly the simulcasting and stale-tune having a bet—has historically helped racing occasions at smaller venues like Grants Pass, Pendleton, Tillamook, and Burns.
“There’s no way to replace Portland Meadows or what it was once,” he said. “The issue I think is essential is maintaining horse racing alive within the state.” And the Grants Pass operation may want to end up with a degree in the meantime; BoersmHe stated that he spokes spoken with Churchill Downs Racetrack’s proprietors, which hosts the Kentucky Derby, about their “large hobby” in constructing a new horse song among Portland, ae stated. He said that might be a project with a charge tag of around $100 million, which can take years collectively.
Boersma has also sought a manager to run the Grants Pass operation. Among the candidates, consistent with Boersma, the Stronach Group, the component owner, and the Pothe Hartland Meadows manager. The potential Portland Meadows customer is Prologis, a San Francisco-primarily based company, one of the globe’s largest proprietors of warehouses and distribution centers. A spokeswoman didn’t reply to a message searching for the remark.