Ellis Park in Henderson, Kentucky, suffered significant damage early Sunday
morning when a line of severe weather moving through southwestern Indiana and
northwestern Kentucky produced an apparent tornado.
Ellis Park Vice President and General Manager Paul Kuerzi said that there
were some minor injuries to people working at the track and some horses stabled
at Ellis died from injuries suffered in the high winds. Horse barns and several
other buildings were damaged during the storm.
“We took a couple of people to the hospital, but none of those injuries
appear to be serious or life-threatening,” Kuerzi said. “It appears at this
point that three horses have died from injuries suffered in the storm. It’s too
early to know if any other horses were injured.”
According to Kuerzi, several barns were damaged by the high winds as were
parts of the track’s grandstand. Other structures sustaining damaging included
the track’s infield totalisator board and the safety rail.
“It’s been there a long time and with it being a mainstay in Kentucky, it’s
pretty sad to see it get hit that hard,” trainer Bernie Flint said of the
83-year-old track. “The people of western Kentucky — that’s their sole place to
race.
Simulcast wagering has been canceled at Ellis Park until further notice.
“It’s just been a bad year for racetracks,” Flint said. “Calder, Delta Downs,
Fair Grounds and now Ellis Park. It’s a terrible thing and a lot of people got
hurt. In that area, people are just not geared for that. It’s a smaller
community and a good base of racing fans. It’s just a terrible, terrible thing
to have this much devastation follow racetracks around the country.”