There in-lied the problem with Ellis Park...it would never be allowed to prosper under CDI's wing due to the fact that it was a midwest track that competed directly with Arlington Park for the same horses in the summer time.....Do you think Mr. D was going to allow Ellis to prosper and take the shine away from his precious Arlington Park?....No chance.....The pea patch never had a chance with CDI owning it....the ONLY reason CDI benefitted for having Ellis in their eyes is because it kept the die-hard Kentucky horsemen happy to have racing in state year round...that was the only benefit...

It should do better now under new management. Supposedly, they were going to get rid of Doug after this year anyway, so that didn't surprise me that he was released by CD and ElP...

CDI has their eyes squarely set on one prize and one prize only and that is NYRA, which is no huge secret.....they want it so bad they can taste it and they have been positioning themselves to get it for 2 years now....If they had it their way, they would sell Hoosier and Calder and cut off all of the proverbial "fat" - as I've heard it mentioned time and time again...

They tried to sell Ellis for years and never could find anyone that would give them anything for it...Mike Pegram tried to low-ball them with an offer a few years back but it wasn't enough...I think they only sold the place to the new owner for around $8 million, which is dirt cheap for a race track in Kentucky.