Lots of water.
With the spring rains causing the Ohio River to spill from its banks, River Downs race track in Cincinnati is in the process of evacuating all the horses off its backside, which sits about a furlong — just over two football fields — from the river.
“Believe it or not, there were 500 horses back there yesterday and I just went back again 10 minutes ago and they’re pretty much all gone,” John Engelhardt, the track’s Dayton-based racing publicity consultant, said by phone Friday afternoon. “There can’t be more than 25 left back there now.”
Flooding at this level requires the track to cut off electricity and water.
“Horsemen are a tight-knit community and officials at Turfway Park knew we were in a tight spot,” Englehardt said. “They had just closed their backstretch (after their racing season ended) but they reopened the barns and have allowed all our horsemen to stable there at no cost.
“Although the river has risen to 51 feet, right now it doesn’t appear to be too threatening. It’s not touching the main track. I can still see grass on the other side of the track. And I just heard a report that the river may be leveling out and we won’t get flooded like we thought we would.”
On Thursday the National Weather Service issued a flood warning for the Cincinnati area and predicted showers and thunderstorms through Tuesday. Flood levels were expected to cover the River Downs racing surface, parts of the stable area and cut off access to the track for several days.
“At Ohio River levels of 55.5 feet we know what to expect,” Kevin Kaufman, general manager of the track, said in a statement released by the track. “Luckily we’ve had a dress rehearsal when we reached that level in mid-March, so all departments are prepared.”
Engelhardt said the March floodwaters put the racing oval under water.
He said water has not risen into the grandstand building since 1997, and in the 26 years he’s been at the track he never remembers the backside being evacuated.
No date has been set for the re-opening of the backstretch or the main track for training and live racing.
Rivers Down’s Opening Day — with its full card of live racing interspersed with simulcast races — had been scheduled for Aug. 29.
“That,” said Engelhardt, “is still the plan — God willing and if the creek don’t rise.”
About the Author