Horse racing returns to Columbus this weekend at a brand new location.
The race track at the recently-opened Harrah’s Columbus casino will host its first live racing Friday. The casino officially opened in May.
Harrah’s is the first mile long track to run horses in Nebraska since the Aksarben Racetrack shut down in Omaha in 1995.
Friday will mark the first race day in Columbus since the Ag Park track ran its final races Oct. 29. That track operated for nearly 80 years in the east central Nebraska town.
Joe Morris is the vice president of racing for Caesars Entertainment which owns Harrah’s Columbus. The racing festivities are live from Friday to Sunday, he said.
“We’ll have the stakes race for the first day,” Morris said. “It is a really nice Nebraska-bred race, going for $15,000 is the purse, but it highlights, showcases the horses that were already bred in Nebraska and are there racing.”
With the total number of running days expected to double by 2031, Morris said more breeding horses will be in demand.
“We need to continue to have owners, trainers invest in the broodmares so that we can get more and more Nebraska-breds, critical to the future success,” Morris said.
Nebraska will need an estimated 208 more Nebraska-bred race horses by 2031, according to a report contracted by the Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission this year.
The races in Columbus are a step toward revitalizing the state’s horse breeding industry.
Harrah’s Columbus plans to oversee 12 more racing days over the next five weeks with the last race day on Sept. 16.
Fonner Park in Grand Island went live for 31 days of horse racing this spring, according to the approved dates by the Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission. Tracks in South Sioux City and Hastings held three total days of racing in April and May. Coming up in late September, Omaha and Lincoln casino racetracks are planning a combined five days.
On the betting side, Morris said typically the minimum amount to wager is $2, although there are some types of bets that $1 or even less is acceptable.
Source link : https://nebraskapublicmedia.org/en/news/news-articles/friday-marks-the-first-day-of-horse-racing-at-recently-opened-harrahs-columbus/
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Publish date : 2024-08-15 21:11:26
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