Arizona Downs facts for kids
 |
|
| Location | Prescott Valley, Arizona, United States |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 34°38′47″N 112°16′51″W / 34.646471°N 112.280852°W |
| Owned by | Dave Auther Tom Auther Mike Auther |
| Operated by | J&J Equine Enterprises LLC |
| Date opened | 1959 |
| Race type | Thoroughbred Quarter horse |
| Course type | Flat |
Arizona Downs is a special place in Prescott Valley, Arizona, where fast horses race! It used to be called Yavapai Downs. At this track, you can watch two main types of horse races: Thoroughbred races and Quarter horse races.
The track stopped holding regular races in 2010. But guess what? It started up again in 2019 for a short time. From 2020 to 2022, Arizona Downs held races in the summer. However, in 2023, they didn't have their usual summer races because of money problems.
Contents
History of Arizona Downs
The very first horse racing track in this area was built in Prescott in 1959. It was on the old Rodeo Grounds. This track held races until the year 2000.
Since the old track couldn't get any bigger, a brand new one was built nearby in Prescott Valley. This new track was named Yavapai Downs. It was named after a Native American tribe and the county it's in. Yavapai Downs held races from 2000 to 2010. After that, it faced serious money troubles and had to close down.
New Owners and Reopening
In 2013, a person named Gary Miller bought the property. He tried to open a different kind of speedway there in 2014, but the horse racing track stayed closed. Later, in 2015, Mr. Miller also faced financial difficulties, and everything at the property stopped working.
Then, in 2018, a company called J&J Equine Enterprises LLC bought the place. On June 20, they announced exciting news: the facility would reopen! They gave it a new name: Arizona Downs. The plan was to start showing races from other tracks (called "simulcasting") later that summer. Live horse racing was set to return in the summer of 2019.
Arizona Downs has also opened new places where people can bet on races from other tracks. These are in cities like Flagstaff, Pinetop, Lake Havasu City, and Phoenix.
Grand Opening in 2019
The newly fixed-up Arizona Downs had its big grand opening on May 24, 2019. Everyone was excited for the races to begin again!
Sharing Race Videos
When Arizona Downs reopened, they faced a challenge. A big company that shares videos of horse races, called Monarch Content Management, didn't want to sell their race videos to Arizona Downs. This meant Arizona Downs couldn't show as many races from other places.
Monarch said they didn't want to work with Arizona Downs because of an old legal disagreement with someone who used to be involved with the track.
To help, lawmakers in Arizona passed a new rule. This rule said that companies like Monarch must share their race videos fairly with all licensed racing tracks in the state. Governor Doug Ducey signed this rule into law on June 7, 2019. It started working on August 27, 2019.
However, Monarch didn't agree with the new rule. On August 9, 2019, they started a lawsuit to try and stop the law from taking effect. But on December 20, 2019, a judge said no to Monarch's request to block the law. The judge decided that Monarch probably wouldn't win their case.
Unfortunately, on December 19, 2023, the Arizona Racing Commission decided to take away Arizona Downs' permit to hold live races. This was because the track was still having financial problems.
