That led to an online petition signed by several hundred people and caused horse owners to wonder about their futures, with one saying, “I don’t know what we’re going to do.”
“While the board recognizes the heritage surrounding this relationship, the harness racing stall / tack rental and harness racing training track operations have caused an overwhelming financial burden on the (WCAS) due to non-payment of rent,” it said in a released statement.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
The statement cites steps taken this year to resolve the lack of rent, but as of Oct. 21 — when the board voted — “only 4 of 45 renters completed the required forms,” according to the statement.
The board and the society’s staff “made significant efforts this year on recordkeeping and invoicing for facility usage by each renter and respective subletter and for enforcement of timely payments.”
As of Oct. 25, the society “still has tens of thousands of dollars in outstanding, unpaid rent for 2024 from harness racing training facility renters,” according to the statement.
“Operating expenses … continue to mount in the form of utilities, water, manure hauling, trash, and facility maintenance labor for which rent is not being paid,” according to the society.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
Victor Gray, whose family has owned and worked with horses at the fairgrounds for decades, told this news organization last week that his petition had several hundred signatures, perhaps close to 1,000.
With the board’s decision, Tessa Perrin her future is uncertain. Perrin said she and her husband have a fairgrounds stable with more than 10 horses.
“We purposefully moved to Lebanon. It’s a beautiful town (with) great schools. It’s centrally located to the tracks that we want to race at,” Perrin said. “There’s a year-round circuit.”
Her children “can have a stable life. That’s what we wanted for them. We thought that this was a perfect solution,” she said.
“Now it’s kind of blown up in our face and with such short notice,” Perrin said. “I mean, how do you sell your home, move your kids to different schools, not to mention the horses, you know? It’s just such a huge impact on our lives. I don’t know what we’re going to do.”
Similar thoughts were expressed by Antonio Storer, who said she has 13 horses.
Storer said the deadline leaves her fewer than 40 days for “finding a new place to work and live.
“It’s a big move and we can’t go just anywhere to any barn, any pasture, any field,” she said. “These are athletes and they need a training facility. And that’s what this is for us.
Credit: Nick Graham
Credit: Nick Graham
“We exercise every day,” Storer added. “They race weekly, and they need to (run). This stall is not enough for them. It would be like a football player sitting on a couch and then going to play football. It doesn’t work that way.”
Lebanon Raceway was located at the Warren County Fairgrounds from 1948 until 2012 when it was sold to a joint venture of Churchill Downs Inc. and Delaware North Companies from the Nixon and Carlo families for $60 million after the state of Ohio approved video slot machines at racetracks.
The license for horseracing was transferred to Miami Valley Racino in Monroe, where horse racing is held.
