Racing resumes at damaged Churchill Downs track

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) - Churchill Downs, the home of the Kentucky Derby, will look to return to normal as racing resumes Friday night following a Wednesday tornado that hit the track's barn area.

Thursday's race card was canceled and will not be made up, but track officials said Friday morning that additional races would be added to next week's programs to make up the nine lost races.

Racing is set to resume Friday evening as part of the ``Downs After Dark'' series.

Hitting just after 8 p.m. Wednesday, the tornado had estimated wind speeds of up to 105 mph as it hit the track before later strengthening to as much as 120 mph, according to the National Weather Service. Seven barns were significantly damaged, as was the chapel on the backside of the facility. No injuries to humans or horses have been reported.

The frontside of the track, which includes the grandstand, paddock and the famed Twin Spires, was not damaged. Churchill Downs' track president Kevin Flanery said the Twin Spires ``are an iconic image in sports and in American culture.''

``Those images and symbols that people think of when they think of the Derby, when they think of Churchill Downs, are intact,'' Flanery said late Thursday afternoon.

Track spokesman John Asher said 75-100 of the approximately 1,400 horses stabled on the backside have been displaced from their barns, many to empty stalls on the grounds. In an extreme example, horses trained by William ``Jinks'' Fires now reside in 12 different barns. About 30 horses, many in the care of trainers Rusty Arnold and Steve Margolis, moved Thursday to Keeneland in Lexington.

Flanery said that Churchill Downs will pay for any transportation costs associated with moving affected horses off the grounds or bringing them back to race before the spring meet ends on July 4.

Dale Romans, trainer of this year's Preakness winner, Shackleford, took roof damage to his barn and was forced move horses when water pipes broke. Romans felt that space used to store hay in the upper recesses of his at least 60-year-old barn provided cushion above the horses' stalls for falling debris.

``If that hay loft hadn't been there we might have had some serious problems,'' Romans said late Wednesday night. Shackleford was not stabled at Churchill Downs when the storm hit.

The track, which held the 137th consecutive running of the Kentucky Derby this May, is scheduled to host the Breeders' Cup on Nov. 4-5. Damage assessments are still ongoing but Flanery said storm damage and repairs would not keep the track from hosting the event for the second consecutive year.

``We will have Breeders' Cup and we will have enough stalls to handle all the horses that are necessary,'' Flanery said.

Training over the track resumed at its usual 6 a.m. Friday morning and saw 69 horses on the worktab. Magnets were run over the track Thursday to pick up any debris that may have blown onto the racing surface. Flanery said ``both the dirt and the turf tracks are in great shape.''

Permanent lights were installed to conduct occasional night racing prior to the 2010 racing season at a cost of $4 million. Flanery said those lights proved invaluable in the immediate aftermath of the storm, partially illuminating the darkened backstretch.

Gates open at Friday afternoon and patrons will have the opportunity to donate to the recovery effort as part of Churchill's ``Pony Up for Charity'' program. All proceeds will benefit backside workers affected by the storm.