Brian Elmore, an administrator at Hoosier Park for the past 10 years, has been appointed vice president and general manager at Ellis Park, Churchill Downs announced Jan. 11.Steve Sexton, president of Churchill Downs and Ellis Park, said that Elmore, 50, would assume his new duties at the Henderson, Ky., track on Feb. 6. He succeeds Paul Kuerzi, who cited health concerns and a desire to spend more time with his family when he retired from the posts of vice president and general manager of the track at the end of December. Kuerzi had held those positions at Ellis Park since 1999. Elmore, a native of Sullivan in southwestern Indiana, joined Hoosier Park in 1995 as facility manager at the Trackside Indianapolis OTB and also served as Hoosier Park's director of OTB operations. In the latter post, he had oversight of Hoosier Park's off-track betting operations in Fort Wayne and Merrillville.
He joins Ellis Park as the 84-year-old track works to recover from damage inflicted by a tornado that roared through the facility on Nov. 6. Much rebuilding and repair work remains to be done at Ellis Park, but Churchill Downs announced that the track would conduct a scheduled 36-day racing meet in 2006 that will run from July 19 to Sept. 4. "Ellis Park faces both challenges and opportunities as we rebound from last year's tornado and work toward our 2006 meet, and I am anxious to get started," said Elmore. "My first experiences in racing came at Ellis Park, so the track and its tradition are very special to me. I am most excited about the prospect of working with the experienced and dedicated staff at Ellis Park as we tackle the short-term challenges of preparing our track for racing in 2006 and long-range issues that lie beyond his year's meet."