Hoosier Park Celebrates 10th Season of Racing

Hoosier Park will celebrate 10 years of racing when it opens the evening of Sept. 2 for live Thoroughbred racing.

Hoosier Park, the majority owner of which is Churchill Downs Inc., opened its inaugural season--a Standardbred meet--Sept. 1, 1994. Attendance of 7,633 that night still ranks as the fifth largest ever recorded at the Anderson, Ind., racetrack.

Hoosier Park held its first Thoroughbred meet in 1995, so this year's session is the 10th for the track. To help celebrate the milestone, Bob Staggs, the first paid customer during the grand opening, will be in attendance.

"I still have all of the photos and newspaper articles about the opening hanging on my wall," said Staggs, who lives in Selma, Ind. "It was really an exciting thing to be involved with the grand opening of the track."

The feature event of the meet is the $500,000 Indiana Derby, which is a grade II event this year. When first held in 1995, the Derby carried a purse of $100,000.

"We have watched our facility grow and become an important part of the community as well as gaining national attention in the racing industry with our racing product," Hoosier Park general manager Rick Moore said.