
NTRA Board Reaffirms Support for Organization
The National Thoroughbred Racing Association is moving on in the wake of the defection of Churchill Downs Inc. for at least this year.
The National Thoroughbred Racing Association is moving on in the wake of the defection of Churchill Downs Inc. for at least this year.
Operating revenue for the National Thoroughbred Racing Association was down 45.2% in 2009 from 2008, but expenses were down 47.5% year-to-year, leading the organization to suggest it should have a balanced budget for 2010.
The National Thoroughbred Racing Association's board of directors held its fourth-quarter meeting Thursday. The meeting took place at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort in Tucson, Ariz., site of the University of Arizona's Symposium on Racing.
The NTRA board of directors, during a teleconference meeting Thursday, ruled that a "sufficient number" of racetracks in the Mid-Atlantic region must rejoin the NTRA by March 31, or the region will lose its seat on the board. Elections for other racetrack seats will be held the week of Feb. 5, though tracks that aren't members by that date will not be eligible to vote.
Ten days after a private meeting with several members of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association board of directors and three days after holding an open forum at Gulfstream Park, Magna Entertainment chairman Frank Stronach announced Wednesday in a joint statement with the NTRA that the Magna racetracks will be rejoining the NTRA with a two-year commitment, effective immediately.