Ellis Park excludes fans because of grandstand ‘issue’

What was declared an “unscheduled grandstand maintenance
issue” led to the closing of the grandstand and a lockout of fans from Thursday’s opening-day card at Ellis Park.

A news release from a spokesperson for Churchill Downs, the
owner and operator of the track, did not go into details about the problem.

Click here for Ellis Park entries and results.

“This was a really difficult decision we had to make this
morning but due to an unscheduled maintenance issue we will have to conduct
today’s race card without patrons,” Ellis Park general manager Matt Pressley
said in the release. “We are still going to run all nine races as scheduled. We
will update everyone as soon as we can when the facility will be back open to
fans.”

The Ellis Park grandstand that seats 6,000 people was built
in 1950 when the track still was known as Dade Park. The painted-over old name
is still visible on the edges the roof over which sky boxes were
added in 1988.

Churchill Downs Inc. bought the track for $79 million in
September 2022.