An Aw-foal-ly Bold Vision
By: Mr. Wilson on
May 2, 2012
At this point I can't figure out if local horse racing fans are optimistic or delusional. I suppose to some extent those are two sides of the same coin.
Remember that big tract of land at Highway 77 and Denton Road that Walmart (supposedly) looked at a few years ago? The Nebraska Horsemen Benevolent Association wants to build a one-mile track there, complete with grandstand, barns, and all the amenities. The likely price tag is well into the tens of millions of dollars.
This plan comes from a group that's about to lose their track at State Fair Park; that couldn't make a track near the Lancaster Events Center happen; and that just lost out on a substantial funding opportunity in the Unicameral. Then there's the fact that horse racing just isn't very popular around here, and it doesn't seem like the general public has any interest in rallying behind horse racing to see it restored to whatever former glory it may have had.
I look at horse racing the way I look at dog shows. I have no problem with people participating if that's what revs their engines, but it's just not a use for animals that I've ever understood. Horses are fine animals, but I'm probably as interested in trying horse meat as I am in watching a horse race.
That being said, if they can actually pull this off, more power to them. I wish them luck.