Stalled Racetracks

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Annnnnnnnnnnd They're Off... or Not

By Doug Kelly

One noise you won’t be hearing in Yuba County is the roar of Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt Jr. battling for a NASCAR championship. But take heart racing enthusiasts, you may still get to enjoy the thrill of the race, along with the sight of Bob Baffert-trained and Russell Baze-ridden thoroughbreds pounding down the stretch in Dixon, of all places.
     While the NASCAR raceway plan appears dead in its tracks,Dixon Downs, the horse-racing project, is picking up speed. “A lot of work has already been done,” says Dixon Economic Development Director Marshall Drack, “but there is more that needs to be done.”
     Slated for 260 acres northeast of town off Interstate 80 and south of the Pedrick Road exit, the Dixon Downs project features an open-air grandstand and a multipurpose building with advanced simulcast technology enabling bettors to wager on races throughout the United States, as well as a training facility and 46 barns housing more than 1,600 horses.
     Owned by Canadian billionaire auto-parts magnate Frank Stronach, Magna Entertainment, a division of Magna Intl., has an agreement in principle with the city of Dixon to operate the Downs. Magna has numerous racetrack holdings in the United States and Canada, including Golden Gate Fields in the Bay Area, Laurel Race Course in Maryland, Gulfstream Park in Florida, Santa Anita Park in Southern California and Maryland’s Pimlico, home of the second leg of racing’s Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes.
     Scheduled for two phases of construction, the completed racetrack (phase one) would be the anchor of a $250 million complex to include retail, a major hotel, dining establishments, a conference center, and theater and office space in phase two.
     A draft environmental impact report for Dixon Downs, as well as project reports touching on economic, safety and cultural issues, is scheduled to be presented to the city council in mid-September and then undergo a 45-day comment period from the 17,000 or so citizens of Dixon.

Continued...

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