Emerald Downs in Auburn, WA opens for its 30th season
AUBURN, Wash. - It was off to the races for opening day at Emerald Downs on Sunday, as hundreds of people studied the stats, checked out the horses and headed to the track in Auburn.
The day was filled with a sense of excitement with each gallop, mounting anticipation with each arrival, and bet after bet. "I picked number one to win, number five to place," Rusty, who owns a race horse that wasn’t racing on Sunday said. "It’s all about who’s riding that horse."
"This is our 30th season at Emerald Downs, whoa," Joe Withee, Director of Publicity at Emerald Downs said. "I was here for opening day, June 20th, 1996."
He told FOX 13 that because horse racing in Northern California is at a stagnant point, many of those trainers are now coming to Emerald Downs. That means 950 horses will be racing this season, which is about 150-200 more horses than last year, Withee said.
via Emerald Downs on X
"The more horses you have in a race, the better the odds are, the higher the payoffs can be," Withee said.
Recently, there was a lot of talk about this being Emerald Downs last season.
"Next year, the money isn’t in place quite a bit like it is this year. There’s a national organization that can put on fees to tracks, and we do pay those so we can be part of the game, but that is going up quite a bit next year," Withee said.
He told FOX 13 he’s confident they’ll be able to figure it all out. "We do bet out here, and I would bet quite strongly that we’ll be racing next year," Withee said.
Emerald Downs at risk of shutting down in 2026
This could be Emerald Downs' last season for horse racing. Revised fees could force the Auburn racetrack to stop hosting events.
Which is good news for people like Tom Koontz, who comes to Emerald Downs every year. "Being where all the action is, seeing the fast horses," Koontz said. His family surprised him for his birthday by bringing him out for opening day.
The season runs from now through September. "We’re going to have a really good season this year," Withee said.
The Source: Information for this report comes from original interviews from FOX 13's Shirah Matsuzawa.
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