OQHRA ANNOUNCES PAYOUTS OF COVID-RELATED PURSE CUTBACKS

Speedhorse brings you an update on the encouraging state of racing in Oklahoma
by Diane Rice

When the economy went south (far, far south) in March due to the COVID-19 pandemic, officials at Remington Park, the Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission (OHRC) and the Oklahoma Quarter Horse Racing Association (OQHRA) got together to troubleshoot the future of racing in the Sooner State.

“Our concerns were founded on the premise that casinos provide a lot of our funding, and with the casinos being shut down for health safety — well, that was something that our industry has not seen,” says Kole Kennemer, OQHRA’s executive director. “We worked closely to figure out how we were going to get through this with no revenue.

“Fortunately, Quarter Horses have a significant underpayment as a rainy day fund that we keep on hand year after year, and that helped us get through this,” he added. That along with simulcast revenues and funding from reopening casinos have allowed the OQHRA to announce that it will be retroactively paying out purse cutbacks enacted earlier this year.

Read on to learn from Kole how the industry stands, how it has weathered the storm, and what the future holds. (Download PDF HERE)