Potential horse racing track property purchased in southcentral Kentucky

CORBIN — The steps have turned into strides now for a potential quarter horse track to be located in Corbin. Tuesday the Willow Creek Farms, LLC, closed on the 149 acres of land that it had under option with the Tri-County Joint Industrial Development Authority.

"We were able to close on our option. We have the option in place on the land for quite some time and we actually closed on the property," Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Keeneland Vince Gabbert said. "We're the proud owners of 149 acres in Corbin now."

Gabbert said they wanted to get the property in their name so that they could start getting what they need done in processing even though the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission has not yet given a nod to the license for the horse track on Corbin.

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission does have two racing licenses available currently.

"We've not gotten anything definitive from the Horse Racing Commission. We continue to work with them on a timeline but don't have anything definitive from them," Gabbert said.

Keeneland and Churchill Downs announced in September their partnership to build two proposed facilities, one of those being in Corbin, that will feature horse racing and historical racing machines.

While Corbin has been in talks with Keeneland for a few years, the recent strides have seemed to be getting closer to the probability of the horse track, which is to be named Cumberland Run, in Corbin.

The location of the track will be on the Corbin Byass in Knox County.

In October the Corbin City Commission rezoned the 149 acres of property from Industrial Park District (IP) to Public Semi-Public District (P-1) which will allow for the potential construction of a quarter horse racing facility.

The proposed project is expected to create 125 construction jobs and 50 permanent full-time jobs, just for the horse racing facility itself.

"This is another step forward," Executive Director of the Corbin Economic Development Agency Bruce Carpenter said on Tuesday evening regarding the closing of the property to Willow Creek Farms, LLC. "We're very excited to see things continue to move forward. This is a positive sign that we are close.

"Over the last few years, I have felt confident that we would get to this place," he added.