Tom Ludt, who has served in multiple executive positions in the Thoroughbred racing industry, was approved as general manager of Turf Paradise during a regular meeting Sept. 11 of the Arizona Racing Commission.
Ludt will handle the transition in the Phoenix track's ownership from Jerry Simms, who bought the racetrack in 2000, to California racehorse owner/breeder and real-estate executive Gary Hartunian, who recently signed a two-year lease agreement with Simms. Long-term, Hartunian has indicated he will look for a new site for the track.
"We are not abandoning the property," Ludt told commissioners after they had approved his permit to serve as general manager starting under Simms' permit. "It is a two-year lease with options to go forward and that time frame was set up because rules and regulations take longer than I'm used to. Once (the new ownership) gets permitted, we will start looking at new properties, but we always be looking at the current facility. What we will be doing is conducting Maricopa County racing at the current address or a new location."
Hartunian started his Rockingham Ranch stable in 2012. He also is the president and CEO of Landmark LA Capital Group, a real estate development company that specializes in residential buildings.
Simms' permit for the current race meet that will begin Nov. 10 is conditional, requiring him to complete a number of repairs and improvements by Oct. 1. The racing commission intended to get updates on those projects from Turf Paradise and the Arizona Department of Gaming Division of Racing during Thursday's meeting but had to delay those presentations due to the lack of a quorum required to take any action. Commissioners James Padish and Tracy Olson were absent from the Sept. 11 meeting and commission chairwoman Kandace French Contreras has recused herself. Commissioner Jay Zucker said a special meeting to address these projects would be held prior to Oct. 1.
Despite having no formal presentation on the facility repairs, some updates on the progress at Turf Paradise were shared.
"I am not here to talk about repairs related to the permit conditions because there is not a quorum present but rather the general repairs being made," said Brian Duncan, the racing enforcement and operations manager for the Arizona Department of Gaming.
Duncan said department representatives have been visiting Turf Paradise on a weekly basis and to date the main track rail has been fully repaired. Repairs to the turf rail are nearly complete, and jockeys room saunas and showers have been fixed.
Simms told the commissioners that the track would typically spend $30,000-$40,000 getting ready for a race meet but this year he's already spent $1.5 million. One barn is having its roof replaced and the roofs of six other barns are still to be repaired. He also said new track maintenance equipment has been purchased and the starting gate padding is being replaced.
Simms said the track is expecting a strong meet, with about 3,100 stall applications received already for the track that has between 1,700-1,800 stalls. The applications include 40 new trainers coming from Northern California, according to Simms.
"I cannot remember ever having 3,100 stall applications, and more are coming in," he said. "We've had 55 people working all summer and a huge number of them starting at 5:30 a.m. and working all day. I was told we would need an army (for the repairs) and that's what we got."
A couple of residents living near the track told commissioners about several problems they continue to see on the Turf Paradise property, including no timely manure removal that causes bad odor problems and swarms of flies. They urged the commission to hold the new ownership group more accountable.
