REMINGTON PARK POPULARITY CONTINUES GROWTH WITH ATTENDANCE INCREASES FOR PREMIER QUARTER HORSE SEASON

press release posted on www.remingtonpark.com
Thursday, June 7, 2007

OKLAHOMA CITY – Attendance at Remington Park climbed for the fourth straight American Quarter Horse Season with 280,275 guests attending during the 50 days of live racing that ended June 3. The total is an increase of 10,265 over 2006 or 3.8 percent. Attendance has increased for each Quarter Horse Season since 2004.

Remington Park conducted 500 live races during the season with 4,473 horses starting in those events, producing an average field size of 8.9 per race.

The simulcast of the Kentucky Derby followed by a live program featuring the best American Quarter Horse racing and Casino gaming on May 5 resulted in the highest attendance of the season at 13,373. The crowd on Kentucky Derby day was one of two dates exceeding the 10,000-mark during the season.

The top horses and horsemen in the sport once again competed at Remington Park this season with a total of nearly $8 million in purses distributed. The final night of the season was also the richest program presented with nearly $1.2 million in purses paid throughout the 11 races.

The season featured 29 stakes events with Oklahoma’s richest race, the $649,400 Heritage Place Futurity, won by Southern Takes All on the season’s final night. The talented 2-year-old set a new 350-yard track record in winning the futurity.

Featured along with the Heritage Place Futurity was the $153,500 Remington Park Championship, won by Country Chicks Man, a former Horse of the Meeting.
In winning Remington’s top race for older horses, Country Chicks Man secured a berth in the prestigious $1 million Los Alamitos Champion of Champions. He will take part in the southern California race for the second consecutive year after finishing third in 2006.

“It was a great season in every sense of the word,” said vice president and general manager Scott Wells. “Attendance marks are broken for a reason. It usually means you’re treating your customers well and you’re providing a top-class product. During this season our fans were treated to the highest quality sprint racing anywhere. That closing night program may have been the best program I’ve ever seen in terms of star quality.

“Furthermore, it was the safest season for horses in the history of Remington Park,” Wells continued. “From more than five thousand starters (including training races), no horses were involved in any injury-related incident during the course of a race this season. In all the discussions about synthetic racing surfaces, I think it’s appropriate to note that some conventional dirt surfaces can be made to be safe, too. It also says a lot about the quality of the trainers who race with us.”

The renewed interest in Remington Park’s horse racing and casino products has enabled expansion of the track’s Off Track Betting network in Oklahoma. A pair of new locations began operation during the Quarter Horse Season, helping to boost pari-mutuel handle categories for the OTB network.

Zeke’s Sports Grille in Oklahoma City and Sanford’s Steakhouse in Kingston, Okla. became the sixth and seventh Remington Park OTB locations this season.
Zeke’s gives Remington Park a presence in the southern district of Oklahoma City while Sanford’s puts Remington Park into the Lake Texoma resort area in southern Oklahoma.

OTB network handle on Remington Park racing totaled $417,808, an increase of 12 percent over 2006. The OTB network handle on incoming simulcast racing from other tracks was also up 10.3 percent with a total of $4,668,932 wagered.

In other handle categories, Remington Park live on-track handle was $3,515,846, down three percent compared to the 2006 season. The on-track imported simulcast handle at Remington Park was $6,135,691 which was 5.9 percent lower than last year.

The exporting of the Remington Park racing programs to other jurisdictions produced handle of $21,240,933, a decrease of six percent compared to 2006.

Total All Sources handle was off slightly this Quarter Horse season with $35,979,210 wagered, a decrease of 3.7 percent compared to last year.

Remington Park is open daily at 10 a.m. and will feature simulcast racing, casino gaming and many special events over the next two months including the Luckiest Day of the Year on July 7, 2007 (7-7-7). Live racing is on hiatus until the beginning of the 2007 Thoroughbred Season on August 2.

A division of MEC, Magna Entertainment Corp., Remington Park is Oklahoma City’s only Racetrack & Casino, located at the junction of Interstates 35 & 44, in the heart of the Oklahoma City Adventure District. For more information, reservations and group bookings please call 405-424-1000, 866-456-9880 or visit remingtonpark.com.