Horseracing in Great Falls is back in the month of July. The Great Falls Turf Club puts on the State Fair Race Meet, an event celebrated three weekends a year.
New Media Broadcasters spoke with club president Sparky Kottke, who gave a rundown of what the organization does to make sure that Great Falls has horseracing every year.
“We produce all the horse races here in Great Falls,” Kottke said. “We have a contract to get the facility from the (Cascade) County commissioners and ExpoPark there, but then we do all the hiring…everything that is involved with the racing is all done by the turf club.”
The Montana ExpoPark has held two weekends of racing this year. Kottke shared how the first weekend went down.
“Our attendance days, we were a little under 1,100, which was much better than last year on our first weekend,” Kottke said. “Our first money, we were about $67,000 on handle (for Friday), then about $67,000 for Saturday and about $57,000 for Sunday.
“The betting was pretty good and crisp during those eight races we had each day,” Kottke continued. “We are pretty optimistic that things will be better this year than they were last year.”
Anyone who wants to see the final weekend of racing can head to the Montana ExpoPark Grandstands on Saturday and Sunday, July 29-30. Post times start at 1pm.
