From lean times to the Breeders Crown

Eldorado Scioto Downs reclaims its place as ‘Ohio’s Showplace of Racing’

by Jay Wolf

Friday (Sept. 11) marked the final day of Eldorado Scioto Downs’ 2009 race meet. Ten races were held with total purses of just $26,200. At the time, Ohio harness racing was at a low point. Purses were meager, horse populations were shrinking, and optimism was in short supply.

Fast forward to October 2026.

Ohio is now firmly established among North America’s premier harness racing jurisdictions, highlighted by the success of the recently-completed $7.6 million Breeders Crown (Oct. 23 and 24).

“I was very, very happy,” said John Campbell, president/CEO of the Hambletonian Society. “Our whole team was extremely happy with the event, not only just pulling it off and what Scioto did with it, but working with them.

“The whole thing was really great, and obviously, you cap it off with that crowd that we had on Saturday night, we just don’t see it like that very often anymore.”

The return to prominence was not an easy one for Scioto Downs.

The south Columbus oval opened in 1959 when Charlie and LaVerne Hill replaced their Hilliard Raceway, located on the current site of the Franklin County Fairgrounds. Dubbed “Ohio’s Showplace of Racing,” Scioto Downs featured a five-eighths-mile track with an architecturally renowned grandstand that could accommodate 10,000 patrons.

Over time, however, Ohio harness racing entered a prolonged period of decline.

The turnaround began in the summer of 2012 when Video Lottery Terminals (VLTs) at Ohio’s seven pari-mutuel tracks were approved. Purse levels improved almost immediately, injecting much-needed optimism into Ohio racing and setting the stage for dramatic growth.

“Once the VLT’s came in, it changed everything for everybody in Ohio, and the program has just grown and grown,” Campbell said. “Not only the purses, but the stallions and broodmares. “The horses that Ohio is producing can go anywhere in North America and compete at the highest level on the Grand Circuit.”

As the sport’s fortunes improved, Scioto Downs continued to invest in its future. The nearly 60-year-old concrete grandstand was eventually condemned and demolished. In its place, a new, right-sized grandstand with seating for more than 1,000 spectators was completed in 2023.

Two years later, a spacious 64,000-square-foot paddock, featuring 16 race-ready stalls, debuted for the 2025 racing season. The project underscored Scioto Down’s commitment to the future of Ohio harness racing.

“We have come a long way since 2009, and have come a long way since 2020 as well. The new grandstand and paddock,” said Jason Roth, Eldorado Scioto Downs’ director of racing. “Hats off to [senior vice president of racing for Caesars Entertainment] Joe Morris as well, he wants us to put the best product forward and do what’s right.”

Roth joined the Scioto Downs team in 2005 and has been in his current role since 2020.

The announcement that Eldorado Scioto Downs would host the 2026 Breeders Crown was made at the Dan Patch Awards banquet in February 2025.

Few people could better appreciate the significance of the event than Tom Charters, the Springfield, OH native and longtime Hambletonian Society executive who has attended every Breeders Crown race since the series debuted in 1984.

“I have a unique view,” Charters said. “I haven’t missed a Breeders Crown event. All 502 races since 1984.”

For Charters, the weekend carried a special personal meaning.

“It was a homecoming for me of sorts,” he said. “My first job in in this wonderful sport was working for the Dick Hackett stable in Barn 13, now gone, in the backstretch at Scioto Downs some 61 years ago. I was dazzled by the new Scioto Downs facility and the overall energy and excitement of the event. I half expected Dick [Hackett] and Charlie and LaVerne [Hill], Doc [John] Jackman, and Bob Steele to pop up at any moment.”

While organizers celebrated the event’s success, they also viewed it as a learning experience.

“It was a good weekend,” Roth said. “We learned some stuff. If we get to do it again, in the future, we will definitely change some stuff up.”

Campbell quickly offered his answer to that possibility.

“Oh, yes, we’re going to do it again,” Campbell said. “How could you not after an event like that? It was amazing what Scioto got done between the eliminations and the final to get ready, and they pulled it off. I thought they did a great job.”

For Charters, however, the lasting memory wasn’t just about the racing.

“I saw many old Midwest friends,” Charters said. “After all, isn’t that what going to the races is all about — seeing old friends, and meeting new ones?”

Thanks to strategic investment, industry growth, and the hard work of the entire Eldorado Scioto Downs team, the nearly 70-year-old oval can once again claim its place as “Ohio’s Showplace of Racing.”