The owners of Turf Paradise in Phoenix and Arizona’s horsemen have reached a deal to maintain approximately 100 days of racing at the track for the next three years, one year after the track was widely anticipated to close, state racing officials said Tuesday. The three-year deal will guarantee four days of live racing each week from the first weekend in November to the first Saturday in May through 2027, according to Vince Francia, the longtime general manager of the track. That has been the traditional racing season at Turf Paradise for decades. The deal was reached just after the May 4 close of this year’s abbreviated meet, which began in late January at a time when the future of the track was still unclear. The track’s current owner, Jerry Simms, had announced last year that he did not intend to continue operating the track, but several efforts to sell the property fell through, and Simms eventually acquiesced to a 2024 meet. Francia said that Simms will continue to entertain offers to sell the track, though he has decided to limit development of the property to the roughly 100 acres that are not presently used for racing activities. The property has 213 total acres. “He wants racing to go on,” Francia said. “Someone can come in and develop the rest of the property for whatever they want. This has been something of a roller-coaster ride for our horsemen this past year, and we kept hearing that they wanted certainty. That really resonated with me and Mr. Simms. They have families here, they have homes here, and kids in school here.” :: Get the Inside Track with the FREE DRF Morning Line Email Newsletter. Subscribe now.  Leroy Gessman, executive director of the Arizona Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, did not immediately return a phone call. The 2024 meet was held against the backdrop of a rapidly shifting racing landscape across the U.S. West. Golden Gate Fields in Northern California is set to shutter its doors this summer, while Arapahoe Park in Colorado canceled its 2024 meet several weeks ago. Farther north, tracks in Wyoming have begun attracting more and more horses due to an expansion of summer racing made possible from casino revenues. Although total handle on Thoroughbred races at Turf Paradise’s 54-day meet was down 45 percent compared to last season’s 114-day meet, the average handle per Thoroughbred race was up 15 percent, to $224,290, according to data compiled by Daily Racing Form. That was despite a slight drop in the average field size, which dipped to 7.14 horses per race compared to 7.30 horses during last season’s meet. “No matter what track you look at, everyone is having trouble with field size,” Francia said. The average purse for a Thoroughbred race was up 37 percent, from $17,474 last season to $24,095 this year, according to the DRF data. Francia said the average purse distribution of $220,000 per day, for both Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse races, was the “highest it’s ever been.” Handle for the meet was boosted by a 33-day carryover in the track’s jackpot pick six pool, which eventually paid out three days prior to the meet’s end with a carryover of more than $700,000. The track’s turf races also posted good betting numbers, Francia said, in part because of an influx of shippers from Southern California, where purses for low-level races were nearly on par with Turf Paradise’s pots. “The Southern California trainers are nationally recognized, so that always helps,” Francia said. “Purses are always going to have an influence on quality.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.