On Nov. 1, Colonial Downs Racetrack in New Kent, Va., will close its doors after 17 years.

Built in 1997 to help bring tourism and an economic boost to New Kent County, Colonial Downs was the only live flat racing track in Virginia and also supported several off-track wagering facilities, five of which closed earlier this year. The track formerly hosted the David L. “Zeke” Ferguson Memorial Steeplechase.

Since January of this year, Colonial Downs and the Virginia Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association have not been able to come to an agreement about the number of dates for the racing season.

According to a press release, Colonial Downs owner Jeffrey Jacobs has seen the gradual decline of quality racing in Virginia and wanted fewer days of racing in an effort to bring higher purses and better quality horses to the track. They hoped to offer three days of a “marquee series of races” and 17 days of summer racing.

“It is very simple,” Jacobs said in a statement. “We want to focus our prize money each year on several high quality days of nationally-ranked races involving some of the top trainers, jockeys and horses in America. Our former horsemen’s group [the VHBPA] wanted to see our purse money spread out over more days of lower quality racing, and they did not want to compensate us for losses incurred by opening up the stables and backstretch for them all summer long. That approach does not work.”

For the first time in its history, Colonial Downs did not host flat racing this summer due to the dispute.

J. Sargeant Reynolds Jr., the chairman of the Virginia Racing Commission, has helped mediate talks between Colonial Downs and the VHBPA all year.

“The Virginia Racing Commission decided to do five weeks and 25 days of racing,” he said. “That’s what the [VHBPA] and the track had agreed to in 2013. The track reluctantly said, ‘OK, we’ll do that,’ and the [VHBPA] said ‘No.’ [They] decided to not sign a contract with the track for 2014.”

Because of the lack of a required contract between the majority horsemen’s group in Virginia, the VHBPA, and the track, Reynolds said the VRC had to shut down off-track betting.

“We’ve been going back and forth most of the summer trying to come to some sort of compromise or agreement on how we could move forward,” he said. “I felt like we were pretty close, but the track just couldn’t come to terms on a contract.”

This fall, Colonial Downs supported the creation of a new horsemen’s group, the Old Dominion Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association. They drafted a contract together with proposed dates for 2015 and planned to present it to the VRC at a meeting on Oct. 15 but ultimately decided against it. Instead, Jacobs withdrew Colonial Downs’ unlimited pari-mutuel owners and operators licenses, effective Nov. 1.

“I would like to see quality Thoroughbred racing thrive, and Colonial Downs move towards its full potential,” said Jacobs in a statement at the meeting with VRC on Oct. 15. “This is why I put forward this horsemen’s contract. After 17 years, we cannot continue on any other basis. Virginians deserve nothing less. The Virginia HBPA does not share our vision. Therefore, we have signed a contract with the Old Dominion Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association to provide Colonial Downs with a path to continue traditional summer racing and develop high quality Thoroughbred racing in Virginia.

“Nonetheless, I understand from private conversations that the Commission support is not there for ODTHA and our contract with the ODTHA,” he continued. “Rather than putting our industry through a painful public meeting, which will benefit no one and will just serve to polarize all the Virginia stakeholders, I am now withdrawing Colonial Downs’ Thoroughbred and Standardbred race day requests and the request for approval of the Old Dominion Horsemen’s contract.”

Reynolds noted that the ODTHA did not have enough members at the time to constitute a “majority horsemen’s group,” but he added that the VRC is open to finding a solution.

“I certainly feel badly for all of the racing fans out there, and the people that like to go to the off-track betting facilities, and the people that like to come to Colonial Downs,” Reynolds said. “Hopefully we can find a way forward. I’ve spent a lot of time on this this year, but I’m now going to spend a lot of time working with the secretary of agriculture [Todd Haymore] and his people and sit down and see if we can try to move racing forward in Virginia.”

While the future of Colonial Downs is up in the air, the VHBPA, the Virginia Thoroughbred Association and the Virginia Gold Cup Association have formed the Virginia Horsemen’s Alliance to help sustain racing in Virginia.

William Allison, the chairman of the Virginia Gold Cup Association, which runs the Virginia Gold Cup steeplechase at Great Meadow in The Plains, Va., said the group is in the process of vetting facilities that could host flat races for those horsemen who depended on the racing season at Colonial Downs. The alliance is currently considering the Middleburg Training Center (Va.), which is for sale, and Oakridge (Va).

“Virginia Gold Cup has a limited license for 14 days, [and] we only use two of those 14,” said Allison. “Gold Cup could go to these sites and use our license to have pari-mutuel betting, and the horsemen could provide the purse structures necessary to have the races.”

As a 501(c)(4), the Virginia Gold Cup Association is able to offer their dates due to a Virginia state code that allows non-profits to host up to 14 days of racing.

“There’s a whole lot of horsemen interested in getting racing going,” said Allison. “We’re looking at these things and trying to get something moving for 2015. We’re looking for something that is built for flat racing, and we’re trying to help the guys, now that Colonial Downs is not racing, have a place to race and earn some money.”

Allison added that there is also an effort to combined flat racing and chasing together at sites such as Great Meadow but nothing has been decided yet.

“It seems to be complimentary that the two races can not only exist together but work well together in terms of people coming to see them and to place wagers,” he said.