Global Symposium on Racing Speaker: Ted Nicholson
Ted Nicholson has been a behind-the-scenes difference-maker throughout his career in horse racing. A native of Arlington Heights, Ill., and graduate of the University of Arizona’s Racetrack Industry Program, Nicholson was assistant general manager at Arlington Park when the new facility opened in 1989 after the track burned in 1985. He was vice president of operations at Suffolk Downs from 1991-1998 during the Boston track’s renaissance that saw Cigar twice win the Massachusetts Handicap. Nicholson returned to Arlington Park under its Churchill Downs Inc. ownership as vice president of operations for the suburban Chicago track before being sent to New Orleans as vice president and general manager of the Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots and its 10 OTB facilities in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. After overseeing that massive restoration process, Nicholson reorganized Calder Race Course in 2008-2009 before leaving horse racing to be the first general manager of Louisville’s KFC Yum! Center, opening that state-of-the-art sports and concert facility to great reviews.
In his first four years at the helm overseeing the Kentucky Downs operation, betting on Historical Horse Racing at the facility increased from $349 million in 2015 to $1.12 billion (the vast majority of which is returned to players) in 2019, an increase of more than 300 percent. Betting on the track’s live race meet went from $16.88 million in 2015 to $80 million in 2022, up 475 percent.