In our previous post, we began looking at the recent Chapter 7 bankruptcy filing of the owner of Farm & Agriculture Association in Prescott, Arizona. The Association owns a famous horse racetrack by the name of Yavapai Downs.

As sources noted, the Association's bankruptcy filing listed $24 million in assets and $15.4 million in liabilities, but according to sources, the value of facilities has varied depending on who calculated it and when it was calculated.

The Yavapai Downs horse racetrack facilities include 300 acres surrounded by Highway 89A and ranchland, as well as a four-story grandstand building and a one-mile racetrack and stables for 1,190 horses. Yavapai Downs' financial statement lists the value of the associated facilities at $22 million. According to the Farm and Ag Association, that value came from an appraisal conducted when the Yavapai County Farm & Agriculture Association received a federal government loan in 2009. That appraisal listed the replacement value at $16.8 million. The previous owner, the Yavapai County Fair Association, listed the same amounts in 2000-01.


But in 2010, the Yavapai county Assessor's Office valued the facilities at $20 million, but then decreased that amount to $5.4 million this year after using a different valuation method as requested by the Farm & Ag Association. In any case, the bankruptcy filing lists $24 million in assets.

Sources said the racetrack's gross income in 2010 was $8.17 million and $6.9 million in 2009. Those revenues came mostly from off-track betting. The bankruptcy court is scheduled to hold creditor's meetings on August 24 in Phoenix and August 26 in Prescott.

Farm & Ag Association Chairman Jeff Wasowicz said the Association hopes that an investor group will put the track back into operation next year. Employees of the track are being keep around until the end of the month, at which point the bankruptcy trustee will determine whether to let them go.

Source: The Daily Courier, "Racetrack files financial documents in bankruptcy case," Joanna Dodder Nellans, August 3, 2011.