Ball in Ada County's court after bids for Les Bois submitted

Two groups interested in operating live and simulcast horse racing at Les Bois Park have submitted proposals to lease the facility to the Ada County commissioners.

The Greene Group, which operates a simulcast facility in Post Falls, submitted its second bid for the race track located at Expo Idaho in Garden City. The group's initial proposal was rejected by the county in April.

The county invited the group to bid again after the two parties discussed what equipment and responsibilities were included in the lease.

"We submitted our lease (proposal) but we have not heard back from them," said Eric Wilson, the director of compliance for the Greene Group. "We're just waiting on them."

Ada County spokesman Rich Wright said the county won't divulge details of any negotiations while they were still ongoing.

The second group that submitted a proposal is Oneida Capital LLC, a California-based company that operates off-track betting facilities and race tracks in Montana, New York and Wyoming.

T. Patrick Stubbs, a spokesman for Oneida Capital, said the group's proposal was sent Wednesday morning. Wright said the commissioners hadn't seen the proposal as of the close of business Wednesday because the document must be processed by the county's legal department first.

"We have submitted something and we're very excited about it," Stubbs said. "We think we can do a lot of fun things there. We absolutely love the facility. Hopefully, we'll be hearing back from the county real soon."

Wright said no timetable has been set to make a decision about Les Bois Park, which means further delays of the live horse racing season, which was scheduled to begin May 1.

The lease for the facility became available when former operator Capitol Racing opted out of its five-year deal, citing losses of more than $1 million in each of the three years it ran the track. The county then accepted proposals from new operators but didn't find a suitable deal, setting up this second round of bids.

Some stakes races planned for Les Bois have been moved because of the uncertainty surrounding the largest race track in Idaho.

The Northwest Challenge Series has moved its four races scheduled to Wyoming Downs. The Bitterroot Futurity already had plans to move to Pocatello Downs.

It's a repeat of 2005, which was the only time a full racing season hasn't been run at Les Bois Park since it opened in the 1970s.

"We waited as long as we could, but to be fair, we thought we better do it," said Duayne Didericksen, a longtime fixture at Les Bois who is serving as a consultant and general manager at Wyoming Downs this summer.

The 7Ý-furlong track is located in Evanston, Wyo., close to the Utah border. It's about 90 miles from Bear Lake in Idaho. The track is having an abbreviated eight-day racing season that starts Saturday and ends July 19.

The challenge series quarter horse races that were scheduled for Les Bois will be run July 3, 4 and 18.

Didericksen, who has been everything from a horse trainer, owner, racing secretary, director of racing and general manager at Les Bois, said the Wyoming facility has been getting calls about stall rentals from Idaho horsemen and hopes many of them will race in Evanston until the Les Bois situation is resolved.

"Hopefully something will happen there soon," Didericksen said.

Nick Jezierny: 377-6420