At 3 p.m., in the first running of the Nebraska HBPA Derby, five horses will run a full mile around the track at Legacy Downs, in what will be the first “real” horse race in the Capital City since State Fair Park closed in 2012.

Though the facility at 7055 S. First St., which used to be known as the Lincoln Race Course, has hosted a race every year since it opened in 2016, those races have been short one-furlong sprints to satisfy state requirements for it to be able to simulcast other horse races.

This year it will have four days of racing, with four races on Friday starting at 3 p.m. and five on Saturday starting at 1 p.m. The schedule will repeat itself the following Friday and Saturday, Sept. 27 and 28.

“This is really the first time that we’ve run a real race date since we’ve been down at Lincoln Race Course,” said Lynne McNally, chief executive officer of the Nebraska Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association.

“It’s both exciting and a relief at the same time,” she said.

Horse owners and trainers are also excited about the prospect of full racing again in Lincoln.

Longtime Nebraska horse racing veteran Marvin Johnson, who won his first race in Lincoln in 1974, said he’s ecstatic about the Lincoln track getting back to a full slate of racing.

“I look forward to it being a real nice facility and being able to run for some real nice purses,” he said.

Anderson has a horse running in Friday’s third race, one that includes seven horses, all Nebraska-bred, running for a $17,500 purse.

In addition to the HBPA Derby, which has a $20,000 purse, the two other Friday races have purses of $9,000 and $7,500.

That’s $54,000 worth of purses just on the first day of racing, nearly as much as the total purses offered at the last five years’ worth of races at Legacy Downs.

“Purses are really good,” McNally said, noting that having Warhorse casinos open in Lincoln and Omaha helps to provide revenue to boost the available race purses.

Having live races also could boost betting activity, which has declined sharply in Lincoln over the past few years.

According to the Nebraska Racing and Gaming Commission, $16.4 million was bet on horse racing at the Lincoln facility in 2017. Last year, that number was down to $12.6 million, a nearly 25% decline.

Statewide, total betting dropped to $43.5 million last year, down from $67.9 million in 2017 and its high-water mark of nearly $215 million in 1988.

While most betting on horse racing in Nebraska is through simulcasting — betting on races run at other tracks that are available via broadcast — in-person betting on live races does produce significant revenue.

For example, Fonner Park in Grand Island, which accounts for most of the horse racing in Nebraska, has averaged $5 million a year in live betting over the past three years.

And when the races in Lincoln were still being held at State Fair Park, average live betting averaged upward of $60,000-$70,000 a day. In 2012, the last year of races there, total live meet betting was more than $8.4 million.

To boost that in-person betting, there needs to be a strong slate of local horse races.

McNally said one of the keys to rebuilding the horse racing industry in Nebraska is bringing back the circuit of multiple race days at each of the state’s horse racing tracks.

“That circuit is essential. That’s the key to getting really good racing back in the state,” she said.

That means having multiple days of racing not only at Fonner Park, but also in Columbus and Lincoln and Omaha.

At its peak in 1988, the state’s horse racing industry had 233 days of racing. By 2009, there were still more than 100 days of racing.

But it has dropped to about half that number, with more than half of those days occurring at Fonner Park, which has essentially carried Nebraska’s racing industry for several years now.

“I’m delighted that Lincoln is making an effort to begin to offer a race meet rather than a race day,” said Fonner Park CEO Chris Kotulak. “The success of thoroughbred racing in our state, and the industry it involves, is dependent on all racetracks doing all they can to share the responsibility.”

Lincoln’s race dates follow 15 days of racing at the new 1-mile track at Harrah’s Columbus Racing & Casino, which ended last weekend.

McNally said the Lincoln track is ready to do its part and hopes to expand to as many as 15 days next year. While Horsemen’s Park in Omaha will not be able to have more than a token race this year due to construction, it hopes to have expanded racing next year as well.

Once this year’s races are over, Legacy Downs will start work on a second horse barn, she said.

Completing the horse racing circuit that Nebraska used to have is a goal and a priority of the Nebraska Horsemen’s board and its president Gerald “Wally” Wollesen, McNally said.

“It’s very important to President (Wally) Wollesen and the board that we get to good racing as soon as possible,” she said.

That starts on Friday, when McNally is hoping for good crowds.

She said that between temporary grandstands and tables — all borrowed from the Sandhills Global Event Center — there is enough seating to accommodate about 1,500 people.

The first race day was not planned to coincide with a Husker football game, and McNally said she’s not sure what to expect. Some people may hit a race or two before going to the game, while others might come to the races and then watch the game on TVs in the casino.

The big wild card could be the weather.

The current forecast calls for a chance of rain late Friday, although it’s more likely that rain and severe weather would be a threat to Saturday’s races.

McNally said the races will go on whatever the weather, but she’s more worried about a downpour making a mess out of parking areas than affecting the race course or fan attendance.

“We’re crossing our fingers for not much rain,” she said. “We’ll make it work either way.”