 In 1990, Virgil E. Cook, a prominent local businessman and longtime resident of Anderson, Indiana, donated of commercial real estate to the city for the sole purpose of developing a pari-mutuel racing facility.In 1992, Churchill Downs Incorporated announced plans to purchase Indiana's only pari-mutuel license from The Anderson Park Group headed by Louis Carlo and open a racetrack on the site of the land donated by Cook.It was the first racetrack outside Kentucky owned by Churchill Downs since 1939.