I would like to know if Chruchill Downs has ever been sold to the city
of Louisville, Kentucky and leased back to the those that sold it.

Looks like not.  A proposal was made but not accepted.

In January,1960 a proposal was made to have the City of Louisville
issue revenue bonds to purchase Churchill Downs. However, the
proposal, which was made in an effort to secure the Derby and prevent
outside ownership of the track, was turned down by aldermen.

It was bought 9 years later by a private company made up of Churchill
board members instead.

http://www.churchilldowns.com/about/history.html

i emailed churchill downs about this question and this was thier response

The property on which Churchill Downs sits was sold to the City of
Louisville and Churchill Downs now leases the property for a certain sum of
money every year. I am unsure of the length of time on the contract. Thank
you.

Lauren
Customer Service Department

-----Original Message-----
From: redsoxfan2@verizon.net [mailto:redsoxfan2@verizon.net]
Sent: Tuesday, April 05, 2005 3:13 PM
To: customerservice@kyderby.com
Subject: Regarding Investor Relations


I am just wondering if Churchill Downs has ever been sold to the city of
Kentucky and then leased back to the people who owned it