Ellis Park won't open its doors today for the scheduled start of live horse racing, but the starting gates might not be shuttered forever.

Two hours after owner Ron Geary declared the track closed at an emotional news conference Thursday beneath the main grandstand, Ellis-based horsemen launched a bid to protect their livelihoods and preserve their lifestyles.

"This is what we do, what we live for," said Henderson trainer Benjie LaRue. "This looks like a pretty good deal to me. We're here to race."

The horsemen secured an agreement from Geary to reopen the track, probably on Wednesday, provided the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (KHBPA) signs off on an improved Advance Deposit Wagering provision.

Marty Maline, executive director of the KHBPA, agreed to poll his 10-member board, with a majority ruling. A decision was not expected until today. Racing could not start until Wednesday.

"Obviously, by meeting with all of our employees and by going in front of the media, I never dreamed that this meet could be resurrected," Geary said by phone on Thursday night. "We had a lot of discussions with those guys (the KHBPA) and they showed no willingness to work with us.

"I'd be thrilled to get an agreement in place and get back to racing. I didn't buy this park (two years ago) to wind up shutting its doors."

Just a week ago, Ellis Park was on track to open its 85th race meet since 1922.

But a dispute over Advance Deposit Wagering, which takes bettors' money through third-party computer sites then funnels it to the tracks, blew up into a huge issue, as it had earlier this year at Churchill Downs.

Geary was excited to have agreements with 10 ADWs, including the television racing networks TVG and HRTV, figuring that additional outlets would result in increased handle. But horsemen nationwide are unhappy with a revenue split that puts between 2.5 and 3.25 percent of that money into purse accounts, compared to 8 percent from on-track betting.

Geary's agreements with the ADWs call for 5 percent to go to Ellis, divided evenly between purses and the track.

When the KHBPA wouldn't sign off on the deals, he took the group to court on Wednesday. A federal judge in Owensboro, Ky., declined to issue an injunction against the KHBPA. That's when Geary decided to shut down, though he said Judge Joseph H. McKinley was sympathetic to his case.

"He told them that 'the closing of Ellis Park is on your shoulders, not mine,'" Geary said. "And I agreed with him."

Geary said that even with Ellis' races on ADW cards, the track was facing a $600,000 loss for this year's meet. Without the ADW money, he said, purses would be cut by 25 percent, horses would go elsewhere resulting in four-, five- and six-horse fields.

The result, he said, would be an operating loss similar to the $2.7 million he said the track lost last year. "I simply couldn't live with that type of loss again," he said.

On Thursday morning, Geary met with 60 full-time employees (another 500 seasonal workers also had been hired) to tell them their jobs were terminated. He then met with media, squarely laying the blame on the KHBPA. Then he met with owners and trainers, who had between 350 and 400 horses in stalls and ready to race.

That's where some hope was nourished.

With trainer John Hancock taking charge in a session closed to reporters, the Ellis-based group asked Geary what was needed to keep the track open — and what could he do to help solve the impasse.

Geary said he agreed to changing the ADW split to 3 percent for purses and 2 percent for the track — figuring that a smaller slice of a bigger pie would be more filling than no piece of the pie at all.

The Ellis horsemen, many with small outfits and few options to go elsewhere, mostly agreed.

"Mr. Geary said in front of us all that if this works, we could be racing on Wednesday," said Lori Ritz, who brought her lone horse from Oklahoma for the meet. "The horsemen are all for it, and now we need the directors to agree. We want to run this meet because the contract already is signed, then look at renegotiating at a later day."

Geary noted that Maline's 10 directors — who include owners and trainers statewide— can be "hard to get hold of," which is why he gave a 24-hour window for a decision.

"I don't know what the hope is" of a change in position by the KHBPA board, the track owner said, putting the deadline at 1:30 p.m. today.

He suggested that the future of this live meet is in the KHBPA's hands. "It's always been in their court," he said.

If the KHBPA does not sign off on the agreement, there will be no meet, he said. And while Geary insisted the track was not for sale, he said he couldn't be certain racing ever would return. "At this point, I can't say what we'll do (with the track)," Geary said.

He said he had no immediate plans on developing the 203 acres, which he said were appraised at $25 million. And he would not rule out — or predict — if horse racing would return if this meet doesn't start.

"The park is completely paid for — there's no debt on the books," Geary said, emphasizing that employees would be paid and that patrons who had prepaid sponsorships or season tickets would be refunded if that's the case. "I'm very regretful that we had to make this decision."

Geary took questions in the shade beneath the main grandstand, standing in the same spot that, 16 days before, he had predicted the most successful meet in years — which, he said, "shows what a difference two weeks can make."

Today, horsemen may learn what a difference a couple of hours could make.

"We're losing the opening weekend, for sure, but we could still be up and running through Labor Day," Geary said. "If our signal is in the ADWs, I still think we could have a good meet. But whether we get that chance or not isn't determined."

n Chuck Stinnett of The Gleaner helped report this story.