Ellis Park will be closed to public Thursday for opening day of races

There'll be horse racing at Ellis Park Thursday for the track's opening day, but there'll be no fans in attendance to see it.

Racetrack officials said Thursday morning the track would be closed to spectators "due to an unscheduled grandstand maintenance issue."

In a post to social media on Thursday morning, Ellis Park spokesman Kevin Kerstein described the details of the problem:

“This was a really difficult decision we had to make this morning but due to an unscheduled maintenance issue we will have to conduct today’s race card without patrons,” General Manager Matt Pressley said in a news release. “We are still going to run all nine races as scheduled. We will update everyone as soon as we can when the facility will be back open to fans.”

The news release noted that fans can watch and wager on all the races at Ellis Park on www.twinspires.com, FanDuel TV and the Churchill Downs LIVE app on smart TVs.

Thursday's opening day lineup includes a full nine races.

Ellis Park is owned and operated by Churchill Downs Incorporated.