Churchill Downs promotes president to top position

Carstanjen has been the president and chief operating officer there since March 2011. He is replacingRobert L. Evans, who had been CEO since August 2006.

Evans will continue as board chairman and will have full-time, daily involvement in the leadership of the company, a news release said. He'll focus on strategy, acquisitions, senior management selection and development, technology initiatives, legislative initiatives and the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby.

Carstanjen, 46, has worked in a number of fields. He spent five and a half years as an attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore in New York and five years at General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE) in Connecticut.

He joined Churchill in July 2005. Since then he's served as general counsel and chief development officer before becoming chief operating officer and later president. In those roles, he has led the company's diversification strategy, which took it into online wagering on Thoroughbred racing via TwinSpires.com. That strategy also led to the acquisitions of Youbet.com, AmericaTab and Bloodstock Research Information Systems. And it also was behind the growth of the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby events and Churchill's venture into regional casino gaming.

“Over the last several years, we have transformed Churchill Downs into a diversified growth company while continuing to strengthen and invest in our traditional horse-racing business," Carstanjen said in the release. "Today, CDI is better positioned strategically and operationally and is stronger financially and organizationally than perhaps at any time in its 140-year history.