RACELAND, Ky. — A Worthington, Kentucky man has been arrested on Tuesday for the fire that destroyed the Raceland clubhouse in early January.

The fire occurred around 2:30 a.m. on Jan. 2 and once it was determined the cause of the fire was possible arson, the Raceland Fire Department requested the Flatwoods Police Department Fire Investigator Brett Ritchie take the case.

After a three-week investigation by the Flatwoods Police Department, Kentucky State Fire Marshal, in coordination with Raceland Police Department and Greenup County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office, it was announced that Doyle T. Bonzo III, 32, of Worthington, Kentucky, was arrested without incident and lodged in the Greenup County Detention Center on the charge of arson first degree, a class “a” felony.

The case was developed with help from the community that identified a suspect vehicle that was seen around the time of the fire and further evidence led investigators to interview Bonzo.

Ritchie said that due to this case going to the court system, he couldn’t provide any more details at this time.

He did thank the community and Kentucky Fire Marshal’s Office for their assistance in the case leading to the arrest of Bonzo.

One of the property’s owners, Dan Howell, said there was no insurance on the clubhouse because insurance companies are reluctant to insure vacant buildings and the premium is so high that it wasn’t affordable.

Howell said he had been working with the City of Raceland to get a grant to turn the clubhouse into a community center. Part of the property had recently been sold to Southern Ohio Medical Center to build a new medical facility.

The clubhouse was the last building on the Raceland Park horse track that was stared in 1924 by John Oliver “Jack” Keene in Chinnville in Greenup County, where the city of Raceland is now.

The track operated from 1924 to 1929. Chinnville changed its name to Raceland for consistency after the post office changed its name due to the volume of mail for the track.

“The state of Kentucky had a fee in the 1920s that required the track to pay $2,500 per day to race,” Sammons said. “That’s what closed the track.”

In a 1923 issue of The Thoroughbred Record said “a complete racing and recreation plant” unlike any other in America was planned at Chinnville. Tri-State Fair and Racing Association owned and managed the track. Keene was taking journalists of that day on tours of the facility. Trains brought racing enthusiasts from Cincinnati, Lexington, Louisville, Portsmouth, Ashland, Catlettsburg, Russell, Charleston and Huntington.

It is a misconception the Great Depression ended the track, according to Raceland Police Chief Donald Sammons in 2009.