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Exhibit 5
[Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs letterhead]
July 11, 2000
Board of Directors
Churchill Downs Incorporated
Louisville, Kentucky 40208
Ladies and Gentlemen:
We have acted as counsel to Churchill Downs Incorporated, a
Kentucky corporation (the "Company"), in connection with the Registration
Statement on Form S-8 (the "Registration Statement") being filed by the Company
with the Securities and Exchange Commission pursuant to the Securities Act of
1933, as amended (the "Act"), to register 68,581 shares (the "Shares") of the
Company's common stock, no par value, issuable under the Churchill Downs
Incorporated 2000 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (the "Plan").
We have examined and are familiar with the Company, its
organization and proceedings related thereto. We have also examined such other
documents and procedures as we have considered necessary for the purpose of this
opinion.
We have assumed, for purposes of this opinion, that the Shares
will be validly authorized on the respective dates of issuance of the Shares
under the Plan, and that, on the dates of issuance of the Shares under the Plan,
the obligations of the Company under the Plan will constitute
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the legal, valid and binding obligations of the Company, enforceable against the
Company in accordance with their respective terms.
Based upon the foregoing and subject to the qualifications
hereinafter set forth, we are of the opinion that the Shares are duly authorized
and, when issued and sold in accordance with the Registration Statement, the
prospectus delivered to participants in the Plan pursuant to the requirements of
the Act, the pertinent provisions of any applicable state securities laws and
the Plan, will be duly and validly issued, fully paid and nonassessable.
We express no opinion with respect to Shares issuable under
the Plan which are purchased by the Company on the open market or in private
transactions and are not original issuance shares.
We are members of the Bar of the Commonwealth of Kentucky and,
accordingly, do not purport to be experts on or express any opinion herein
concerning any law other than the laws of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, and the
federal law of the United States.
Our opinion is directed to the Board of Directors of the
Company and may not be relied upon by any persons other than said directors,
recipients of the prospectus and participants in the Plan. We expressly disclaim
any responsibility for advising you of any change hereafter occurring in
circumstances touching or concerning the transaction which is the subject of
this opinion, including any changes in the law or in factual matters occurring
subsequent to the date of this opinion.
We hereby consent to the filing of this opinion, or copies
thereof, as an Exhibit to the Registration Statement. In giving this consent, we
do not thereby admit that we are within the category of persons whose consent is
required under Section 7 of the Act or the rules and regulations of the
Securities and Exchange Commission thereunder.
Sincerely,
WYATT, TARRANT & COMBS
/s/ Wyatt, Tarrant & Combs
