A turf war between Churchill Downs Inc. and Magna Entertainment Corp. will ultimately help the horse racing industry, an analyst said. The two companies have recently purchased so many racetracks at such a rapid pace that last year, they accounted for more than half of all the money legally wagered on horse racing. Such aggressive consolidation increases purses, which in turn attracts bigger fields and better horses, which then lures more bettors to the tracks, said analyst Stuart Linde of Lehman Bros. in New York. Consolidation is actually very good, Linde said. The companies appear to be locked in a dead-heat to this point:Churchill, based in Louisville, owns four tracks, a piece of two more, and is in negotiations for a seventh Arlington International Racecourse near Chicago. Magna, based in Toronto, has six, has agreed to buy a seventh Bay Meadows in San Francisco owns the license to build another, and reportedly is looking at just about every other track out there. Magna has live racing 330 days of the year. Churchill has live racing only nine months of the year, but sometimes it has as many as three tracks running at one time. When all the days are added up, Churchills schedule totals more than 660 racing days. Churchills market capitalization is $236 million; Magna Entertainment, which was spun off from auto-parts giant Magna International in March, stands at $401 million. Magna may have the more impressive lineup of tracks but Churchill Downs has the sports premier event, the Kentucky Derby. Before their latest acquisition plans, Churchill and Magna were nearly even in parimutuel handle. Of the $13.7 billion bet last year at the track or at off-track betting sites, 22 percent was wagered on races at Churchill tracks and 23 percent on races at Magna tracks. One area where the two arent close is debt. Magna owes about $40 million while Churchill owes about $175 million. But Bob Decker, Churchill chief financial officer, said the company isnt near the end of its financial tether.