FRANKLIN, Ky. – Just as everyone is settling in at Kentucky Downs, down comes the curtain to end a meet that always flies by too quickly. Closing day at the five-day meet is Thursday, with two stakes anchoring a 10-race card that starts at the usual 1:25 p.m. Central. The $400,000 Ramsey Farm and the $300,000 Franklin-Simpson are back-to-back co-features on a card that also includes the familiar mix of six-figure allowance and maiden races. Purses at the meet, which began Sept. 1, were on pace to average a North American record of nearly $2 million per day. The Ramsey Farm (race 9, 5:27) honors perennial leading owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey, who just so happen to have a contender – Daring Duchess – among 11 fillies and mares in the 1 5/16-mile race. The Franklin-Simpson (race 8, 4:58), which acknowledges the city-county cooperative in which this sprawling facility is located, figures to have Battle Station and Angaston among the core of favorites in a field of 12 3-year-olds going 6 1/2 furlongs. The turf-only surface at Kentucky Downs was expected to dry out in the days following a deep Sunday soaking, with mostly sunny skies and no rain in the forecast for the entire week. Thursday temperatures are expected to soar into the high 80s. After Thursday, racing on the Kentucky circuit moves to Churchill Downs in Louisville, where the 11-day September meet starts Friday. :: Wager on racing at Kentucky Downs with DRF Bets Daring Duchess a contender Daring Duchess broke out of a mini-slump on Aug. 11 by winning the Flaming Page at Woodbine, her first victory since December. Trained by Mike Maker, the 6-year-old Arch mare can be expected to be among the leading flight in the Ramsey Farm after breaking from post 3 under Jose Ortiz. Her main competition could come from any of another half-dozen in this well-matched affair: Tricky Escape, Mom’s On Strike, and Lottie, the respective 1-2-3 finishers in the off-the-turf Waya last month at Saratoga; Creative Thinking, who upset Daring Duchess in the Keertana at the Churchill spring meet; Res Ipsa, stretching out from shorter turf races for Ian Wilkes; and Violet Blue, a hard-trying filly in from New York for Jimmy Toner. Mom’s On Strike, trained by Joe Sharp, could wind up the wagering favorite on the strength of her three stakes wins this year, most notably the Grade 3 Bewitch in April. Ken Ramsey was otherwise occupied for the opening days of the meet but was expected to be on hand Thursday. Angaston in sharp form Bettors undoubtedly will be impressed by the speedy Battle Station’s last-out allowance victory at Saratoga, not to mention his formidable jockey-trainer team of John Velazquez and Wesley Ward, but trainer Lon Wiggins is hoping Angaston will be able to run him down in the final furlong of the Franklin-Simpson. Angaston, said Wiggins, is “a 3-year-old that really matured and flourished in the spring like you hope they do, and moving him over to the grass has really helped.” Angaston won a May allowance at Churchill at 33-1 and proved it was no fluke, following it with another allowance win and a second in an optional claimer. He finished sixth in the Kentucky Downs Preview Turf Sprint at Ellis Park in his last start. “But I think he bounced a little there, and the best thing is he’s really rounded back into form in his training,” Wiggins said. “I really think he’ll run big again Thursday.” Other considerations include Shangroyal, who gets Jose Ortiz in his second start off a Maker claim; Majestic Dunhill, a two-back winner of the My Frenchman at Monmouth Park for George Weaver; Funny Duck, returning to his turf roots for Rusty Arnold after being tried in major 3-year-old dirt races the last few months; and Honorable Treasure, a turf unknown who earned an eye-catching 98 Beyer Speed Figure in a last-out allowance win over the Saratoga main track for Kenny McPeek.