$1M Kentucky Turf Cup heads Kentucky Downs stakes schedule

The $1 million Kentucky Turf Cup will serve as the showcase event once again at Kentucky Downs, where on Thursday officials at the turf-only track released the stakes schedule and condition book for their six-day September meet.

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Sixteen stakes worth $8.6 million will be run at a meet that underwent a slight dates revision to accommodate the rescheduled Kentucky Derby to be run Sept. 5 at Churchill Downs. The track also added a day to its schedule. The new dates are Sept. 7, 9 10, 12, 13, and 16. Gross purses are projected to total about $12 million, up slightly from the $11.5 million paid last year during a five-day meet. Non-stakes purses have been reduced by about a third because of the coronavirus shutdown, although maiden-specials still are worth $90,000 and allowance races start at $95,000.

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Purses for non-claiming/starter races at Kentucky Downs include substantial bonuses from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund for registered Kentucky-breds.

Five of the stakes are Grade 3 events, including the Kentucky Turf Cup, which anchors the biggest day of the meet, Sept. 12. Three of the other Grade 3 races will be run that day, including the only Breeders’ Cup qualifier of the meet, the $700,000 Runhappy Turf Sprint.

Several new and renamed stakes are part of the schedule. Kentucky Downs, located in south-central Kentucky adjacent to the Tennessee border, had conducted a five-day meet in recent seasons but was granted an additional day for this year by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.

Kentucky Downs general manager Ted Nicholson said in a release that the meet starting just two days after the Kentucky Derby “should provide a ready opportunity for horsemen who haven’t had the chance before to come join us and see why we call it America’s most unique race meet, in addition to being the richest. We’re very pleased with what we’re able to offer in 2020 in these challenging times.”