Anticipation high as Turfway opens first meet under Churchill Downs Inc.
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
Tyler Picklesimer has seen the worst. Now in his seventh year as racing secretary at Turfway Park, he can finally hope for the best.
“There’s a light at the end of the tunnel,” said Picklesimer, “and it’s not an oncoming train.”
Purchased in October by Churchill Downs Inc. after years of major business struggles and uncertainty, Turfway begins a new era of positivity Wednesday with an eight-race card that starts at 6:15 p.m. Eastern. Purses in some categories have been more than doubled, most notably $46,000 maiden-special races and $48,000 allowances. (All non-claiming races include substantial bonuses for horses registered to the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund.)
Racing will be conducted at the northern Kentucky track for nearly four months, first with a holiday meet that runs through Dec. 31, then a winter-spring meet that spans Jan. 1 to March 28. All races are run on Polytrack.
By early April, demolition of the facility, which has fallen into disrepair, will be well under way. CDI officials are expected to announce more definitive plans in the coming weeks – including what types of racing surface or surfaces will be used – but however it all comes together, it’ll be far better than the product to which Turfway fans had become accustomed in recent years.
“It’s night and day,” said Jeff Greenhill, perennially among the leading Turfway trainers in recent years. “The last few weeks, there’s a much better sense of being. They’re painting and fixing things around here. Hopefully, this will make Kentucky a true circuit again.”
Greenhill said he and other longtime Turfway regulars will “need to retool to survive, and that’s not whining.”
“That’s reality,” Greenhill said. “I mean, I hope they don’t forget guys like me who were around when there wasn’t any meat in the soup, but now it’s on us to step up with better horses.”
Besides Mike Maker and Wesley Ward, who have dominated the training ranks in recent years, other big-name trainers intending to race at Turfway include Steve Asmussen, Brad Cox, and Ian Wilkes.
“It’s a game-changer,” Greenhill said.
With some exceptions around the Christmas and New Year’s holidays, Turfway will run a four-day week, Wednesdays through Saturdays during the holiday meet and a three-day week (Wednesdays dropped) during the winter-spring meet. Night racing is the norm, with some exceptions.
The stakes schedule consists of 11 races, starting Friday with the $75,000 Holiday Inaugural for filly-mare sprinters. Easily the biggest day is March 14, when the Jeff Ruby Steaks will offer Kentucky Derby qualifying points as one of six stakes on the card.
The Wednesday opener is typical of what fans can expect, with two maiden-specials (races 1 and 5) an allowance feature (race 7) interspersed among lower-level claiming races.
CDI is not permitting sales of Daily Racing Form at Turfway. To find a retail outlet to purchase DRF near the track or elsewhere, use this guide: www1.drf.com/formFinder.do.
