Big numbers mark Kentucky Downs opener
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The former out-of-the-way meet that has grown into something of a phenomenon will begin Saturday with the kind of eye-popping numbers that horsemen and fans have come to expect from Kentucky Downs.
The 10-race opener will conclude with four straight stakes, led by the $750,000 Tourist Mile. The Saturday card is the first of five at the Kentucky Downs meet, with the other dates being Sept. 6, 8, 9, and 13. Churchill Downs will begin an 11-day meet on Sept. 14.
Buoyed largely by revenues generated by the slots-like historical racing machines that have been operational at the turf-only Franklin, Ky., facility since 2011, Kentucky Downs offers the largest per-day purses in North America. Purses for non-claiming races include sizable bonuses restricted to horses registered to the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund, with most starters typically KTDF-eligible. Maiden-specials start at $130,000 and allowances at $140,000, including bonuses.
Those outlandish purses enticed the usual barrage of entries when the opening-day card was drawn Tuesday. The totals: 115 horses in the main body of races; 24 also-eligibles; and a whopping 69 exclusions.
The biggest date is Sept. 8, when four Grade 3 races will be run, led by the $750,000 Kentucky Turf Cup. Horsemen from coast to coast will be represented throughout the meet. First post daily is 1:25 p.m. Central.
Here’s a quick glance at the opening-day stakes:
$250,000 One Dreamer (race 7): On Leave, in from New York for Shug McGaughey, likely will be favored in an oversubscribed field of fillies and mares who have not won a stakes in 2018.
$750,000 Tourist Mile (race 8): Mr. Misunderstood, Mr Cub, and Bound for Nowhere are the principals in a lineup of eight older horses, easily the smallest field of the day.
$400,000 Kentucky Downs Juvenile (race 9): Todd Pletcher will be represented by the uncoupled pair of Good Good and Coral Legacy among a field of 11 in this seven-furlong race.
$400,000 Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies (race 10): Two Shakes and Miss Technicality, both last-out maiden winners in New York, head an oversubscribed field in the opening-day finale.
