They leave the gate like a Quarter Horse each spring at Churchill Downs. Opening night, two dark days filled with Derby and Oaks training and opining. Suddenly it’s Tuesday, Derby week. Something more than Oaks and Derby electricity ripples through Churchill’s 43-day spring meet that launches at 5:00 Eastern on Saturday evening. Purses have hit a level unthinkable even a few years ago. From this Saturday through the end of the May 3 card, Churchill offers stakes races worth a total of $30 million. Maiden special weight races go for $120,000. Churchill has raised the purse for so-called maiden auction races, restricted this year to horses purchased at auction for a maximum of $65,000, to $90,000. “Less than five years ago, we still had nickel claimers,” said Ben Huffman, Churchill’s vice president of racing and racing secretary. “Then it went up to $8,000, then $10,000.” Now Churchill’s lowest open claiming price stands at $12,000. Those horses, if they’re Kentucky-bred, run for a $45,000 purse. :: KENTUCKY DERBY 2025: Top contenders, odds, point standings, news, and more Turfway winter purses have gone through the roof. Turfway feeds into Keenland’s boutique meet in April, and after Churchill closes down at the end of June, Ellis Park, also flush with money, leads into another boutique meet at Kentucky Downs, where they basically print Benjamins. No wonder an increasing number of horse-people would prefer to make this their year-round circuit. “There’s no question the demand for stall space is enormous,” said Huffman, who’s also Keeneland’s racing secretary. “At Keeneland and Churchill, we’ve processed more stall applications than we’ve ever looked at.” There’s even cautious optimism regarding Churchill’s turf course, which was installed before racing during 2022 and ran into problems as soon as it opened. As recently as late last summer, Churchill elected not to hold turf racing during the September meet, but the course held up surprisingly well during November. “We went into the winter with a good feeling, like we’re finally making progress with everything we’ve done to try and help the course,” Huffman said Wednesday. “So far, with a couple days of turf workouts, we’re really optimistic that it’s going to handle better this year than last year, though I can see us babying it a little through the spring meet.” :: DRF Kentucky Derby Package: Save on PPs, Clocker Reports, Betting Strategies, and more. Churchill’s main track also has received plaudits this spring, even from some well-known trainers who haven’t always loved the surface. Huffman said that trackman Jamie Richardson added material to the surface over the winter. Whatever the methodology, it appears to be working. Either Steve Asmussen or Brad Cox has won the last six Churchill training titles, and expect both barns to come out firing. Luis Saez and Jose Ortiz top a jockey colony that, for the first week at least, draws all the best riders in the land. Racing weeks generally span Thursday-Sunday through the end of May, with Wednesdays added for the meet’s final month. Thursday cards start at 5 p.m., while programs throughout the rest of the week have a regular 12:45 p.m. first post. Oaks and Derby cards begin at 11 a.m., with first post on two other Saturdays, May 17 and June 21, set at 6:00. The strong stakes program comes to a second, lower peak with the $1 million Stephen Foster on June 28. The spring meet starts Saturday with the $200,000 Roxelana, named for a standout female sprinter trained by Huffman’s late, great father, William “Blackie” Huffman. On May 4, 2000, Roxelana won the La Troienne – now a route, then a seven-furlong sprint – by 11 3/4 lengths while earning a 105 Beyer Speed Figure. None among the eight entered in the six-furlong Roxelana has approached that performance level. Listed as the 5-2 morning-line favorite is a filly named Sandy Bottom, whose trainer, Michael McCarthy, hopes to visit the winner’s circle Saturday night and then again next Saturday, when he runs Derby favorite Journalism. Sandy Bottom went 2 for 2 as a 2-year-old in 2023, didn’t race for more than a year, won her comeback in a November allowance at Del Mar, and has since lost twice. Sandy Bottom appears to be a need-the-lead type, with the recent defeats brought about by speed duels. She has a chance to make a clear lead in the Roxelana, though Girls Weekend could apply outside pressure. Harbor Springs probably will wind up favored. The 4-year-old filly has shown talent from the start of her career, came to a peak winning at Churchill last fall and at Fair Grounds in February, and has worked strongly for her return to stakes competition. Her trainer, Greg Foley, was saddling horses at Churchill in the early 1980s. Now, everyone wants to be there. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.