Churchill enjoys solid spring meeting

Churchill Downs concluded a successful 43-day spring race meet on June 29, posting nearly across-the-board gains in key metrics compared to the 2024 spring meeting.

Churchill, according to a database query performed by Daily Racing Form, hosted 416 races, two fewer than last year, and betting interests for the meet fell from 3,432 to 3,400. Field size slipped from 8.21 starters per race during 2024’s meet to 8.17 this spring – but all of Churchill’s handle numbers rose.

Total handle jumped to $760,669,274 from $698,320,748, a gain of 8.1 percent. Kentucky Derby Day accounts for a large portion of the meet’s handle, and while Derby Day handle rose this year to $336.59 million from $306.9 million, handle on the meet’s other 42 days also increased, from $391,420,748 to $424,079,274.

Excluding the Derby card, average daily handle this season was $10,097,125, 7.7 percent higher than during 2024.

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For the entire meet, average handle per race was $1,828,531, an 8.6 percent jump, and average handle per betting interest $223,726, up 9 percent.

Churchill paid out $59,523,000 in purse money, 2.1 percent more than during the 2024 season and a robust $1.38 million per day.

An average of about seven horses per day were claimed for a total of 303 claims, up 8 percent from the 2024 spring meet numbers, while the amount spent on claims rose to $9,646,500, an average of about $31,000 per claim.

Anecdotally, the meet seemed riven with scratches, many from regulatory veterinarians intent on keeping unsound horses from making it to the starting gate, but scratches were up just 3.8 percent compared to 2024, 568 this year after 546 last season.

Jose Ortiz pulled away late to capture the jockey title, riding 63 winners compared to runner-up Luis Saez’s 47. Brian Hernandez Jr. had an excellent meet, his 39 winners third best among the colony. Hernandez in June rode last year’s Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks winners, Mystik Dan and Thorpedo Anna, to Churchill stakes wins.

Joe Sharp, leading trainer at the Fair Grounds meet that ended in late March, won his first Churchill training title, his 20 winners besting the 19 posted by Brad Cox. Godolphin, which won the Derby with Sovereignty and the Oaks with Good Cheer, collected a meet-best 10 winners.

And for the first time since it opened in spring 2022, Churchill’s new grass course not only made it through an entire meet with flying colors, it took water remarkably well and, according to jockeys and trainers, was in fine condition even after rain. After a meet’s worth of use and a spell of rainy weather the course did get chewed up on closing weekend, but prior to that there were no problems, and Churchill ran 96 grass races (averaging 9.48 starters) compared to 74 last spring.

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