Churchill releases stakes schedule for September, fall meets

Churchill Downs has scheduled 27 stakes for its September and fall meets this year, with total purses of $8.575 million, according to a schedule released by the track on Thursday.

The 14-date September meet, running from Sept. 11 to Sept. 28, will feature the first Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks points series races, the $300,000, Grade 3 Iroquois and the $300,000, Grade 3 Pocahontas, both on Sept. 13. Three other stakes are on the Sept. 13 card, including the $400,000, Grade 2 Locust Grove.

The meet’s richest stakes, the $500,000, Grade 2 Lukas Classic, will be run on Sept. 27, along with the $400,000, Grade 3 Ack Ack Stakes. The Lukas is named for Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, who died in late June of this year. The race has been used in the past as a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, scheduled this year for Nov. 1 at Del Mar in Southern California.

The September meet is preceded by seven days of racing at Kentucky Downs, which offers only turf racing and the richest purses in the U.S. The Churchill meet is then followed by the fall meet at Keeneland, which hosts a slate of Breeders’ Cup prep races on its opening weekend.

The 26-day Churchill fall meet, which runs from Oct. 26 to Nov. 30, will feature 16 stakes races worth a total of $5 million. The two richest race days will once again be held over Thanksgiving weekend, with the $600,000, Grade 2 Clark Handicap and $300,000, Grade 2 Mrs. Revere on Friday, Nov. 28, and the $400,000, Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club and $400,000, Grade 2 Golden Rod on the Nov. 29 card.

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