Japanese races to award one Kentucky Derby berth
Churchill Downs will award a Japanese horse an automatic berth in next year’s Kentucky Derby under a new program assigning points to participants in two Japanese stakes races, the track announced on Monday.
The two one-mile dirt races at Tokyo Racecourse will be the Cattleya Sho for 2-year-olds on Nov. 26 and the Hyacinth for 3-year-olds, expected to be run “early in 2017,” according to a release from Churchill and the Japan Racing Association.
The two-race series is structured along the lines of a points system Churchill implemented in 2013 to designate starters in the Kentucky Derby, which is the most prestigious race in North America. Under Churchill’s system, the top 20 points earners in a series of 2-year-old and 3-year-old stakes races are allowed to start in the Derby, provided the horses were nominated to the Triple Crown.
The new Japanese series has the potential to reduce to 19 the number of Derby starting berths open to horses participating in the larger series. In a release, Churchill said the horse earning the most points in the two-race Japanese series will be offered an invitation to compete in the Derby, and if the invitation is accepted, one slot will be reserved for the Japanese horse.
This year, Lani became only the second horse based in Japan to run in the Derby. Lani, who was bred in Kentucky, earned his spot in the Derby by winning the United Arab Emirates Derby, a Dubai race that is part of the points-based system established by Churchill for Derby qualifiers. Lani finished ninth in the Kentucky Derby under jockey Yutaka Take, who is enormously popular in Japan.
The Kentucky Derby simulcast is not available in Japan, which strictly limits the number of foreign races that can be offered in the country for betting. Japan’s betting market is one of the largest in the world, however, and Churchill, like other U.S. companies, is eager to make inroads into the market.
Also on Monday, Churchill said that the Grade 3 Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs would replace the Grey Stakes at Woodbine in the 2016-17 points series for the 2017 Derby. The Sam F. Davis is a dirt race for 3-year-olds usually held in February, while the Grey Stakes is a race for 2-year-olds conducted over Woodbine’s artificial surface.
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| 9/17/16 | Iroquois | 1 1/16M |
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10 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 10/1/16 | FrontRunner | 1 1/16M |
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10 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 10/8/16 | Champagne | 1M |
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10 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 10/8/16 | Breeders' Futurity | 1 1/16M |
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10 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 11/5/16 | BC Juvenile | 1 1/16M |
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10 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 11/16/16 | Delta Downs Jackpot | 1 1/16M |
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10 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 11/26/16 | Remsen | 1 1/8M |
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10 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 11/26/16 | Kentucky Jockey Club | 1 1/16M |
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10 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 11/26/16 | Cattleya Sho | 1M |
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40 | 16 | 8 | 1 |
| 12/10/16 | Los Alamitos Futurity | 1 1/16M |
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10 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 1/7/17 | Jerome | 1 mile 70 yds |
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10 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 1/7/17 | Sham | 1M |
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10 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 1/16/17 | Smarty Jones | 1M | Oaklawn Park | 10 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 1/21/17 | Lecomte | 1M 70 yds |
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10 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 1/28/17 | Withers | 1 1/16M |
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10 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 2/4/17 | Holy Bull | 1 1/16M |
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10 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 2/4/17 | Robert B. Lewis | 1 1/16M |
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10 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 2/11/17 | Sam F. Davis | 1 1/16M | Tampa Bay Downs | 10 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 2/11/17 | El Camino Real Deby | 1 1/8M | Golden Gate | 10 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
| 2/20/17 | Southwest | 1 1/16M |
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10 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
Kentucky Derby Championship Series
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Charts & Analysis |
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| 2/25/17 | Risen Star | 1 1/16M |
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50 | 20 | 10 | 5 | |||
| 3/4/17 | Fountain of Youth | 1 1/16M |
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50 | 20 | 10 | 5 | |||
| 3/4/17 | Gotham | 1 1/16M |
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50 | 20 | 10 | 5 | |||
| 3/11/17 | Tampa Bay Derby | 1 1/16M |
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50 | 20 | 10 | 5 | |||
| 3/11/17 | San Felipe | 1 1/16M |
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50 | 20 | 10 | 5 | |||
| 3/18/17 | Rebel | 1 1/16M |
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50 | 20 | 10 | 5 | |||
| 3/25/17 | UAE Derby | 1 3/16M |
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100 | 40 | 20 | 10 | |||
| 3/25/17 | Spiral | 1 1/8M |
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50 | 20 | 10 | 5 | |||
| 3/26/17 | Sunland Derby | 1 1/8M |
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50 | 20 | 10 | 5 | |||
| 4/1/17 | Florida Derby | 1 1/8M | Gulfstream | 100 | 40 | 20 | 10 | |||
| 4/1/17 | Louisana Derby | 1 1/8M | Fair Grounds | 50 | 20 | 10 | 5 | |||
| 4/8/17 | Wood Memorial | 1 1/8M |
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100 | 40 | 20 | 10 | |||
| 4/8/17 | Blue Grass | 1 1/8M |
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100 | 40 | 20 | 10 | |||
| 4/8/17 | Santa Anita Derby | 1 1/8M |
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100 | 40 | 20 | 10 | |||
| 4/15/17 | Arkansas Derby | 1 1/8M |
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100 | 40 | 20 | 10 | |||
| 4/15/17 | Lexington | 1 1/16M |
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10 | 4 | 2 | 1 |
* Race dates and distances to be announced by host track; date based on previous year’s placement.