Kentucky Downs calls off last eight races due to poor track conditions

FRANKLIN, Ky. – Racing officials and jockeys agreed to cancel the last eight races of a scheduled 10-race Thursday card at Kentucky Downs because of dangerously soft spots on the turf course.

Heavy overnight rain soaked the undulating course in certain spots and left jockeys leery of riding after the first two races were run in very slow times. Track-maintenance crews worked on at least two affected spots on the course when trying to salvage the card, to no avail.

Jockey Florent Geroux, who won the first race aboard Great Cross, said: “It's just too soft over there,” pointing to the most serious problem spot on the far turn in the vicinity of the three-eighths pole. “Even if you ran the rest of today, it would be awful for Saturday.”

The signature day of the meet, with the $600,000 Kentucky Turf Cup leading a card worth as much as $2.2 million, is set for Saturday. The weather forecast is for mostly dry weather.

Among the races canceled Thursday were two divisions of the One Dreamer Stakes, each worth as much as $150,000 each. The One Dreamer likely will be redrawn for either Sept. 16 or 19, the last two days of this five-day meet. It was not immediately known how or whether the balance of the Thursday card would be made up, although “we intend to make a request to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission to add several races on each of our last two days,” said Kentucky Downs president Corey Johnsen.

Owners whose horses shipped in Thursday and did not get to compete will receive $500, Johnsen added.

This is at least the third time in the last four years Kentucky Downs has canceled because of poor course conditions or weather, having also canceled at least one card in both 2012 and 2013. In fact, cancellations have been a frequent occurrence in the last 20 years here owing to the undulating nature (i.e., low spots) in its European-style course.

The clocking for the first race, run at a mile, was 1:44.88. The second race was run in 1:24.34 for 6 1/2 furlongs.