Kentucky Downs entries out far in advance of meet
With entries being drawn as far in advance as a whole week, entries were already out Wednesday afternoon for the first three cards of the six-day meet at Kentucky Downs, where colossal purses once again will attract some of North America’s top jockeys and trainers to the turf-only track in rural south-central Kentucky.
A field of 11 older horses already is set for Monday’s 24th running of the Grade 3 Mint Million, the first of three $1 million races at a meet that opens Sunday and runs through Sept. 12. Flavius, the 2020 winner, figures as a slight favorite over Somelikeithotbrown in the one-mile race.
The six Kentucky Downs dates are Sept. 5, 6, 8, 9, 11, and 12. Entries are being drawn so far ahead as a means to facilitate horsemen’s travel schedules and to free racing officials to deal with the live product.
The meet opens Sunday with twin stakes for 3-year-olds, the Dueling Grounds Derby and Oaks. They’re part of an 11-race program that drew a whopping 147 entries, including 21 also-eligibles and two exclusions.
Fueled by the on-site historical horse racing machines that generate year-round revenues, the enormity of Kentucky Downs purses is illustrated by maiden-specials being worth as much as $135,000 and first- and second-level allowances going for $145,800 and $156,600.
Except for claiming races and starter allowances, purses include sizable bonuses available only to horses registered with the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund. Somelikeithotbrown, as a New York-bred, is not eligible for the $450,000 in bonuses assigned to the Mint Million, although one of the gelding’s co-owners, Harvey Diamond, told track publicity that the remaining $550,000 “isn’t exactly chopped liver.”
In all, purses at this meet are expected to total more than $15.2 million, with about $10 million going to a stakes schedule of 16 races.
The two other $1 million races, the Calumet Turf Cup and the Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint, both are Win and You’re In events toward their respective Breeders’ Cup races on Nov. 6 at Del Mar. Both will be run Sept. 11.
First post daily is 12:15 p.m. Central.
Churchill Downs starts a 12-day, dirt-only meet Sept. 16.
Zulu Alpha set for Turf Cup
Zulu Alpha will be entered in the Kentucky Downs meet showcase, the Calumet Turf Cup, according to trainer Mike Maker, who, like most everyone else, is wondering if the 8-year-old gelding has seen better days. Since returning from an ankle injury diagnosed last October, Zulu Alpha has not been a factor in two starts, finishing fifth in the Arlington Stakes on July 17 and seventh in the Mister D. on Aug. 14.
“The first one, he needed it,” Maker said. “The last one was kind of disappointing, but maybe it was the [slow] pace.”
This would be the fourth start in the 1 1/2-mile Turf Cup for Zulu Alpha, an earner of more than $2.26 million. He won the 2019 edition.
◗ In an interesting twist to an industry standard, the Kentucky Downs morning line is being composed by an employee of the totalizator company that processes the track’s wagers and not a local individual. Global Tote, based in Australia, will issue the morning-line odds during the six-day meet. Over the last decade or so, Billy Pettingill, Joe Kristufek, and Byron King had been the linemakers.