Kentucky Downs purses lure large opening weekend fields

The opening-day Saturday card at the Runhappy meet at Kentucky Downs drew a whopping 184 entries, a reflection of horsemen’s fervent interest in the massive purses being offered once again at the south-central Kentucky track.

Horseplayers also will welcome the huge fields that will compete over the European-style turf course, where 50 races over five racing days (10 daily) will take place. After Saturday, dates are Sept. 5, 7, 8, and 12.

The Saturday opener will conclude with an all-stakes pick four, highlighted by the $750,000 Tourist Mile (race 8). The surrounding stakes are the $250,000 One Dreamer (race 7), the $500,000 Juvenile Fillies (race 9), and the $500,000 Gainesway Farm Juvenile (race 10).

Funded primarily by year-round revenues from onsite historical racing machines, purses for maiden-special races are listed at $130,000 and allowances at $145,000 or more. Those are mind-blowing figures that largely account for the 184 opening-day entries, a total that includes also-eligibles and exclusions.

In all, purses are projected to average $2.3 million per day, easily the highest in North America. The top races among 14 stakes are the $1 million Kentucky Turf Cup and the track’s first-ever Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In event, the $700,000 Runhappy Turf Sprint, both set for Sept. 7.

The Turf Sprint is expected to match the 2018 turf champion Stormy Liberal and his younger half-brother Leinster, a last-out winner of the Troy Stakes at Saratoga.

Purses for most races include sizable bonuses from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund, for which the vast majority of starters typically are eligible.

This will be the first Kentucky Downs meet since the sprawling facility on the Tennessee border was purchased last fall by Ron Winchell and Marc Falcone from a partnership headed by Corey Johnsen. It will also be the first meet that popular announcer Michael Wrona will be calling the races. A number of improvements have been made to the physical plant since last September.

The Saturday forecast calls for sunny skies and a high of 91. Post time daily is 12:15 p.m. Central.