A day after announcing that the Grade 3 Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint had become the track’s first Win and You’re In Breeders’ Cup Challenge Race, Kentucky Downs on Tuesday released its full stakes schedule, topped by Grade 3 Kentucky Turf Cup, a race that with Kentucky-bred purse incentives carries a purse of up to $1 million. The 1 ½-mile Kentucky Turf Cup, one of five stakes at the track Sept. 7, received a $250,000 purse increase for 2019. The race’s base purse is now $550,000, with an additional $450,000 in purses available for horses that are eligible to the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund (KTDF). Sponsored by Calumet Farm, the Kentucky Turf Cup is one of the richest marathon grass races in North America. Among other notable stakes races at the distance, the Grade 1 Sword Dancer at Saratoga has an $850,000 purse for 2019, and the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Turf goes for $4 million. “The Calumet Farm Kentucky Turf Cup is our oldest stakes, having a different name but starting back in 1990 when the track opened," Ted Nicholson, Kentucky Downs’s senior vice president and general manager, said in a release. "So it’s fitting this is our race that first reaches the seven-digit landmark, especially teaming with one of the most iconic names in horse racing in Calumet Farm.” Facing competition for elite horses in late summer from the Sword Dancer and in the early fall from the Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic from Belmont, the Kentucky Turf Cup has historically drawn fields consistent with its Grade 3 status. Last year’s winner was Arklow, who returned in late 2018 to finish second in the Grade 3 Sycamore at Keeneland before a fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Turf. In total, Kentucky Downs will run 14 stakes in 2019, five of them Grade 3s, for a record $7.4 million in stakes purses and KTDF supplements over its five-day, all-grass race meeting, which begins Aug. 31 and continues through Sept. 12. Daily purses average over $2 million per card, highest in the nation. Besides the Kentucky Turf Cup, seven other stakes received purse increases, including the Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint from $500,000 to $700,000. Also getting a $200,000 boost was the Dueling Grounds Derby, now worth $600,000. The rich purses at Kentucky Downs, located in Franklin, Ky. near the Tennessee border, are largely fueled by the track’s slots-like historical racing machines.