Lanerie to ride at Turfway and Oaklawn this winter

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Corey Lanerie, a 19-time leading jockey at Churchill Downs, will ride at Turfway Park in December prior to taking his tack to Oaklawn Park in a marked departure from recent winters.

Lanerie, who turns 46 on Nov. 13, has wintered at Fair Grounds in his home state of Louisiana for most of his 30-year riding career, except for five straight championship meets (2012-13 through 2016-17) at Gulfstream Park.

Lanerie said horsemen “have been asking me to come to Oaklawn for years” and that the improved purse structures at Turfway and Oaklawn were factors in the switch, along with having additional time at home in Louisville with his 12-year-old daughter, Brittlyn.

Turfway, which had its grandstand razed earlier this year amid a massive ongoing renovation, will run its holiday meet from Dec. 2-31, followed immediately by a three-month winter-spring meet starting Jan. 1. Training began this week over a newly laid synthetic surface at the northern Kentucky track. Under Churchill Downs Inc., which purchased the track in 2019, purses are substantially larger than in prior years.

Lanerie has ridden regularly twice at Oaklawn – in 1992, when he was still an apprentice, and in 2006, when Fair Grounds was closed post-Katrina and he won 24 races from 156 mounts. The Hot Springs, Ark., track begins its 2021 meet on Jan. 22.

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Meanwhile, Lanerie said he has appealed a three-day suspension stemming from the disqualification of his mount, Monte Ne, from the last race Nov. 1 at Churchill. He will continue to ride uninterrupted until the appeal is heard before the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission or he drops the appeal.

Through Thursday at Churchill, where he once again is among the leading jockeys at the current fall meet, Lanerie had 4,764 career wins. Besides his 19 Churchill meet titles, he also has been the leading jockey at numerous other tracks, including Keeneland and Fair Grounds.

Churchill in action Sunday

The action never seems to end on the Kentucky circuit. Even with the Breeders’ Cup dominating the weekend, Churchill resumes its 24-day fall meet Sunday with a 10-race card that drew mostly big fields.

An $89,000 second-level allowance (race 9) is the highlight of a program that begins at the usual 1 p.m. Eastern. Evil Lyn, a last-out winner of the Hilltop Stakes on the Oct. 3 Preakness undercard at Pimlico, is one of the top contenders in a lineup that surely will scratch down to no more than nine 3-year-old fillies. Ask Bailey and Windracer look like the top threats.

One earlier allowance (race 4), an $87,000 first-level race at the infrequently run distance of 1 3/16 miles, drew a field of six 3-year-olds led by Excession, sixth in the Preakness at this same distance in his last start.

Sunshine and a high nearing 80 is in the Sunday forecast. After Sunday, Churchill goes dark for two days before a new five-day week starts Wednesday.

Unlike at the Breeders’ Cup, fans are being admitted to Churchill for live racing with strict pandemic protocols in place. Purchase of admission tickets must be made online.

The next stakes at Churchill is the Nov. 14 Mrs. Revere, a Grade 2 turf race for 3-year-old fillies.

◗ A double draw of entries for the Thursday and Friday cards is set for Sunday.