No turf racing at Churchill during September meet

Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., will not conduct any races over the turf during its 14-day September meet but anticipates being able to run on the grass course in November, track officials said on Friday.

Churchill notified horsemen about the cancellation of turf racing in an email on Thursday. Darren Rogers, the vice president of communications for the track, said on Friday morning that recent maintenance work on the track to stimulate growth and shore up the course’s root system has been “going as planned,” but that track officials decided this week to forgo turf racing in September to have the grass ready in November.

“It’s a short meet, and there are ample turf opportunities in the region before and after it,” Rogers said. “We thought we should give it more time.”

The Churchill September meet is directly preceded by seven days of racing at Kentucky Downs, which only conducts racing on turf. It is followed by the three-week Keeneland fall meet, which typically cards three to four races turf races a day, depending on weather.

The cancellation of turf racing for the September meet is the latest setback for the new course, which was installed at a cost of $10 million in 2022 but has proven stubborn to keep in shape. Turf racing was canceled in the September meet in 2022, limited in the September meet last year, and ultimately canceled late in the November meet in 2023 as well.

Although Churchill ran 74 races over the turf during its spring meet this year, some horsemen raised concerns about the condition of the course throughout the 43-day meet. Churchill track maintenance officials spent two weeks in the summer conducting various procedures to “better manage the organic material” in the course, Rogers said, including aerating the ground, scalping the grass, and planting new sprigs of Bermuda grass throughout the course.

The fall meet is scheduled to start on Nov. 1, running 23 days through Dec. 1. Rogers said that Churchill is confident that the turf course will be ready for use by then.

“It’s been a lot of challenges along the way, but we’re on the right track,” Rogers said.

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