Record purses expected but Keeneland Turf Mile will stay at $750,000
Keeneland Race Course on Wednesday released the stakes schedule for its 17-day fall meet in October with a projection of record purses amid a number of tweaks from the status quo.
The opening FallStars Weekend (Oct. 8-10), a huge weekend of preps toward the Breeders’ Cup, is essentially the same, except for Shadwell Farm dropping its sponsorship of the Grade 1 Keeneland Turf Mile. The $750,000 purse remains the same as during the 2020 pandemic year, whereas all other FallStars races have been restored to 2019 levels. The Shadwell Turf Mile had been worth $1 million from 2014-19.
In all, 22 stakes, including six Grade 1 events, will be worth as much as $6 million at a meet spanning Oct. 8-30. There are two new $150,000 sprints for 2-year-olds, the Oct. 29 Myrtlewood and Oct. 30 Bowman Mill, while a pair of $150,000 races for 3-year-olds, the Oct. 23 Perryville and Oct. 30 Bryan Station, are back after going dormant. Some of those races are part of minor scheduling changes that have created more multi-stakes cards later in the meet.
A Keeneland release said ticketing information for the meet will be released in early July.