Saturday card could host five $1 million races

FRANKLIN, Ky. – Kentucky Downs officials were bursting with pride when announcing earlier this year that two $1 million races would be run on the same card at its 2022 meet.

Imagine how they’re feeling now that not two – but five – $1 million events are expected to be run here Saturday, an unforeseen yet exciting expansion owing to unfolding events.

“They’ve really got it going on,” said Brad Cox, the two-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer who will saddle Arklow for one of them, the Kentucky Turf Cup.

The Grade 2 Turf Cup and the other original $1 million race, the Grade 2 Turf Sprint, are Win and You’re In events toward the Nov. 4-5 Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland. Both will be featured on a live CNBC broadcast that starts at 4 p.m. Central.

Two more, the Grade 3 Ladies Turf and Grade 3 Ladies Sprint, have been bumped up to $1 million because of a recently added clause that enhances their purses if a Grade 1 winner becomes a starter. When Saturday entries were taken Monday, Dalika, winner of the Grade 1 Beverly D. last month, was in the Ladies Turf lineup, and Campanelle, winner of the Group 1 Prix de Mornay in France in 2020, was in the Ladies Sprint.

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And yet one more $1 million race, the Grade 3 Mint Million, has been added to this embarrassment of riches after being postponed from Saturday because of the heavy rainstorm that curtailed action prematurely.

A sixth stakes, the $600,000 Franklin-Simpson, also will be run Saturday. Three stakes will be carded for Sunday – the $550,000 Ladies Marathon, $500,000 Music City, and $500,000 Untapable.

Here’s a quick Saturday preview:

Turf Cup: Arklow, the 8-year-old earner of more than $3 million, will be making his fifth straight start in the Turf Cup, having run first or second in the four prior runnings (2018-21). He’ll have Florent Geroux back aboard in this 1 1/2-mile fixture when facing Admission Office, Breakpoint, Militarist, and probably another five or six older horses.

Turf Sprint: Totally Boss, the 2019 winner of this six-furlong race, is among a competitive field of older horses also expected to include Bob’s Edge, Charcoal, Front Run the Fed, Arrest Me Red, Thin White Duke, and probably a few more.

Mint Million: Redrawn from Saturday, this one-mile race was expected to keep Pixelate and Atone as program favorites, with maybe an addition and/or subtraction or two.

Ladies Turf: Dalika, a German-bred, will be competing for the equivalent of $550,000 when ineligible for Kentucky-bred bonuses, but that’s still more than the $500,000 Beverly D., which she won Aug. 13 as the longest shot in a five-horse field. She’s expected to face seven or eight others in this one-mile race, including Princess Grace, the Beverly D. runner-up.

Ladies Sprint: Campanelle, trained by Wesley Ward for owner Stonestreet Stables, figures as a stout favorite in this 6 1/2-furlong race after getting a 100 Beyer Speed Figure in a two-back triumph in the Giant’s Causeway at Keeneland. One of the shorter fields of the weekend was anticipated.

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Makeups after the rainout

A severe storm that blew through Kentucky Downs midway through an 11-race card Saturday led to revised plans on a few fronts. Chop Chop nosed out Towhead in the $500,000 Juvenile Fillies before the next two stakes, the Juvenile and Mint Million, were among four races scrapped.

The Juvenile will be redrawn before being run Sept. 14, closing day of the seven-day meet.

With the turf soaked, track officials on Saturday night went ahead and postponed the Sunday card in its entirety for Monday, originally an open date.

Although the weather for Thursday is supposed to be beautiful, the long-range forecast calls for a 60 percent chance of rain through the coming weekend.

Cancellations are not all that rare in Kentucky Downs history. Heavy rain can impact certain spots on the turf course, rendering it unsafe, and lightning strikes at such a wide-open venue can be dangerous, such as when a woman suffered serious burns in 2013 when a tent pole was struck.