Spectator-free meet begins with 10 stakes over first three days

The sprawling grounds of Keeneland usually have a vibrancy in October matching the fall colors – and this year was expected to be even more so, as the Lexington, Ky., track prepares to host the Breeders’ Cup for the second time. But the grounds will be quiet when Keeneland opens its 17-day fall meet on Friday, with the general public not permitted as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

Keeneland was forced to cancel its spring meet due to the pandemic. The track was later able to transplant that meet’s major stakes to a special five-day meet in July, which was not open to the public, but allowed owners of stakes horses to attend their respective races. Conditions have not improved in Kentucky in time for the fall meet. The state has a positivity rate of more than 4 percent in COVID-19 testing, with officials terming the spread in Fayette County, where Lexington is located, accelerated.

During the Oct. 2-24 meet, Keeneland is making accommodations for a “limited number” of owners, sponsors, box holders, and Keeneland Club members, in addition to the horsemen, staff, and officials essential to the running of the races. The Breeders’ Cup has announced that its two-day event on Nov. 6-7 will also be conducted spectator-free, with only “essential personnel and participants” allowed on-site.

The atmosphere at the Breeders’ Cup will be in stark contrast to 2015, when Keeneland first hosted the event and a raucous crowd cheered home Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in the Classic.

“We have the most loyal fans in the world, and we cannot wait for the day when we can welcome them back for live racing,” Keeneland president Bill Thomason said in a release. “With the guidance of [health] experts and lessons learned from recent events, we know this is the responsible course of action.”

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This will be Thomason’s final meet at the helm of Keeneland, as he is set to retire at the end of the year. President-elect and interim head of sales Shannon Bishop Arvin officially takes over as president on Jan. 1. She will be Keeneland’s eighth president, and first woman.

Partially as a result of decreased wagering revenues during the pandemic, purses for the fall meet have been reduced slightly from the record levels of recent years. The richest race of the meet, the Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile on Saturday, Oct. 3, is worth $750,000, down from $1 million. Total purses on offer at the meet will be $12,116,000 – an average of $712,705 per day – compared to $13,078,085 in 2019.

More than half of the stakes races at the meet – 10 of the 18, including five of the six Grade 1 races – will be run on the FallStars opening weekend, providing local preps for the Breeders’ Cup four weeks hence. All but one of those 10 stakes are Breeders’ Cup Challenge races, providing fees-paid berths into corresponding BC races. The Grade 1’s are the Alcibiades on Friday; the Shadwell Mile, First Lady, and Breeders’ Futurity on Saturday; and the Spinster on Sunday. With fall moving into the area, ideal seasonal weather is expected opening weekend, with highs in the low 60s and a minimal chance of rain.

Keeneland cards one more Win and You’re In event on Oct. 7, the Grade 2 Jessamine for 2-year-old fillies on the turf. The second Saturday of the meet, Oct. 10, will include the final Grade 1 of the meet, the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup for 3-year-old fillies on the turf, and the Grade 2 Fayette for 3-year-olds and up. The Fayette has been moved up from its usual spot late in the meet in order to provide a local prep for the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Juveniles running here this fall, including in stakes and the Breeders’ Cup, will not be permitted race-day Lasix, the first phase in regulations passed by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission earlier this year. The regulations passed legislative review in late August.

A handful of stakes will support the Breeders’ Cup races, highlighted by the Grade 2, $200,000 Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance – formerly the Marathon – on Friday.

First post daily is 1:05 p.m. Eastern. The Breeders’ Cup Friday card begins at 11:30 a.m., with the Saturday card kicking off at 10:15.