Turf Sprint first Breeders' Cup Challenge race at Kentucky Downs

The Grade 3 Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint has been selected as a Win and You’re In Breeders’ Cup Challenge Race, Kentucky Downs announced in a press release on Monday. The winner will receive a fees-paid berth to the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint Nov. 2 at Santa Anita, as well as a travel stipend.

The Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint, run for $500,000 last year, will offer a $500,000 base purse, and up to an additional $200,000 from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund. This year’s race has been shortened from 6 ½ to 6 furlongs.

This is the first Breeders’ Cup Challenge race for Kentucky Downs. Keeneland and Churchill Downs each has several of them.

“We’ve aggressively pursued getting a Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series stakes the past couple of years, and this is a very big deal for us,” said Ted Nicholson, Kentucky Downs’s senior vice president and general manager.

The Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint will be run Saturday, Sept. 7 as part of a card featuring five stakes. The complete Kentucky Downs stakes schedule for September has not been released.