Turfway still under construction as meet begins
It’s been 10 years since Turfway Park ran its traditional stakes schedule. It’ll be one more before fans can be on hand to watch all the action at the Florence, Ky., track.
Turfway begins four months of winter action over Tapeta with an eight-race card Thursday evening. First post is 6:15 p.m. Eastern.
A restored stakes schedule is just one sign that the days of Turfway being a gloomy venue are history. With Churchill Downs Inc. having bought the property in the fall of 2019, a massive renaissance is well under way. Last winter, purses were up substantially, and this year the per-card projection is more than $300,000, according to longtime racing secretary Tyler Picklesimer.
Still, the 18,500-square-foot facility that ultimately will house a variety of modern entertainment and gambling attractions is still under construction, so fans will have to participate off-site for the time being. Owners and trainers can attend, but mostly only when their horses are running. Stewards and racing officials and others whose attendance is required will work out of a temporary enclosure. Completion of the new Turfway plant is scheduled for early summer.
:: Get Daily Racing Form Past Performances – the exclusive home of Beyer Speed Figures
Meanwhile, purses are being fueled by the slots-like historical horse-racing machines that have proliferated in Kentucky. Maiden-specials start at $62,000 and allowances at $64,000, although those figures include huge bonuses restricted to registered Kentucky-breds. Certain stakes that began going dormant in 2012 have been revived, with the Jeff Ruby Steaks set for April 2 as a Kentucky Derby qualifier worth 100 points to the winner.
It’s all a far cry from the Turfway nadir, when the roof was leaky and purses were paltry. Accordingly, standout horsemen such as Brad Cox, Steve Asmussen, Mike Maker, Wesley Ward, and many more have dispatched strings to Turfway, where some 900 stalls will be in use, while jockeys such as Joe Talamo and Joe Rocco Jr. will join Gerardo Corrales, Chris Landeros, Rafael Bejarano, and Santiago Gonzalez in riding full-time at Turfway.
The Tapeta surface that last year replaced an aging Polytrack on the one-mile track has met with widespread approval from horsemen. “There was a bit of a learning curve to start, but we’re rocking right along now,” said Picklesimer.
A four-day schedule, Thursdays-Sundays, will be used at the holiday meet, which runs through Dec. 31, with A 6:15 p.m. post for every card except Sunday afternoons, which start at 1 p.m. A three-day schedule will be in effect for the winter-spring meet (Jan. 1 to April 3), with Thursdays dropped. There is no racing Dec. 24 and 25.