The turf course at Churchill Downs, despite being renovated to the tune of $10 million ahead of the Spring 2022 meet, is still not meeting expectations. Darren Rogers, Churchill's senior director of media services, told the Daily Racing Form that the status of turf racing during the ongoing 2023 Fall Meet will be considered on a “day-to-day” basis.
“We've decided it's best to limit the number of turf races because we're dissatisfied with the course's current status,” Rogers told DRF. “The preservation of fresh running lanes appears to provide better ground, but it's a day-to-day decision.”
Races carded for the turf were switched to the dirt on Friday, Nov. 10, Saturday, Nov. 11, and Sunday, Nov. 13, despite a lack of precipitation in the Louisville, Ky. area. Through the first 10 days of the Fall Meet, Churchill has held just 16 races on the grass.
One unnamed jockey told DRF the turf course conditions were “slippery.”
It is not the first time the renovated turf course has come under scrutiny. The new Bermuda hybrid mixture debuted on April 30, 2022, but turf racing was paused on June 11 and ultimately canceled for the remainder of the 2023 Spring Meet, following the occurrence of a catastrophic injury on the course.
Churchill Downs began work on the new course in July 2021, a project that included widening the surface and removing a crown that made the outer portion of the course unusable. The crown is designed to help drainage, but a new subsurface drainage system eliminated the need for it.
Read more at the Daily Racing Form.
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