Kentucky Downs: Three Million-Dollar Races Top 2021’s $10 Million Stakes Schedule

For the first time in its 31-year history, Kentucky Downs is offering three $1 million races during its six-date 2021 meet. Added to the track's signature Grade 2 Calumet Turf Cup, whose purse was first raised to seven figures in 2019, Kentucky Downs' $1 million trio also will feature the Grade 3 Turf Sprint and Grade 3 WinStar Mint Million.

Kentucky Downs will stage 16 stakes worth a track-record total of $10 million, including $4.85 million in purse supplements for registered Kentucky-bred horses. The all-grass meet runs Sept. 5, 6, 8, 9, 11 and 12 over Kentucky Downs' undulating, kidney-shaped 1 5/16-mile race course.

The WinStar Mint Million, formerly the Tourist Mile, presently stands as the United States' second-richest eight-furlong grass stakes behind only the $2 million Breeders' Cup Mile (G1). The race was worth $750,000 last year, while the six-furlong Turf Sprint was $700,000.

Kentucky Downs for the first time has a pair of Grade 2 stakes in the Calumet Turf Cup for older horses at 1 1/2 miles and the Franklin-Simpson for 3-year-old sprinters, now worth $600,000.

“Purses are the economic engine of the racing industry, and Kentucky Downs is proud to be a leader helping Kentucky stamp itself as the premier racing circuit in America,” said Ron Winchell, Kentucky Downs' co-owner and managing partner with Marc Falcone. “We're only six days, but winning one of our stakes – or even one of our overnight races – can make the entire year for an owner. Many horsemen tell us that money they earn at our meet gets promptly reinvested in the industry the next week at Keeneland's September Yearling sale. Such investment impacts countless small businesses that are part of Kentucky's equine agribusiness.”

A total of nine Kentucky Downs stakes received purse hikes. That includes the Ladies Turf (Grade 3) jumping from $500,000 to $750,000. Each of Kentucky Downs' six graded stakes is worth at least $600,000, with the Grade 3 Ladies Sprint joining the Franklin-Simpson in getting $100,000 increases to reach $600,000. The Music City for 3-year-old fillies and Untapable for 2-year-old fillies, worth $400,000 in their inaugural runnings last year, now enjoy $500,000 purses.

The Kentucky Downs' stakes purses reflect contributions of up to 50 percent from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund (KTDF) for horses born in and sired by stallions in the Commonwealth. That includes the vast majority of the horses racing in Kentucky and easily the largest group running in America. The 2021 meet's Kentucky-bred stakes supplements were approved Tuesday by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission's KTDF Advisory Committee.

“The KTDF Advisory Committee aspires to be good stewards of the funds entrusted to their approval and direction,” said Bill Landes, the long-time chair of the KTDF committee and general manager of Oldham County's Hermitage Farm. “As such we applaud Kentucky Downs proposed KTDF supplement to their 2021 stakes, allowance and maiden race program. Their program enhances the value of Kentucky-bred racehorses not only at the Kentucky Downs meet but also enhances the value of Kentucky-bred yearlings that will sell in central Kentucky following their meet.”

Horses that aren't registered Kentucky-breds still can compete in some of the most lucrative stakes in North America and beyond. For instance, the $1 million races each reflect a base purse of $550,000 for which all horses run.

The increases were possible because the Kentucky General Assembly in February passed legislation that for the first time defined pari-mutuel wagering, including Historical Horse Racing's innovative technology that allows guests to bet on previously run races in an electronic game format.

“We can't thank the Kentucky Legislature enough,” Falcone said. “We are able to offer among the highest purses in the world because they understood the importance of Historical Horse Racing and passed legislation that ensures a bright future for live horse racing and the Commonwealth's signature industry. The lawmakers' leadership and members of both parties in both chambers saw the big picture and how higher purses lead to a lot of good things happening. That includes increased jobs, economic development, enhanced tourism opportunities and more dollars to the General Fund that ultimately benefit all Kentuckians.”

The lowest stakes purse Kentucky Downs will have is $400,000 each for the Tapit Stakes and the One Dreamer for fillies and mares, both restricted for horses that have not previously won a stakes in 2021. Those races received $100,000 increases.

The condition book for Kentucky Downs' 2021 meet will be available later this month.

Kentucky Downs 2021 stakes schedule

(all stakes include KTDF* purse supplements)
All races on turf

Sunday, Sept. 5 — $500,000 Dueling Grounds Oaks, 3-year-old fillies, 1 5/16 miles; $750,000 Gun Runner Dueling Grounds Derby, 3-year-olds, 1 5/16 miles.

Monday, Sept. 6 — $500,000 Juvenile Fillies, 2-year-old fillies, mile; $500,000 Juvenile, 2-year-olds, mile; $1 million WinStar Farm Mint Million Mile (G3), 3-year-olds & up, mile.

Wednesday, Sept. 8 — $400,000 Tapit Stakes, 3-year-olds & up non-winners of a stakes in 2021, mile and 70 yards.

Thursday, Sept. 9 — $500,000 Juvenile Sprint, 2-year-olds, 6 1/2 furlongs; $400,000 One Dreamer, fillies & mares 3 years old & up non-winners of a stakes in 2021, mile and 70 yards.

Saturday, Sept. 11 — $1 million Calumet Turf Cup (G2), 3-year-olds & up, 1 1/2 miles; $600,000 Franklin-Simpson (G2), 3-year-olds, 6 1/2 furlongs; $600,000 Ladies Sprint (G3), fillies & mares 3yo & up, 6 1/2 furlongs; $750,000 Ladies Turf (G3), fillies & mares 3 years old & up, mile; $1 million Turf Sprint (G3), 3-year-olds & up, 6 furlongs.

Sunday, Sept. 12 — $500,000 Music City Stakes, 3-year-old fillies, 6 1/2 furlongs; $500,000 Ladies Marathon, fillies & mares 3 years old & up, 1 5/16 miles; $500,000 Untapable Stakes, 2-year-old fillies, 6 1/2 furlongs.

*Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund

The post Kentucky Downs: Three Million-Dollar Races Top 2021’s $10 Million Stakes Schedule appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Tributes to Gary Lavin

Tributes continue to pour in following the death of noted veterinarian Gary Lavin, who passed away Saturday at the age of 83. Lavin is a past president of the American Association of Equine Practitioners, the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association, Steward of The Jockey Club, trustee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association and the Breeders' Cup, director at Keeneland, and vice-chairman of the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation.

BILL LANDES, General Manager Hermitage Farm and a successor KTA President to Lavin

“Oh, Gosh!” Not only was that Doc's favorite expression, but my response when asked for memories of him.

When I began at Hermitage on Nov. 1, 1977, the first person Warner Jones insisted I meet was Doc. Thank goodness for that advice for that led to a lifetime of Doc's counsel, information and friendship.

So many afternoons from 1977 to 1992, Doc returned from his Churchill vet practice to spend time in Mr. Jones's Hermitage office. He always brought with him a Racing Form for Jones,  gossip and news from the Churchill Downs' backside, and usually some advice as to what changes were needed at Churchill. Sometimes Mr. Jones would heed that advice.

I know Doc identified Shug McGaughey as a young trainer to watch. Jones did heed that advice and he eventually forged a long professional and personal relationship with Shug.

A memorable day was the afternoon when Doc proudly told Mr. Jones he had bought neighboring Lasater Farm and was renaming it Longfield. I'll never forget Mr. Jones's response  “Doc, now that we're neighbors, remember, 'Neither a borrower (Jones pronounced it borryer) nor lender be!'”

Life lessons I gleaned from Doc were: Despite a perceived 502/606 (Louisville/Lexington) rivalry, cultivate close relationships with Lexington competitors and friends. It served him well and has done the same for me. He also created mutually respectful friendships with both the small and the mighty. He got on with everyone.

A better example of a husband, father, grandfather, and friend can not be identified. I'll miss him.

PATRICK COOPER of BBA Ireland

'One horse wins and the rest should've.' Dr. A Gary Lavin's withering assessment of turf racing in the 1990s. Slow forward to 2017–Dockie didn't do fast–and I get a call from Kevin. Doc wants to buy a share in this new syndicate you have set up. 'Kevin, there is no dirt racing here in Ireland.' So began three years of reconnecting to a true gentleman.

A born raconteur, his stories didn't really need a beginning or end, just an audience. Time spent with the Doc was just one of life's great pleasures. We had what proved a final lunch in the sunshine on the banks of the Ohio last November. Three hours with Gary and Family Lavin talking horses and nonsense. To Betsy, Allan and Kevin, keep the table. We might not be able to talk to him any more, but we sure as hell can talk about him.

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This Side Up: One Last Apple from the Cox Orchard

How aptly we talk of our walk of life as the Turf. Because raising a horse is just like raising a lawn. Take a microscope out there, if you like, but no human being has actually seen grass grow. Yet one morning toward the end of winter, the birdsong sounds different and you realize you left your coat on the peg without thinking about it. And you look at that lawn and, no argument, it's time to take the mower out of its stable.

That moment remains a long way off, for many, but Saturday all can share a cheering sense that the vital forces of Nature are perceptibly astir in the sophomore class of 2021. Because both coasts, in their southernmost exposure, provide comfortingly familiar staging posts on a journey that we resume in growing hope, through the striving of science, that our world may be slowly settling back on its axis by the first Saturday in May.

Gosh, it certainly seems an age since Tiz the Law (Constitution) and Thousand Words (Pioneerof the Nile) respectively won the GIII Holy Bull S. and GIII Robert B. Lewis S. The unprecedented detours on the Triple Crown trail, in the meantime, have taught us afresh how the cyclical challenges we set the adolescent Thoroughbred, long enshrined in the calendar, assist horsemen from one generation to the next in consistent measurement of the breed.

It's not just individual racehorses that come under examination, after all. Each resembles the blades of grass that together make up the lawn. For many of us, the interest lies in the way their roots are entwined–and what that can teach us for future cultivation.

All families evolve through the same, patient rhythms; through horsemen responding to the prompts of Nature. Sometimes these harmonies yield lush, seamless swathes; but there are also occasions when some sparse or choked tangle of briar will nourish a blossom as sudden and brilliant as it appears unexpected. In both cases, the underlying, seasonal processes are just the same.

Greatest Honour this week at Gulfstream | Ryan Thompson

Take two horses whose contrasting antecedents bring them similar opportunity in these races. The Courtlandt Farms homebred Greatest Honour (Tapit), who represents the Shug McGaughey barn at Gulfstream, could be named a feasible Classic type when still in the womb. Two of his first four dams are Broodmares of the Year, and the family has duly been seeded by such venerable distaff influences as Street Cry (Ire), Deputy Minister and Blushing Groom (Fr). Hot Rod Charlie (Oxbow), on the other hand, made $17,000 as a short yearling. In the two years since, however, it has become feasible to recognize a born aristocrat in the horse reappearing at Santa Anita.

He owes that transformation, however, to exactly the same diligence, patience and expertise that first created the line tracing from Best in Show now to Greatest Honour. In fact, Hot Rod Charlie is the final bequest of a man who–with the help of those storied farms, Claiborne and Hermitage–was perhaps the most accomplished small breeder of his generation.

Edward A. Cox, Jr. operated what we nowadays call a boutique program. Yet he was co-breeder of Woodman (Mr Prospector); partner in Swale (Seattle Slew); and breeder of Marquetry (Conquistador Cielo) and star European miler Shaadi (Danzig). His Turf career comprised two cycles, with a hiatus between 1998 and 2006. Soon after his comeback he sent Bill Landes, the long-serving Hermitage manager, over to the January Sale to give $250,000 for Glacken's Girl (Smoke Glacken), who had won her only two starts as a juvenile. Cox sent her to Indian Charlie; and the resulting filly, Indian Miss, to veteran Chicago trainer James DeVito. Indian Miss showed ability but also had to be retired after only two starts, because of a chip in her knee. Cox would have culled her for $10,000, but nobody had more than $5,000 so he experimented with matings that wouldn't necessarily have occurred to everybody: Eskenderaya, for instance, in her second year; Oxbow in her fifth.

Her son by Eskendereya made just $20,000 as a yearling. Then, knowing himself doomed by illness, Cox staged his second dispersal in 2018. It was deeply poignant for everyone involved, but he was the kind of gentleman who wanted to leave everything shipshape for his family. At Keeneland that November, 20 head of horse made $3.7 million–including $240,000 from WinStar for Indian Miss (with an Into Mischief cover).

Mitole clinched his championship in the 2019 Breeders' Cup Sprint | Horsephotos

What a great buy that turned out to be. For the colt by Eskendereya was none other than Mitole, who had disappeared after winning a couple of stakes the previous year. His subsequent return and championship campaign saw Indian Miss return to the same sale, this time round, to be cashed in to OXO Equine for $1.9 million.

Her value had been enhanced, moreover, just a couple of days previously by a revelatory performance from her Oxbow 2-year-old. This had been the very last horse sold by Cox. As a weanling, he had been so immature that Landes urged his patron to give him extra time. But time, finite for us all, soon became a scant resource. Around Christmas, though Cox was still sounding pretty good, he called and said: “Landes, get him sold.”

Landes felt the horse was just beginning to turn round when they took him over to Fasig that February, but it took the astute eye of Bob Feld to pick him out of Jim Herbener's consignment. And by the time the rangy, maturing colt was pinhooked through Small Batch Sales in the same ring that October, he was a half-brother to a champion.

In a sane world, Oxbow should have appealed as the icing on the cake: the perfect foil for two dams confined to an aggregate four starts. He's by Awesome Again out of a sister to Tiznow, and showed due toughness and class when sixth, first and second in his Triple Crown series. But that stuff is obviously far too worthy for the commercial guys, and Dennis O'Neill was able to get the colt for $110,000.

A tolerable yield, no doubt, through eight months–but Feld deserved better yet for his acuity. Because he not only found a half-brother to an imminent champion for just $17,000; he also sold on a potential Derby horse.

For this, of course, is Hot Rod Charlie. He took four attempts to break his maiden, but had just been learning the game on turf and/or in sprints. Fitted with blinkers, he then stepped up for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile and, though dismissed at 94-1, made his challenge a good deal more smoothly than Essential Quality (Tapit) and was only run down late by the eventual champion.

Medina Spirit (red cap) was second to 'TDN Rising Star' Life Is Good in the Sham | Benoit

True, one of his principal opponents in this race had to squint upwards to see even Hot Rod Charlie on their first hammer prices. Medina Spirit (Protonico) made just $1,000 as a short yearling; nor did he seem much more eligible for the Baffert barn, when returned to OBS as a 2-year-old and realizing $35,000 for pinhooker Christy Whitman. Yet his first two starts have proved that even the big-money horses must need this trainer more than he needs big-money horses.

By the same token, his breeder Gail Rice has already shown that you don't need big-money mares or matings to produce a good one, having bred 2020 GI Ashland S. winner Speech (Mr Speaker) out of a $7,500 dam. At the other end of the scale, however, this field also contains 'TDN Rising Star' Roman Centurian (Empire Maker), whose family is full of such familiar Phipps names as second dam Finder's Fee (Storm Cat). He duly cost $550,000 as a yearling and, much like Greatest Honour on the opposite shore, seems equivalent to an ancient and beautifully manicured arboretum, relative to some of these exotic new blooms.

But all these families, to thrive, need to have been tended with the same devotion and flair. And actually Medina Spirit has some pretty noble roots: his third dam is a half-sister to High Yield (Storm Cat) out of a half-sister to Paul Mellon's charming Forest Flower (Green Forest), a 2-year-old champion filly in Britain out of a Classic-placed Nijinsky mare.

As it happens, High Yield made his first sophomore start in this same race, then still known as the Santa Catalina S., finishing second. How surprised his co-owner would have been, to discover that the prize would someday bear his own name. But none of these things happen overnight. Lewis helped to make Baffert; and maybe having High Yield on the page is helping Baffert make Medina Spirit.

Hot Rod Charlie (inside), as a 2-year-old working with older horse and MGSW Wildman Jack | Breeders' Cup/Eclipse Sportswire

As ever, we seek regeneration both among the horses themselves and also in their owners and breeders. Hot Rod Charlie's enthusiastic ownership group, for instance, includes five recent graduates of the Brown University football team. They will be encouraged that “Chuck” still looked green on hitting the front at the Breeders' Cup, even with all that grounding. On the other hand, it may prove that he will need plenty of help from Oxbow to adapt his speedy family to Classic racing.

Whatever happens, let's celebrate him first and foremost as a last bequest. Landes already feels blessed that Mitole carved so apt a memorial to Cox, but for Hot Rod Charlie to stay on the Derby trail would represent a wonderful codicil. Testament, too, to his own skill–something that warrants stressing, given how it is exceeded only by his modesty and humor.

Familiar attributes, those, in many who have contributed most to the communal, evolving lore of horsemanship; attributes, that is, that accrue naturally when you're daily dealing with a charge as captivating, and exasperating, as the Thoroughbred. Landes always knew that this backward, goofy weanling was going to end up turning himself round. On his late patron's behalf, then, let's borrow the formula by which he would very occasionally, in his understated way, indicate satisfaction: “Landes, you raised a good horse.”

The post This Side Up: One Last Apple from the Cox Orchard appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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