Tag: churchill

Jockey Miguel Mena Suffers Broken Ribs In Thursday Incident At Churchill Downs

Jockey Miguel Mena will miss the remainder of the September Meet after he suffered broken ribs in an incident on Thursday at Churchill Downs.

Mena was dismounted in Race 5 on Thursday. His agent, Joe Santos Jr., reported on Twitter that Mena is expected to be sidelined two-to-three weeks.

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Geroux Hoping To Ride Momentum From ‘Amazing’ Derby Week To Churchill Riding Title

It was a monumental Kentucky Derby week for jockey Florent Geroux whose seven victories, including four graded stakes wins, vaulted him to a tie atop the Churchill Downs jockey standings with Tyler Gaffalione as the 14-day meet resumed Thursday.

“This year has been rough for everyone in the world,” said Geroux, who notched five wins on Kentucky Oaks Day. “Just being here to have the Derby, even if it was in September, with no spectators, was amazing. Because at the beginning of the year, when everyone was staying at home, you thought that was pretty much impossible… it turned out to be an amazing week.”

Geroux's swift start to the September Meet included a 15-1 upset victory with Shedaresthedevil in the $1.25 million Longines Kentucky Oaks (GI). In the race prior, the $500,000 La Troienne presented by Oak Grove Racing and Gaming (GI), Geroux bested seven rivals aboard champion Monomoy Girl. His day was capped off with a rail-skimming rally aboard Diamond Oops in the $250,000 Twin Spires Turf Sprint presented by Sysco (GII).

“It was an amazing day but, at the end of the day, I wasn't pleased knowing Mundaye Call got beat in the Eight Belles as the even-money favorite,” Geroux said.

In total, Geroux's mounts banked $1,843,419 in purse money during the supercharged Kentucky Derby Week of races. Geroux and Gaffalione held a three-win cushion over Ricardo Santana Jr. in the riding standings. September Meet's defending champion, Corey Lanerie, scored a trio of wins on Kentucky Derby week.

In the trainer standings, Brad Cox won six races with 13 starters and held a two-win margin over Mike Maker. Albaugh Family Stables, G. Watts Humphrey Jr. and Lothenbach Stables are tied in the owner's race with two wins each.

Thursday's nine-race card at Churchill Downs had a first post of 12:45 p.m.

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Art Collector’s Foot Healing Well, Drury Says ‘All Systems Go’ For Preakness Stakes

Bruce Lunsford's Art Collector remains on track for the Oct. 3 Preakness Stakes (G1) after missing the Kentucky Derby (G1) with a minor foot issue.

Art Collector worked a half-mile in 48.10 seconds on Saturday at trainer Tommy Drury's Skylight Training Center base under jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. Drury said the son of 2006 Preakness winner Bernardini likely will ship into Churchill Downs within the next few days and work over that track this weekend.

“He seems good,” Drury said. “He breezed over the weekend, just kind of a maintenance half-mile. Brian felt he was as good as he's ever been. As long as everything is going right, we're going to shoot for Baltimore. But as always, we're going to let him take us along. We're going to get him settled in here (Churchill Downs) and make sure everything is OK, and at some point over the weekend I'd guess he'll go five-eighths. I'd say if everything goes well there, we're on target for the Preakness.”

Art Collector, who would have been the co-second choice behind Tiz the Law, was not entered in the Kentucky Derby after nicking a piece of flesh off his left front heel in training.

“He just grabbed the back of his quarter,” Drury said. “The thing was sensitive and sore to the touch. There was a little flap there that needed to be trimmed away. We knew when we trimmed it away, it was going to be even more sensitive, and the right thing to do was sit that one out and put it behind us.”

Drury said Art Collector missed three days of training.

“We were able to get him right back to the track,” he said. “I jogged him the first day and he was back to galloping. It wasn't that he had some major issue, it was just bad timing. There wasn't much we could do for it Derby Week with the medication rules. To run, it would have just been for ego. If you don't win the Kentucky Derby, then it doesn't matter. Nobody wants to talk to the guy who finishes fifth.

“At least for me, I don't want to just lead one over there just to be leading them over there. I want to take my best shot. Had he been a $10,000 claimer could we have patched him up? Sure we could have. But is that the right thing to do for the horse? Absolutely not. Now we're going to go into the Preakness and we're going to take our best shot. I'm not thinking about a race. I'm thinking about a career. Bruce has already said he's more than willing to run this horse next year. So why would we do something stupid at this stage of the game?”

The lifelong Louisvillian might have missed out on what would have been his first Kentucky Derby starter, but he said trainers make such decisions all the time outside the spotlight.

“Have I thought, 'What if?' Sure I have,” Drury said. “That being said, I slept better that night than I did the entire two weeks leading up to the race. I was very comfortable with the decision I made, and I'm very comfortable where the horse is. We want him to be good for the long haul and not just one race.”

Now the trainer is looking forward to his possible Triple Crown debut in the Preakness.

“The timing of it is good,” he said. “The thing I like is that he doesn't have to take his racetrack with him. I would expect him to do that in Baltimore as well. I'm just looking forward to giving him the opportunity to run against those horses. He may or may not have run well in the Derby had he been there. We're certainly not going to take anything away from the winner. He ran a huge race. But we're looking forward for our opportunity to go after him.”

Drury said he's really glad now that Art Collector ran back in the Aug. 9 Ellis Park Derby at 1 1/8 miles instead of training up to the Derby off of the July 8 Blue Grass.

“Absolutely,” he said. “This didn't really interfere with our schedule a whole lot. We missed a couple of days and we were right back at the track. He's been training very forwardly. He worked good Saturday, so it seems like at this point, it's all systems go.”

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Racing Resumes Thursday Afternoon At Churchill Downs Without Fans

Racing returns to Churchill Downs on Thursday for the resumption of the September Meet.

Post time for each of the final nine days of the September Meet will be 12:45 p.m. (all times Eastern). Racing will take place Thursday through Sunday and Wednesday, Sept. 23 through Sunday, Sept. 27.

As it was during the Spring Meet (May 16-June 28) and Kentucky Derby Week (Sept. 1-5), racing at Churchill Downs with be run without fans and will be limited to essential personnel and participants because of COVID-19. Individual ticket holders who purchased tickets for September race dates through Churchill Downs or Ticketmaster.com will have their tickets refunded and will receive a credit applied to their original method of payment within the next 30-45 days.

Here's the day-by-day schedule with national TV coverage and daily prize money offered:

· Thursday, Sept. 17: 9 races (12:45-4:53 p.m.), TV: FS2 (12:30-5:30 p.m.), $418,000

· Friday, Sept. 18: 10 races (12:45-5:26 p.m.), TV: FS2 (12:30-5:30 p.m.), $458,000

· Saturday, Sept. 19: 11 races (12:45-5:57 p.m.), TV: FS1 (12:30-4 p.m.), FS2 (4-6 p.m.), $494,000

· Sunday, Sept. 20: 10 races (12:45-5:26 p.m.), TV: FS1 (12:30-4 p.m.), FS2 (4-5:30 p.m.), $441,000

· Wednesday, Sept. 23: 9 races (12:45-4:53 p.m.), TV: FS2 (12:30-5 p.m.), $442,000

· Thursday, Sept. 24: 9 races (12:45-4:53 p.m.), TV: FS2 (12:30-5:30 p.m.), $421,000

· Friday, Sept. 25: 10 races (12:45-5:26 p.m.), TV: FS2 (12:30-5:30 p.m.), $523,000

· Saturday, Sept. 26: 11 races (12:45-5:57 p.m.), TV: FS1 (12:30-1:30 p.m.), FS2 (1:30-8:30 p.m.), $609,000

· Sunday, Sept. 27: 10 races (12:45-5:26 p.m.), TV: FS2 (12:30-6 p.m.), FS1 (6-7 p.m.), FS2 (7-8 p.m.), $458,000

A total of $4,264,000 in prize money is offered in the 89-race condition book over the nine days for a daily average of $473,778. Maiden special weight races have a $75,000 purse while allowance races range from $77,000 to $81,000.

The lone remaining stakes race in September is the $100,000 Ack Ack (Grade III) for 3-year-olds and up at one mile on Saturday, Sept. 26 – a race often used as a prep for the $1 million Breeders' Cup Big Ass Fans Dirt Mile (GI) on Nov. 7 at Keeneland.

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