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Churchill Downs Spring Meet Concludes on a High

All-sources wagering on Churchill Downs’ abbreviated 27-date Spring Meet totaled $240.5 million, which was a 53.3% increase from the 32 days of racing that followed last year’s Kentucky Derby. Additionally, the average daily handle was up 81.7% from $4.9 million one year ago to $8.9 million this season.

Shortened to seven weeks from May 16-June 28, the 2020 meet was staged under strict government-sanctioned protocols and without spectators because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This season, Churchill Downs experienced four of the track’s six largest non-Derby, Oaks or Breeders’ Cup betting days in track history, led by a record $19.3 million May 23 (Stephen Foster Preview Day). Other big days: $16.8 million was wagered May 30 (Winning Colors/Old Forester Mint Julep); $14.3 million May 16 (Opening Day); and $13.8 million June 27 (Stephen Foster Day).

A total of 2,536 horses made starts in the 268 races for a substantial average of 9.5 horses per race–up from 8.4 horses in 2019. Purses paid to horsemen totaled $15.6 million and averaged $576,000 per day compared to last year’s $601,000 daily average. The average purse per race was $58,000 compared to last season’s $63,000.

This season, Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen extended his Churchill Downs training title record to 23 with 17 wins, one better than Brad Cox (16), and he overtook south Louisville native Dale Romans as the track’s all-time leading trainer. Asmussen has won 747 career races at Churchill Downs, three more than Romans, who surpassed Bill Mott Nov. 12, 2017 after 31 years in the top spot. Mott, who has 728 career wins at Churchill Downs, became only the seventh trainer in history to record 5,000 career wins when Moon Over Miami won at the Louisville track June 20.

In the jockey’s standings, Tyler Gaffalione easily defeated 19-time local riding champion Corey Lanerie by capturing 31 wins through the meet, seven more than Lanerie who collected 24. In the owner’s race, owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey earned their record 33rd title as the leading owners at Churchill Downs. On May 24, Ramsey’s registered their 500th win beneath the Twin Spires, and finished the season with a total of 504 career Churchill Downs wins. Gayle Benson’s G M B Racing, who campaigns GII Stephen Foster S. winner Tom’s d’Etat (Smart Strike), was the meet’s leading money-earning owner with $368,532.
Racing returns to Churchill Downs in nine weeks for the rescheduled Kentucky Derby Week (Sept. 1-5). The 146th running of the Longines GI Kentucky Oaks and GI Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve will be held with spectators under strict guidelines Sept. 4 and Sept. 5, respectively.

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Despite ‘Unprecedented Pandemic,’ Churchill Downs Reports 53.3 Percent Wagering Increase

All-sources wagering on Churchill Downs' abbreviated 27-date Spring Meet totaled $240.5 million, which was a 53.3% increase from the 32 days of racing that followed last year's Kentucky Derby. Additionally, the average daily handle was up 81.7% from $4.9 million one year ago to $8.9 million this season.

The 146th Spring Meet, which was delayed and shortened to seven weeks from May 16-June 28, was staged under strict government-sanctioned protocols and without spectators for the first time in track history because of the COVID-19 pandemic. With no guests in attendance, many bettors were able to watch the racing action on FOX Sports' “America's Day at the Races,” which aired nationally every race day in high definition on either FS1 or FS2 through a partnership with FOX Sports and the New York Racing Association Inc. (NYRA).

Wagers on Churchill Downs' racing product were placed almost exclusively online via advance deposit wagering outlets, led by TwinSpires.com – the official advance-deposit wagering service for Churchill Downs Incorporated, its family of racetracks and the Kentucky Derby.

Churchill Downs experienced four of the track's six largest non-Derby, Oaks or Breeders' Cup betting days in track history, led by a record $19.3 million on May 23 (Stephen Foster Preview Day). Other big days were $16.8 million on May 30 (Winning Colors/Old Forester Mint Julep); $14.3 million on May 16 (Opening Day); and $13.8 million on June 27 (Stephen Foster Day).

“In the midst of an unprecedented pandemic, we can't thank our horsemen and horseplayers enough for their continued support and enthusiastic response throughout the Spring Meet,” said Churchill Downs Racetrack President Kevin Flanery. “Our team worked tirelessly with public health officials and our horsemen navigated through uncharted territory to deliver an important economic driver in a safe environment for thousands of individuals in the Commonwealth. I couldn't be more proud of our staff and everyone who made the season possible. It was, however, an incredibly unusual season without fans in the stands, and they were greatly missed. We very much look forward to welcoming them back to Churchill Downs for Kentucky Derby Week in September.”

A total of 2,536 horses made starts in the 268 races for a substantial average of 9.5 horses per race – up from 8.4 horses in 2019.

Purses paid to horsemen totaled $15.6 million and averaged $576,000 per day compared to last year's $601,000 daily average. The average purse per race was $58,000 compared to last season's $63,000.

Some of the sport's brightest equine stars shined at Churchill Downs during the Spring Meet, led by Midnight Bisou (21-13-5-3—$7,371,520) and Tom's d'Etat (18-11-2-1—$1,627,272), the top two-ranked horses on the June 29 National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA) Top Thoroughbred Poll.

On June 27, Midnight Bisou, the 2019 Champion Older Dirt Female, powered home to an easy 8 ¼-length win in the $200,000 Fleur de Lis presented by Coca-Cola (Grade II). One race later, Tom's d'Etat delivered a brilliant performance in the $500,000 Stephen Foster presented by Coca-Cola (Grade II) as the 7-year-old horse collected his fourth consecutive stakes win while clocking 1 1/8 miles in 1:47.30 – just .02 off Victory Gallop's 1999 track and stakes record.

Both Tom's d'Etat and Midnight Bisou earned spots in the Breeders' Cup Classic and Distaff, respectively, at Keeneland on Nov. 7.

Other top horses who won stakes during the meet included $100,000 Aristides winner Volatile (5-4-1-0—$203,540), who emerged as a top contender for this fall's Breeders' Cup Sprint (GI); $100,000 Louisville (GIII) winner Admission Office (14-4-5-2—$432,957); $100,000 Blame winner Owendale (16-6-2-2—$1,143,735); $200,000 Wise Dan (GII) winner Factor This (29-10-3-4—$844,070); 2019 Breeders' Futurity (GI) winner Maxfield (3-3-0-0—$442,762), who won the $150,000 Matt Winn (GIII); 2019 Alabama (GI) winner Dunbar Road (8-5-1-1—$758,040), who won the $100,000 Shawnee; and 2019 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (GI) winner Sharing (6-4-1-1—$856,471), who won the $100,000 Tepin in advance of running second in the Group 1 Coronation at Royal Ascot.

Allowance winners during the season included 2018 Champion 3-Year-Old Filly and Longines Kentucky Oaks (GI) winner Monomoy Girl (12-10-2-0—$3,008,618) and 2019 Acorn (GI) and Coaching Club American Oaks (GI) winner Guarana (5-4-1-0—$928,268).

Eleven horses won multiple races at the meet, including $100,000 Dogwood (GIII) winner Four Graces (4-3-0-0—$134,450); promising 2-year-old and Bashford Manor (GIII) winner Cazadero (2-2-0-0—$106,160); turf sprinter Change of Control (17-5-4-2—$295,849); improving 3-year-old Art Collector (7-3-1-0—$188,475); and rising 3-year-old filly Paris Lights (3-2-0-1—$95,412).

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen (100-17-11-10—$1,112,065) not only won his record-extending 23rd Churchill Downs training title, 17 wins to 16 over Brad Cox (69-16-8-6—$777,195), but he overtook south Louisville native Dale Romans (44-7-6-3—$239,159) as the track's all-time leading trainer. Asmussen has won 747 career races at Churchill Downs, three more than Romans, who overtook renowned Bill Mott (42-8-4-4—$481,140) on Nov. 12, 2017 after a 31-year reign.

Mott, who has 728 career wins at Churchill Downs, became only the seventh trainer in history to record 5,000 career wins when Moon Over Miami (7-2-0-0—$98,702) won at the Louisville track on June 20. Longtime Mott assistant Kenny McCarthy saddled the winner and accepted the local accolades.

Tyler Gaffalione (153-31-34-17—$1,711,573), 25, reaffirmed his status as one of the sport's escalating young stars by easily defeating 19-time local riding champion Corey Lanerie (167-24-18-23—$1,253,138), 31 wins to 24, in the jockey standings.

Owners Ken and Sarah Ramsey (18-5-2-1—$184,411) earned their record-extending 33rd crown as the leading owners at Churchill Downs. On May 24, the Nicholasville, Ky. couple registered their unprecedented 500th win beneath the Twin Spires, and finished the season with a total of 504 career Churchill Downs wins.

Gayle Benson's G M B Racing (7-2-1-0—$368,532), the owners of Tom's d'Etat, was the meet's top money-earning owner.

Racing in Kentucky will shift to Ellis Park (July 2-5 and July 17-Aug. 30) and Keeneland (July 8-12) before it returns to Churchill Downs in nine weeks for the rescheduled Kentucky Derby Week (Sept. 1-5). The 146th runnings of the Longines Kentucky Oaks (GI) and Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (GI) will be staged with spectators under strict guidelines on Friday, Sept. 4 and Saturday, Sept. 5, respectively.

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Major Fed Tops Field Of 10 Seeking Derby Points In Wednesday’s Indiana Derby

A field of 10 has been drawn for the 26th running of the Grade 3 Indiana Derby Wednesday, July 8 at Indiana Grand. The race is part of the Kentucky Derby Championship Series with the top four finishers earning points toward the 2020 Kentucky Derby set for Saturday, Sept. 5. The Indiana Derby is carded as the 11th on the 12-race card with an estimated post time of 7:45 p.m. First post for the afternoon card is 2:20 p.m.

Leading the list of entrants for Indiana's richest horse race is Major Fed from the Greg Foley barn. The son of Ghostzapper finished second earlier this season in the Grade 2 Risen Star at Fairgrounds and returned in the next start for a fourth place finish in the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby. He competed in the Grade 3 Matt Winn at Churchill Downs in late May and will start from post eight with James Graham aboard.

Joining Major Fed as a contender for the Indiana Derby title is Winning Impression from the Dallas Stewart Stable. The grey Paynter gelding has not raced since early May, finishing fourth in his last start in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park. Julien Leparoux gets the call aboard Winning Impression from post nine.

The entire Indiana Derby field, in post position order with jockey, includes: No Getting Over Me (Miguel Mena); Extraordinary (Luis Saez); Taishan (Rafael Bejarano); Earner (Stewart Elliott); Shared Sense (Florent Geroux); Background (Tyler Baze); Juggernaut (DeShawn Parker); Major Fed (James Graham); Winning Impression (Julien Leparoux) and Necker Island (Mitchell Murrill).

Leading into the Indiana Derby is the Grade 3 $200,000 Indiana Oaks. Heading the field is Graded Stakes winner Shedaresthedevil from the Brad Cox Stable. The Daredevil filly was a winner in the Grade 3 Honeybee Stakes at Oaklawn Park in March and came back for a third place finish in the Grade 3 Fantasy Stakes in early May. Her most recent start was a win against allowance company at Churchill Downs in early June. Shesarethedevil will be ridden by Florent Geroux from post six in the 10-horse lineup.

The Indiana Derby Day card features six stakes total with purses for the day just under the $1 million mark. The program begins at 2:20 p.m. with the 12th running of the $75,000 Hoosier Breeders Sophomore Stakes. Other stakes on the card include the $75,000 Hoosier Breeders Sophomore Fillies Stakes, the $75,000 Indiana General Assembly Distaff (Listed), and the $75,000 Jonathan B. Schuster Memorial (Listed). A special $100,000-guaranteed Pick 5 pool will be offered on the last five races of the program, beginning with the Indiana General Assembly Distaff in Race 8.

Indiana Grand recently received permission to allow spectators during live racing. The facility will operate at reduced capacity, in accordance with State of Indiana and the Indiana Horse Racing Commission guidelines. All guests will be strongly encouraged to wear face masks in all locations, but will be required to wear face masks while indoors except while consuming food or beverages. Doors will open at Noon on Indiana Derby Day.

Live racing continues through Wednesday, Nov. 18 with action held Monday through Thursday beginning at 2:20 p.m. Four Saturday programs are slated for all-Quarter Horse days set for July 4, Aug. 8, Oct. 23 and Oct. 24.

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OBS President Tom Ventura Joins TDN Writers’ Room

As president of the sale company that conducted the final auction before the coronavirus pandemic shut down society as well as the first one after restrictions were lifted, OBS’s Tom Ventura has had to learn on the fly. Wednesday, he joined the TDN Writers’ Room podcast presented by Keeneland to offer his advice for the rest of the industry on keeping business going amidst COVID-19 and his impressions of the rebounding sale market.

Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Ventura said of the lessons gleaned through the pandemic, “One of the things that we learned real quickly, that you had to be pretty flexible and be able to adapt on the fly. There were restrictions coming down the pike, literally, as we were about to hold the March sale … As things were tightening up, it became very hectic, almost on an hourly basis as things were being changed. So we met with the local government officials and we got the advice, at the state level, what things were being required and what we could do. It was still feel your own way, because there wasn’t a lot of dramatic restrictions that were being put in place.”

Ventura noted that while phone bidding was ramped up for the March sale, the key to pulling off the delayed April sale in June was the incorporation of online bidding, something that will likely be a permanent feature in the auction world going forward.

“As we had to ramp back up for June, we put the online bidding into overdrive,” he said. “That was in play in terms of something that we wanted to get done, but it got moved to the head of the class real quick. And I really have to appreciate the work that [Tampa-based software company] Xcira did, because from OBS’s perspective, it’s obviously a super high priority for us. We were able and willing to work 24/7 to get it up and running for the spring sale and fortunately, Xcira jumped in right there with us to get it up. Now, it worked. I thought it was very good. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles that it will down the road, but it certainly [did the job].”

Things looked ominous for both the racing and sales worlds at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, but tracks resuming operations and positive results from Fasig-Tipton Midlantic this week suggest a rebound is underway. Ventura agreed that the mindset has changed and pointed to the upcoming OBS July sale as another barometer for the industry.

“The [July] sale, we’ll get a real true test of the depth of the market. We have another thousand horses on the market,” he said. “I’m hopeful, and I think based on our sale and the Fasig-Tipton sale, they held up pretty well comparatively, and they had a lot of participation. I think the other thing that’s going to benefit us now is that all the racetracks for the most part are up and running. There’s a positive frame of mind now, compared to March, as we were just in the beginning of this, as things were shutting down.”

Elsewhere on the show, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, the writers recapped Fasig-Tipton Midlantic and expressed concern about the vague safety protocols announced for the GI Kentucky Derby. Later on, in light of the number of top horses who have dropped off the Derby trail, they each picked one supplemental horse for their 3-year-old fantasy stables. Click here to listen to the podcast and click here to watch it on Vimeo.

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