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Kentucky Downs Turf Course Renovated

Kentucky Downs has just completed a major renovation of its turf course–its first since the track was laid out in a field as a steeplechase course in 1990. The project involved nearly half of the 1 5/16-mile kidney-shaped course. A swath five-eighths of a mile long and 63-feet wide around the far turn and into the stretch was replaced with sod featuring a blend of 90% Kentucky 31 fescue and 10% Kentucky bluegrass. Kentucky 31, named for the state and year it was discovered (in this case, in 1931 by a University of Kentucky professor), is noted for its deep roots, resilience and disease resistance–all considered critical with the wear and tear of turf racing.

The project was overseen by track consultant Butch Lehr who spent 30 years as superintendent at Churchill Downs where he built the track’s turf course in 1985. Iron Bridge Sod Farms of nearby Bowling Green provided and installed the sod for the Kentucky Downs course.

“Obviously we face unique challenges with the Kentucky Downs course, racing exclusively on grass and with our unusual configuration and elevation variances,” said Ted Nicholson, Kentucky Downs’ Vice President for Racing. “Over the years, Kentucky Downs made improvements to the course, but this is the most ambitious overhaul we’ve had. Safety is the number one priority. With Kentucky Downs now having six race dates compressed into eight calendar days, we want to ensure we have a course that is of high quality and safe for horses and riders throughout the meet.

“We’re thrilled with how it’s turned out. We were able to put down the sod during Kentucky’s amazing November weather and feel confident that the course will be spectacular for our 2021 meet. In addition, we will be installing a new rail system that will allow for four racing lanes throughout the six dates.”

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Kentucky Downs’ Turf Course Receives First Major Renovation

Kentucky Downs–whose unique all-grass meet in September offers among the highest purses in the world—recently completed the first major renovation of its turf course since the track was laid out in a field as a steeplechase course in 1990.

The project involved nearly half of the 1 5/16-mile kidney-shaped course. A swath five-eighths of a mile long and 63-feet wide around the spacious far turn and into the stretch was replaced with sod featuring a blend of 90 percent Kentucky 31 fescue and 10 percent Kentucky bluegrass. Kentucky 31, named for the state and year it was discovered (in this case, in 1931 by a University of Kentucky professor), is noted for its deep roots, resilience and disease resistance — all critical with the wear and tear of turf racing.

The project was overseen by track consultant Butch Lehr, whose 30 years as track superintendent at Churchill Downs included building the Louisville track's turf course in 1985. Iron Bridge Sod Farms of nearby Bowling Green provided and installed the sod for the Kentucky Downs course.

The Iron Bridge crew killed off and dug up the existing grass in the impacted area, added new material to the soil and tilled it thoroughly to make the surface smooth and eliminate inconsistencies that can develop over the years. Soil analysis was then conducted, with the appropriate fertilizer applied before the sod was installed in strips from massive rolls.

“Obviously we face unique challenges with the Kentucky Downs course, racing exclusively on grass and with our unusual configuration and elevation variances,” said Ted Nicholson, Kentucky Downs' Vice President for Racing. “Over the years, Kentucky Downs made improvements to the course, but this is the most ambitious overhaul we've had. Safety is the No. 1 priority. With Kentucky Downs now having six race dates compressed into eight calendar days, we want to ensure we have a course that is of high quality and safe for horses and riders throughout the meet.

“We're thrilled with how it's turned out. We were able to put down the sod during Kentucky's amazing November weather and feel confident that the course will be spectacular for our 2021 meet. In addition, we will be installing a new rail system that will allow for four racing lanes throughout the six dates.”

Lehr said that sod, compared with the seeding previously used, will make the grass grow evenly and will mature and establish a root network more quickly, with sod also providing erosion protection and weed defense.

He emphasized that the redone portions, from the three-quarters pole to the eighth pole, blend in seamlessly with the rest of the course. The only races configured around two turns are at 1 5/16 and 1 1/2 miles. The vast majority of Kentucky Downs races are staged at a mile or shorter, involving only the far turn.

“We concentrated on the heavily-used part of the track,” Lehr said. “This track is so different than traditional tracks in the United States with its up and downhill. What we tried to do is get a uniform material underneath, then made it really smooth. We're fortunate that Iron Bridge had the ideal type of sod, which is not easy to find. I'm really feeling good about it.”

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Teaching An Old Horse New Tricks: Blinkers Have Arklow In Career Form For Breeders’ Cup Turf

Arklow's connections say he's a different horse since blinkers were added for the $1 million Calumet Farm Kentucky Turf Cup on Sept. 12, which proved his second triumph in Kentucky Downs' signature race in three years.

Saying he's different is saying something, given that Donegal Racing's 6-year-old Arklow had earned almost $2 million in 28 races without blinkers, including victory in New York's Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic last year.

The Brad Cox-trained Arklow was much more engaged for jockey Florent Geroux early on during their 1 1/4-length Kentucky Turf Cup score over Red Knight, who won Keeneland's Grade 2 Sycamore in his next start. Meanwhile, Arklow has trained up to his third attempt at Saturday's $4 million Longines Breeders' Cup Turf, having finished fourth in 2018 at Churchill Downs and a deceptively good eighth — losing by a total of 2 3/4 lengths — last year at Santa Anita.

Arklow is the 5-1 co-third choice with New York-based Channel Maker in the Breeders' Cup Turf at Keeneland, whose 1 1/2-mile distance is the same as the Kentucky Turf Cup. The 5-2 favorite in the field of 10 is 2018 Breeders' Cup Turf runner-up Magical and the 3-year-old Mogul, with both trained by Irish kingpin Aidan O'Brien.

“A lot of people have forgotten, or never even knew, that he had the best speed figures of anyone in last year's Breeders' Cup, even though he finished eighth,” Donegal president Jerry Crawford said Thursday, referencing the Ragozin handicapping “sheets” that chart form cycles and the comparative speed of horses while taking into account trouble encountered in a race. “That's how wide he was the whole time. He was in great form them, but he's in dramatically better form now.

“All you have to do is talk to Brad Cox,” said Crawford, whose partners with Donegal in Arklow are Joseph Bulger and Peter Coneway. “I, frankly, have never heard Brad so positive and confident in a horse as he is in Arklow on Saturday. Which is not to say that we don't have enormous respect for the Europeans. They're always very, very good – and we've got to beat Channel Maker, too. It's truly a world championship race. We think Arklow belongs and has an excellent chance. In Brad's words, as good a chance as anybody.”

Cox has said he was tempted before to add blinkers but that it was hard to make a change on a horse who was so productive. The opportunity came after Arklow finished fourth in Monmouth Park's Grade 1 United Nations, an audible called after he came in a disappointing sixth in Keeneland's Grade 2 Sycamore. The thought was that Arklow was leaving himself too much to do. Not only did the blinkers encourage the horse to position himself closer to the pace — as he had been in winning the Joe Hirsch last year — but his timed workouts in the morning have been much stronger.

Crawford quips that “a lot of owners would be smarter than to wait until a horse was 6 to try blinkers. That's on me. Brad put them on for a breeze after our ill-fated six-days rest before running at Monmouth Park. He called and said, 'We've got a whole new horse.'

“We saw his ability to get to the front (group) of horses in the Kentucky Turf Cup and was sitting on go the whole way, really, and not only held on but pulled away. I don't know how you could run a more impressive race than that.”

Said Cox: “That's the thing you do with blinkers: trying to get a horse more involved. He ran a great race at Kentucky Downs, really just kicked away from them late. Really pleased with his effort.

“He's doing better now than ever, so (we have) more confidence this year than the past,” he said of the Breeders' Cup Turf. “The Europeans are always tough in that division. We'll have to step up and run a race of a lifetime in order to win it. He's training like he's going to give us a race of a lifetime, so we're optimistic we'll be in the mix.”

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Imprimis Puts Orseno Back in the Spotlight

You have to have the right horses, manage them properly and get them to the big races when they are at their best.

Those are the sentiments of Classic-winning trainer Joe Orseno, who will saddle Saturday’s GI Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint morning-line co-second choice Imprimis (Broken Vow).

It’s been some time, 20 years to be exact, but this isn’t Orseno’s first trip to the Breeders’ Cup with a live runner. Far from it.

Back-to-back wins at the 2000 Breeders’ Cup-held then as just a one-day, blockbuster eight-race program-put an exclamation point on a career year for the now 65-year-old.

“That year, we won two Breeders’ Cups, the Preakness, and a bunch of Grade Ones, and I just thought it was gonna happen every year,” said Orseno, a former private trainer for Stronach Stables between 1998-2002.

“It’s not like I forgot how to train in the last 20 years,” he added with a laugh. “You have to have the horses.”

Orseno certainly had the horses on that aforementioned Championship Saturday at Churchill Downs. Perfect Sting and Macho Uno reeled off dramatic wins in consecutive fashion beneath Hall of Famer Jerry Bailey, providing Orseno with a rolling double in the GI Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf and GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, respectively. He also tightened the girth on Red Bullet to an upset victory over GI Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus earlier that spring in the second leg of the Triple Crown.

“That was a great day, obviously, for myself, the owners and my whole team, and a few of those guys are still with me,” Orseno reflected of the 2000 Breeders’ Cup.

“I thought I should’ve won one the year before and was very disappointed that Perfect Sting had a rough trip. I was like, ‘Geez, is this really ever going to happen for me?’ Then when she won, it was just like a big weight was lifted. We won a Breeders’ Cup! Wow! Then to come back and win the very next one. What can you say? It was just a great day. Two very good horses. And you know what? We had ’em ready to run that particular day. That’s what it’s about.”

Orseno looks like he has another one ready to run Saturday.

A punchless sixth in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint at Santa Anita–Orseno’s first starter at the Championships since 2002–Imprimis underwent a pair of throat surgeries to repair a breathing issue this off season.

“Gene Recio had him on the farm in Ocala and started to hear a little noise once he was back in training,” Orseno said. “We went ahead and scoped him and saw that the first surgery was starting to fail a little bit. We walked him across the street to Equine Performance Center and did another surgery in February. This one worked and he hasn’t looked back since. It 100% has helped him.”

Imprimis crossed the wire a dominant winner in his comebacker for his 6-year-old debut, but had his number controversially taken down to third for causing interference in the stretch in Saratoga’s GIII Troy S. Aug. 8.

“Take the human aspect out of it as far as taking him down, the horse ran his race and he couldn’t have run any better off a 10-month layoff,” Orseno said. “I sent him there to Saratoga and he ran a great race, and I was very proud of that.”

The gelding got his chance at redemption and backed up that strong performance with a visually impressive, come-from-behind score in the ‘Win and You’re In’ GIII Runhappy Turf Sprint S. over the soft going at Kentucky Downs last time Sept. 12.

He’s earned Beyer Speed Figures of 101 and 102 in his two starts this year. Irad Ortiz, Jr, a perfect three-for-three in the irons aboard Imprimis, is booked again to ride this weekend.

Imprimis’s six-race campaign in 2019, led by a course-and-distance tally in Keeneland’s GII Shakertown S., included a trip to Royal Ascot, where he finished sixth in the G1 King’s Stand S.

“This year we chose to do a different path. He didn’t run as much and he’s very fresh,” Orseno said. “He was getting little to no air [last year], and he still tried every single time.”

Produced by the Put It Back mare Shoppers Return, Imprimis was purchased privately by Mike Hall and Sam Ross’s Breeze Easy LLC after beginning his career with a pair of wins for breeder Craig Wheeler and trainer Tim Hills at the age of four.

The Florida-bred’s resume also includes wins in the 2018 Jim McKay Turf Sprint S. at Pimlico and the Wolf Hill S. at Monmouth, and the 2019 Silks Run S. at Gulfstream. Hailing from the family of GISWs Miss Shop (Deputy Minister) and Power Broker (Pulpit), he sports a record of 15-8-0-2 and career earnings of $759,948.

“When he’s right, he brings his ‘A’ game,” Orseno said. “I’m going in there knowing that my horse is as good as I can have him and as good as he could be. He’s ready.”

A native of Philadelphia, Orseno grew up not far from the now defunct Garden State Racetrack and went to the races with his father as a kid. He paved his own way into the business, taking out his trainer’s license in 1977. “When I was in high school, I played sports. I didn’t grow up around the horses,” Orseno said.

Based year-round at Gulfstream Park with 40 stalls, Orseno is closing in on 2,000 victories and $50 million in career earnings. Since re-opening his stable to the public in 2002, his runners have grossed seven figures in earnings in every season bar three. Other standouts campaigned by Orseno include GISWs: Golden Missile, also a longshot third in the 1999 GI Breeders’ Cup Classic, Collect the Cash, Roaring Twenties and Tap to Music.

“I’ve always been a hands-on trainer,” Orseno concluded. “The game’s changed a lot since I first came in. [Late trainer] Mickey Crock took me from the ground up and taught me the right way. The horsemen way. I always say, ‘There’s horse trainers and there’s horsemen.’ I always considered myself a horseman.”

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