Tag: kentucky oaks

Kentucky Derby Purse Raised By Churchill Downs To Record $5 Million, 50-Race Stakes Schedule Cumulatively Worth $25.6 Million

The 150th GI Kentucky Derby scheduled for Saturday, May 4 will be the richest in history as the purse for America's greatest race has been elevated to a guaranteed $5 million, Churchill Downs Inc. (CDI) said in a release Wednesday.

The $2 million increase to the race highlights a record-setting, 50-race stakes schedule cumulatively worth $25.6 million for Churchill Downs' 2024 Spring Meet, which will be run over 43 dates from April 27-June 30/

The Derby purse structure was the subject of a Chris McGrath TDN interview with John Sikura, where he questioned the $3 million purse. The cause was later taken up by Mike Repole.

Prize money for the stakes schedule increased 25% or $5.1 million from last year's $20.5 million lineup which is due to historical horse racing. Prior to the debut of historical horse racing at CDI's Derby City Gaming in September 2018, that year's Spring Meet featured 32 stakes races worth $8.8 million. There are now 18 additional Spring Meet stakes, and prize money for horsemen in those events has grown 190% or by $16.8 million.

“These record purse increases are a symbol of the health of horse racing in Kentucky,” said Bill Carstanjen, CEO of Churchill Downs Incorporated. “Churchill Downs Incorporated's over $1 billion investment into live and historical horse racing in Kentucky over the last five years has meaningfully strengthened the entire Kentucky Derby Week and year-round racing program. It's important to acknowledge the state legislature for its commitment to working closely with private enterprise in a truly collaborative partnership to support the continued growth of Kentucky's signature industry.”

Thirty-eight of the 2024 Spring Meet stakes races received significant purse hikes, including $250,000 boosts to each of the following: the $1.5 million GI Kentucky Oaks; $1 million GI La Troienne S.; $1 million GI Churchill Downs S.; $1 million GI Derby City Distaff; and $750,000 GII Churchill Distaff Turf Mile. Each of the track's seven Grade I events, including the Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic S. and Stephen Foster S., feature a minimum $1 million purse.

With a record $5 million in prize money now guaranteed for the Kentucky Derby, the winner will receive the event's highly sought-after gold trophy, a $3.1 million payday and possibly millions more as a stallion after retirement from racing. Also, $1 million will be awarded to the runner-up, $500,000 to third, $250,000 to fourth and $150,000 to fifth.

Previously, the Kentucky Derby purse had been worth $3 million since 2019, and was $2 million from 2005-18 and $1 million from 1996-2004.

“It is truly gratifying to view the steady growth of the Churchill Downs racing product and the entire Kentucky horse racing and breeding industry, which bettors around the world have embraced,” said Churchill Downs Racetrack President Mike Anderson. “Through the purses generated by the racing association and the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund, Kentucky horsemen and horsewomen are reaping the benefits of Churchill Downs Incorporated's historic investment as we celebrate this year's milestone 150th Kentucky Derby.”

Pretty Mischievous | Horsephotos

At $1.5 million, the 1 1/8-mile Kentucky Oaks–the Derby's sister race staged one day prior on Friday, May 3–remains the nation's most lucrative race for 3-year-old fillies. It had been worth $1.25 million since 2019, and was $1 million from 2011-18 and $500,000 from 1996-2010.

All told, there will be a record 22 stakes races cumulatively worth $17.5 million staged over Kentucky Derby Week (April 27-May 7), including nine stakes totaling $10.8 million on Derby Day and seven totaling $5.3 million on Oaks Day.

Four races on Kentucky Derby Week will offer horses an entry and travel incentive to run in some of Europe's most prestigious races. The winner of the Old Forester Turf Classic will receive a berth to either the one-mile G1 Queen Anne S. or the 1 1/4-mile G1 Prince of Wales's S. at Royal Ascot in mid-June. Earlier on the Kentucky Derby Day program, the winner of the GII Twin Spires Turf Sprint will receive an entry to the G1 King's Charles III S. (formerly known as the King's Stand), also staged at Royal Ascot.

Three-year-old turf specialists in the GII American Turf and GII Edgewood S. can receive their entry to either the G1 Betfred Derby or G1 Betfred Oaks at Epsom Downs. The winner of the American Turf on Kentucky Derby Day will receive an entry and travel stipend to compete in the Betfred Derby while the winner of the Edgewood on Kentucky Oaks Day will receive the same benefits for the Betfred Oaks.

The first condition book of scheduled races is being finalized by Vice President of Racing Ben Huffman and is expected to be published in late January. More than $57 million in total prize money is expected to be offered during this year's Spring Meet (pending Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund final approval). Purses for maiden races will be $120,000 while allowance races will range from $127,000 to $141,000.

Spring Meet stall applications are due Friday, Mar. 1. Following its annual closure for wintertime renovations, the Churchill Downs stable area will reopen Tuesday, Mar. 19. The first day of training on the main dirt track will be Friday, Mar. 22.

For the second consecutive year, Churchill Downs Incorporated's nearby Trackside Louisville, which accommodates more than 500 horses, has remained open year-round for wintertime stabling and training for racing at Turfway Park in northern Kentucky.

The post Kentucky Derby Purse Raised By Churchill Downs To Record $5 Million, 50-Race Stakes Schedule Cumulatively Worth $25.6 Million appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Jeff Ruby Steaks Highlights Turfway Winter/Spring Meet

Turfway Park will offer 19 stakes races  worth $3.725 million during its upcoming Winter/Spring Meet. The 52-day meeting is headlined by the $700,000 GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks, which will be run Mar. 23. Supporting races on the card include the $300,000 TwinSpires Kentucky Cup Classic, the $300,000 Bourbonette Oaks–a Road to the Kentucky Oaks Championship Series Race–the $250,000 Animal Kingdom S., the $250,000 Latonia S., and the $250,000 Rushaway S.

The Road to the Kentucky Derby's first stop at the Florence oval will be Mar. 2 for the $150,000 John Battaglia Memorial S. One day prior, fillies on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks will be in action for the $150,000 Cincinnati Trophy S.

Another spotlight race will be the 26th running of the Jan. 13, $125,000 Likely Exchange S., which will mark the final opportunity in the “Make Your Mare” series, in partnership with Claiborne Farm. The top three finishers of the race will receive $10,000, $5,000 and $2,500 in credits towards a future stallion mating at the farm.

Live racing during the Winter/Spring meet will be conducted Wednesday through Saturday with daily first posts of 5:55 p.m., except Jeff Ruby Steaks Day, which will start at 12:45 p.m.

The post Jeff Ruby Steaks Highlights Turfway Winter/Spring Meet appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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‘Rising Star’ V V’s Dream A Reality In Pocahontas Victory

V V's Dream (Mitole) already is showing an affinity for Churchill Downs. She picked up her second victory over the track in the GIII Pocahontas S., earning the first 10 points available on the Road to the Kentucky Oaks.

Debuted sprinting as the favorite over the dirt May 19, the gray filly earned 'TDN Rising Star' status with a 6 1/2-length win from off the pace. Shipped to Ellis Park for a run in the Debutante S., she was a beaten favorite July 2 by just a half-length to undefeated GISW Brightwork (Outwork). Back to where it all began under the Twin Spires, the 6-5 favorite found herself sitting pretty in third just a furlong into the race as pacesetters Hot Beach (Omaha Beach) and Youalmosthadme (Oxbow) settled into a duel through a :22.83 opening quarter. Caught between rivals early, V V's Dream tugged her way into a clear third even as the front pair had separated themselves from the field into the far turn. Moving under her own power around the bend, the 'Rising Star' came with an outside bid to swoop three-wide past both early leaders. From there, it was only a matter of who would finish second as the daughter of freshman stallion Mitole (by Eskendereya) opened up on the dueling pair and won as easily as she liked going away.

“She sat in a perfect spot just behind the two pacesetters,” said winning jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr. “She got a little bit of a breather around the turn and really went by them own her own. She's won impressively in two starts here. I think stretching out around two turns shouldn't be a problem in the future.”

“She's still young but has shown a lot of talent already,” added assistant trainer Greg Geier. “She spent the summer in New York training for this race. It's been the plan to run here in the Pocahontas and then to the Breeders' Cup. I don't see why she wouldn't improve stretching out in distance after this.”

Saturday, Churchill Downs
POCAHONTAS S.-GIII, $300,000, Churchill Downs, 9-16, 2yo, f, 1m, 1:36.45, ft.
1–V V'S DREAM, 122, f, 2, by Mitole
                1st Dam: Quay, by Tapit
                2nd Dam: Skipper Tale, by Tale of the Cat
                3rd Dam: Pretty 'n Smart, by Beau Genius
1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($130,000 Wlg '21 KEENOV; $190,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). O-MJM Racing; B-Mark Stansell (KY); T-Kenneth G. McPeek; J-Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr. $183,105. Lifetime Record: 3-2-1-0, $297,605, first SW for freshman sire (by Eskendereya). Werk Nick Rating: B. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Youalmosthadme, 122, f, 2, Oxbow–Good Gator, by Good and Tough. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($12,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). O-Qatar Racing LLC, Swinbank Stables, Steve Adkisson and Black Type Thoroughbreds; B-Pope McLean, Marc McLean & Pope McLean Jr. (KY); T-Brad H. Cox. $59,550.
3–Hot Beach, 122, f, 2, Omaha Beach–Hot Water, by Medaglia d'Oro. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($160,000 Wlg '21 KEENOV; $400,000 Ylg '22 FTSAUG). O-Boardshorts Stables, LLC; B-Cobalt Investments, LLC (KY); T-Brian A. Lynch. $29,775.
Margins: 8 3/4, 3/4, 5HF. Odds: 1.20, 2.48, 3.53.
Also Ran: Courbe, Riperton, Regal Rumor. Scratched: Empire Island, Peignoir, Raining Sugar.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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Politi ‘Excited, Proud and Nervous’ as Serengeti Empress’s First Foal Set to Sell at Keeneland

Joel Politi was still a relative newcomer to racehorse ownership when Serengeti Empress (Alternation) took him to the winner's circle of the 2019 GI Kentucky Oaks. The dream ride could continue when the mare's first foal, a colt by Into Mischief (hip 309), goes through the sales ring Tuesday during the second Book 1 session of the Keeneland September Yearling Sale through the Taylor Made Sales Agency consignment.

“I am excited, proud and nervous, how about that? Probably a lot of emotions,” Politi said ahead of next week's auction. “Serengeti Empress means the world to me and my family. And then because of that, her first foal means a lot to us as well. He's a beautiful, good-looking, athletic colt, so I would love to keep him. But I also understand that, if I am going to stay in horse racing for a while, then I am going to have to stick to my basic philosophy of keeping my fillies and selling my colts. I intend to stay in horse racing for the long term, so it's a very practical thing to sell him, but it's also an emotional thing to sell him.”

Politi, an orthopedic surgeon living in Columbus, Ohio, grew up around horses on his father's farm in Youngstown. He first began his own racing stable in 2005 with claiming horses owned in partnerships, but he decided to strike out on his own in 2015.

“In about 2015, I decided I wanted to start a broodmare band with the idea of racing horses and trying to create a broodmare band from scratch,” Politi explained. “Honestly, the first horse that we bought at the sale was Serengeti. And all of the credit goes to [trainer] Tom Amoss. We picked her at the sale–when I say we–Tom picked her.”

Politi purchased Serengeti Empress for $70,000 at the 2017 Keeneland September sale. Under Amoss's tutelage, the filly proved an immediate success, romping by 13 1/2 lengths in the 2018 Ellis Park Debutante and by 19 1/2 lengths in the GII Pocahontas S. She returned at three to win the GII Rachel Alexandra S. before her Oaks victory on the first Friday in May. Runner-up in the GI Acorn S. and GI Test S., she ended her sophomore campaign with a third-place effort in the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff.

At four, she added the GII Azeri S. and GI Ballerina S. to her resume, was second in the GI Derby City Distaff S. and concluded her racing career with a runner-up effort behind Gamine (Into Mischief) in the 2020 GI Breeders' Cup F/M Sprint. All told, she earned $2,175,653 on the track.

Her success on the racetrack made her a valuable commodity in the breeding shed, but Politi never wavered in his desire to retain the filly once her racing career was over.

“I was always going to keep her,” Politi said. “When we raced her, I had offers at every step along the way to sell her. Basically right after her Ellis Park Debutante win, I had significant offers, after her Pocahontas win, I had significant offers, and then I had real offers for her later in her career. And then at the end of her career, everybody kind of assumed that the normal protocol that a lot of people follow is to race their mares and sell them in November at the end of their careers. At that point, I had no interest in selling her. I've grown up around horses and to have a horse as special as her is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I just didn't feel right selling her and letting her go to somebody else, no matter how good of a broodmare she ever became. I was going to keep her and be able to enjoy her for the rest of her life.”

Serengeti Empress has become a permanent fixture in the Politi family.

“We go visit her all of the time,” Politi said. “My family likes visiting her, I like visiting her. And we know she is really well cared for. So that's priceless.”

The family has been watching the mare's first foal since before he was born.

“We had a camera on her stall the entire time she was pregnant,” Politi said. “We watched her every day. We were living and dying with this little guy as he was going through all the trials and tribulations of being born and growing. So we are very invested in him, so it will be emotional to watch him sell, but I am trying to be practical.”

Politi currently has 11 broodmares, including Li'l Tootsie (Tapiture), who was purchased for $105,000 at the 2019 Keeneland September sale and went on to win a pair of stakes and hit the board in three graded events, including a third-place effort in the 2021 GII Prioress S. Also in the band is Littlestitious (Ghostzapper), who was acquired for $190,000 at that same auction and is also a two-time stakes winner. Both mares are currently in foal to Not This Time.

“We bought five other fillies that have turned into nice stakes horses and a couple of them that never really got to show their potential that I love and I think they'll be great,” Politi said. “So we have a nice group of broodmares and now they are forever part of the little family.”

Politi's young broodmare band had its first Keeneland September offering a year ago when selling a filly by Bolt d'Oro out of Del Mar May (Jimmy Creed) (hip 1778) for $85,000 to pinhooker Tom McCrocklin. McCrocklin sold the filly for $375,000 at this year's OBS Spring sale.

“I am not upset that somebody did much better on her than I did because I own the broodmare,” Politi said with a laugh. “She is a nice mare and I have a yearling filly by Not This Time out of her that I am keeping. So I am rooting hard for that Bolt filly.”

Of his broodmare band, Politi said, “It'll be fluid, but I don't intend to become Stonestreet. My number is going to stay in that seven, eight, nine, 10 range. At some point, I will pare down what I have and just try to curate a really boutique, quality band of broodmares that I am happy to keep the foals and race them if nobody wants them or sell some of them and keep the whole operation going that way, that will be part of the plan.”

Politi currently has about eight horses in training, but he expects to do some shopping as well as selling at Keeneland next week.

“Tom and I will go shopping for some more yearlings,” he said.

“We are doing the same thing. We are buying athletes–physicals first–and try to get a pedigree as far as the dollars will let you go. But physical first.”

While Serengeti Empress failed to get in foal last year, she is back in foal to Curlin with another baby likely destined for the sales ring.

“I certainly was hoping for a filly, but we sexed the baby and it's a colt. They called me with the bad news,” Politi said chuckling. “I was really hoping for a Curlin filly. But it's ok. It is what it is.”

The Keeneland September sale begins Monday with the first of two Book 1 sessions beginning at 1 p.m. Book 2 sessions Wednesday and Thursday begin at 11 a.m. and, following a dark day Friday, the auction resumes Saturday at 10 a.m.

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