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Kentucky Derby Week Stakes Purses Remain Even; $9.85 Million September Stakes Schedule Announced

A total of 18 stakes events, topped by the 146th runnings of the $3 million Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (Grade I) and $1.25 million Longines Kentucky Oaks (GI), are on tap for the 2020 September Meet at Churchill Downs.

The September Meet stakes schedule is led by the revised Kentucky Derby Week, which was moved from April 25-May 2 to Sept. 1-5 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The spectacular week of racing will feature 14 graded stakes, including five Grade I races that will be headlined by the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, Sept. 5 and Kentucky Oaks on Friday, Sept. 4.

Kentucky Derby Day will showcase seven graded stakes races including the Grade I, $1 million Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic at 1 1/8 miles on the Matt Winn Turf Course for older horses and the Grade I, $500,000 Derby City Distaff (formerly known as the Humana Distaff) for fillies and mares at seven furlongs.

A new addition to the revised Kentucky Derby Day stakes schedule is the $200,000 Iroquois presented by Ford (GIII), the launch of the Road to the 2021 Kentucky Derby (Top 4 points: 10-4-2-1) and a “Win and You're In Breeders' Cup Juvenile Division” race for 2-year-olds that will be run at one-mile. The winner will receive an automatic berth to the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile (GI) held on Nov. 6 at Keeneland.

Other stakes on Kentucky Derby Day are the $500,000 Longines Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (GII) for fillies and mares at one-mile on turf; the $500,000 American Turf (GII) for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles on turf; and the $500,000 Pat Day Mile presented by LG&E and KU (GII) for 3-year-olds at one mile.

Kentucky Oaks Day will feature six graded stakes events which includes the Grade I, $500,000 La Troienne for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles. Other stakes on the program are the $400,000 Alysheba (GII) for 4-year-olds and up at 1 1/16 miles; the $300,000 Eight Belles presented by Smithfield Foods (GII) for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs; the $300,000 Edgewood presented by Forcht Bank (GII) for 3-year-old fillies at one mile on turf (shortened from its previous 1 1/16 miles on turf); and the $250,000 Twin Spires Turf Sprint presented by Sysco (GII) for 3-year-olds and up at 5 ½ furlongs on turf.

While the Iroquois is set for Kentucky Derby Day, its filly counterpart, the $200,000 Pocahontas (GIII), will be run two days prior on “Thurby.” The one-mile event for 2-year-old fillies kicks off the Road to the 2021 Kentucky Oaks (Top 4 points: 10-4-2-1) and is a “Win and You're In Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Division” contest with the winner receiving an automatic berth to the $2 million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (GI) on Nov. 6 at Keeneland.

The Grade I Churchill Downs Stakes, which was previously run on Kentucky Derby Day, is tentatively scheduled to be run during the Fall Meet.

After the Sept. 1-5 Kentucky Derby Week, Churchill Downs will stage its annual nine-day September Meet from Sept. 17-27. The lone stakes event will be the $100,000 Ack Ack for 3-year-olds and up at one mile on Sept. 26.

For more information, visit www.churchilldowns.com.

Day/Date	Running	Grade	Purse	Race	Age/Sex	Distance	Surface
Champions Day
Tuesday, Sept. 1	2^nd		$100,000	Champions Day Marathon Overnight Stakes presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance	3&up	1 ½ M	Dirt

Wednesday, Sept. 2	10^th		$150,000	Unbridled Sidney	3&up f/m	5 ½ F	Turf
Thurby *Presented By Old Forester*
Thursday, Sept. 3	52^nd	III	$200,000	Pocahontas	2yo f	1 M	Dirt
Thursday, Sept. 3	15^th		$100,000	Opening Verse Overnight Stakes	3&up	1 M	Turf
Longines Kentucky Oaks Day Six stakes races cumulatively worth $3 million
Friday, Sept. 4	146^th	I	$1,250,000	Longines Kentucky Oaks	3yo f	1 1/8 M	Dirt
Friday, Sept. 4	35^th	I	$500,000	La Troienne	4&up f/m	1 1/16 M	Dirt
Friday, Sept. 4	17^th	II	$400,000	Alysheba	4&up	1 1/16 M	Dirt
Friday, Sept. 4	65^th	II	$300,000	Eight Belles presented by Smithfield Foods	3yo f	7 F	Dirt
Friday, Sept. 4	36^th	II	$300,000	Edgewood presented by Forcht Bank	3yo f	1 M	Turf
Friday, Sept. 4	26^th	II	$250,000	Twin Spires Turf Sprint	3&up	5 ½ F	Turf
Kentucky Derby Day *Presented by Woodford Reserve* Seven stakes races cumulatively worth $6.2 million
Saturday, Sept. 5	146^th	I	$3,000,000	Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve	3yo	1 ¼ M	Dirt
Saturday, Sept. 5	34^th	I	$1,000,000	Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic	4&up	1 1/8 M	Turf
Saturday, Sept. 5	34^th	I	$500,000	Derby City Distaff	4&up f/m	7 F	Dirt
Saturday, Sept. 5	35^th	II	$500,000	Longines Churchill Distaff Turf Mile	4&up f/m	1 M	Turf
Saturday, Sept. 5	96^th	II	$500,000	Pat Day Mile presented by LG&E and KU	3yo	1 M	Dirt
Saturday, Sept. 5	29^th	II	$500,000	American Turf	3yo	1 1/16 M	Turf
Saturday, Sept. 5	39^th	III	$200,000	Iroquois presented by Ford	2yo	1 M	Dirt

Saturday, Sept. 26	28^th	III	$100,000	Ack Ack	3&up	1 M	Dirt

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TVG Will Be Live On Site At Keeneland For Exclusive Coverage Of July Meet

TVG, America's horse racing network, will be live on site at Keeneland, presented by WinStar Farm, for each day of the track's Summer Meet which runs from Wednesday, July 8th through Sunday, July 12th and will feature exclusive coverage of the $600,000 Blue Grass Stakes (GII) on Saturday, July 11th. The award-winning network will also be live from Del Mar, presented by Runhappy, this weekend as the track kicks off its summer meet on Friday, July 10. TVG will again partner with NBC Sports on Sunday as “Trackside Live” will be simulcast from 5:00 p.m. ET to 7:00 p.m. ET. featuring the $175,000 TVG Elkhorn Stakes (GII) from Keeneland.

At Keeneland, three-year-olds will compete for a spot in the starting gate in September's Kentucky Derby (GI) in the $600,000 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G2) on Saturday, July 11, one of six stakes races carded on the day. Art Collector, a homebred son of Bernardini for owner Bruce Lunsford, headlines a list of probable entrants for the race. Trained by Thomas Drury, Jr., he is undefeated this year with back to back allowance wins.

There will be expert analysis and exclusive interviews on-site at Keeneland for the duration of the five-day meet by Todd Schrupp, Gabby Gaudet, Caton Bredar, Scott Hazelton and Caleb Keller. Race day coverage begins at 11:30 a.m. on TVG2 with the popular 30-minute preview show “Today at Keeneland” hosted by Gaudet and Hazelton featuring handicapping selections and discussions of horses of interest.

The opening day feature on Del Mar's ten-race opening day card is the $100,000 Runhappy Oceanside Stakes. The one-mile turf race is restricted to three-year-olds and has drawn a field of twelve. The field includes the Dan Blacker-trained Hit the Road who is fresh off of a victory in May at Santa Anita. The stakes winning son of More Than Ready will have Umberto Rispoli aboard.

The first week of Del Mar's 36- day meet will feature TVG analysts Christina Blacker, Britney Eurton, Mike Joyce and Joaquin Jamie live on site at the racetrack with exclusive interviews and behind-the-scenes coverage. Simon Bray will be partaking in the broadcast remotely from his home.

The Keeneland meet will conclude on Sunday with a pair of stakes races including the $175,000 TVG Elkhorn Stakes (G2), a mile and a half turf race.

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VanMeter Excluded From Keeneland During ‘Further Review’ Following Racist Social Media Posts

Keeneland released the following statement Wednesday morning after well-known bloodstock agent Tom VanMeter was put on blast for racist social media posts. Those statements were widely condemned by several industry groups, including Keeneland, Fasig-Tipton, The Jockey Club, and the National Thoroughbred Racing Association. VanMeter later apologized and pledged to become a better ally to people of color.

“Effective immediately, Tom VanMeter will be excluded from the Keeneland premises, including participation by VanMeter and VanMeter-Gentry Sales in sales and racing activities, while Keeneland further reviews the circumstances related to the recent reprehensible comments VanMeter made on social media.

“Keeneland takes its role in advancing inclusion and diversity seriously. But we know that we as a company, an industry and a society have much work to do. Only through listening and concrete action can we hope to live up to our values of respect, community and equality.”

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Report: Baffert’s Lidocaine Findings Not Likely A Sign Of An Effort To Mask Injury

Now that the results of split sample tests are back on Bob Baffert trainees Charlatan and Gamine, both of whom won races at Oaklawn Park in early May, Baffert's attorney has confirmed the positive tests were for lidocaine. Dr. Mary Scollay, executive director and COO of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium, told The Blood-Horse this week that it seems unlikely a trainer would use lidocaine intentionally to mask a lame horse before a race.

Lidocaine has a number of accepted therapeutic uses — as a topical numbing agent, it can be deployed before a veterinarian puts in stitches to a wound, or can be helpful to relieve pain or swelling from a bug bite or other skin issue in a spot that's hard to bandage. It can also be injected as a temporary nerve block as part of a standard lameness exam. In order to isolate the source of a lameness, veterinarians will carefully apply short-acting nerve blocks to work out, by process of elimination, which structures are responsible for a horse's gait abnormality and then target their diagnostic imaging from there.

It seemed unlikely to Scollay that someone would numb a horse with lidocaine before a race to mask a problem or gain a competitive advantage because it's well-known as a substance easily detected in drug tests.

Still, Scollay told writer Eric Mitchell, she's of the opinion that horses should be disqualified in the case of medication violations, because not doing so unfairly disadvantages the horse that finished second with no medication overages. In the case of Charlatan and Gamine, Arkansas guidelines would allow for disqualification and reallocation of purse money if the commission determines a violation occurred.

Baffert's attorney told media Monday the overages were the result of a pain patch a member of Baffert's staff was using to relieve back pain, and that he intends to defend the cases before the commission.