Kentucky Downs: Reserved Seating Tickets, New VIP Chalet Acces Now On Sale

Kentucky Downs will be back to full capacity for live racing in September with its most upscale option yet for reserved seating and dining and the return of free general admission.

The fastest six days in horse racing will be staged Sept. 5, 6, 8, 9, 11 and 12, kicking off on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend and concluding the following Sunday. Tickets for the unique all-grass meet are available for purchase now at kentuckydowns.com/racing or kentuckydownstickets.com.

New will be the VIP Chalet, a glass-enclosed, air-conditioned facility with an outdoor terrace providing a spectacular view of the race course and located mere yards from the rail. The expansive structure will feature more amenities, high-end cuisine, open bar and betting windows.

The popular Finish Line Pavilion once again will be expanded. The venue will have enhanced food options, dedicated cash bar and betting windows.

COVID safety restrictions limited the 2020 meet to horsemen and their guests. For 2021, free general admission will be back in front of the Mint Gaming Hall and with tailgating at the top of the stretch.

Ticket pricing is tiered according to the day of the week and will be sold in tables of eight only.

Finish Line Pavilion tables are available for $495 on Sept. 5 (Sunday), Sept. 6 (Labor Day Monday) and Sept. 12 (Sunday); for $795 on Sept. 11 (the showcase Saturday card) and $369 on Wednesday Sept. 8 and Thursday Sept. 9.

Tables for eight in the VIP Chalet can be purchased for $995 on Sept. 5, 6 and 12 and for $549 on Sept. 8 and 9. No tickets are available for Sept. 11, with the venue limited to sponsors, invited guests and horsemen in the track's five graded stakes.

Ted Nicholson, Kentucky Downs Vice President for Racing, encouraged buying tickets early, saying: “History tells us they'll go quickly, especially on the weekends.”

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Saturday’s Cross Country Pick 5 from Belmont, Churchill Downs An All Turf Affair

The New York Racing Association will host an all-turf Cross Country Pick 5 on Saturday, May 15, in partnership with Churchill Downs.

Live coverage will be available with America's Day at the Races on FOX Sports. Free Equibase past performances for the Cross Country Pick 5 sequence are now available for download at https://www.nyra.com/belmont/racing/cross-country-wagers.

The sequence kicks off at Belmont Park in Race 8 at 4:50 p.m. Eastern as a loaded field of New York-bred fillies and mares 3-years-old and up look to graduate in a 1 1/16-mile test on the Widener turf course. Trainer Jorge Abreu will saddle a pair of top contenders in second-time starter Acushla and debutante Dixie Kitten.

Chris Larsen's Acushla debuted with a closing fourth traveling 1 1/16-miles on the Big A turf on December 11 in a state-bred maiden special weight. Racing from last-of-12 and 13 lengths back, the Tiznow bay rallied to finish fourth, defeated 3 1/2-lengths by Mendham. Bloodlines Racing Partnerships' Dixie Kitten, a dark bay daughter of Kitten's Joy, wintered at Palm Meadows Training Center in Florida before shipping to New York where she has breezed three times at Belmont Park. Manny Franco has the call aboard Acushla from post 6, while Dixie Kitten will exit post 7 under Jose Lezcano.

Action switches to Churchill Downs in Race 9 [4:55 p.m.] for a 5 ½-furlong allowance optional claiming sprint featuring an overflow field of fillies and mares 3-years-old and up. Trainer Mike Maker sends out Foxxy Belle [post 5, Tyler Gaffalione], whose two-race win streak came to an end last out when seventh in the Unbridled Sidney, a Churchill Downs turf sprint on April 29. She will be tested by a talented field that includes Ghosting Kim [post 7, James Graham], riding a two-race win streak in turf sprints; and seven-time winner Lady of Luxury [post 9, Mitchell Murrill].

In Race 10 [5:52 p.m.] from Belmont, a field of 11 sophomore filly turf sprinters will contest at seven furlongs on the Widener turf in the Grade 3, $100,000 Soaring Softly. The Christophe Clement-trained duo of Hit the Woah [post 5, Junior Alvarado] and Bye Bye [post 11, Eric Cancel], will look to fend off the accomplished multiple stakes winner Tobys Heart [post 6, Manny Franco] for trainer Brian Lynch.

In the penultimate leg, the Grade 3 Louisville [Race 11, 5:58 p.m.] at 12 furlongs on the Churchill Downs turf, a field of 14 older horses is led by the Brad Cox-trained multiple graded stakes winner Arklow. The 7-year-old son of Arch, who captured the 2019 Grade 1 Turf Classic Invitational at Belmont, has banked in excess of $2.6 million and will make his seasonal debut out of post 10 under Florent Geroux.

Closing out the sequence in Race 11[ 6:22 p.m.] at Belmont Park is a field of 10 state-bred maiden claimers sprinting six furlongs on the inner turf. Panster [post 9, Junior Alvarado], a first-time gelding trained by Clement, looms large on the drop after facing state-bred maiden special weight company in his first three starts. Accomplished turf rider Jose Lezcano retains the mount on Tempesta for his seasonal debut from post 10.

The minimum bet for the multi-track, multi-race wager is 50 cents. Wagering on the Cross Country Pick 5 is also available on ADW platforms and at simulcast facilities across the country. Every week will feature a mandatory payout of the net pool. The Cross Country Pick 5 will continue each Saturday throughout the year. For more information, visit NYRABets.com.

Cross Country Pick 5 – Saturday, May 15:
Leg A: Belmont Park-Race 8 (4:50 p.m.)
Leg B: Churchill Downs-Race 9 (4:55 p.m.)
Leg C: Belmont Park- Race 10, Grade 3 Soaring Softly (5:52 p.m.)
Leg D: Churchill Downs-Race 11, Grade 3 Louisville (5:58 p.m.)
Leg E: Belmont Park-Race 11 (6:22 p.m.)

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This Side Up: A Channel of American Merit

It doesn’t make me mad anymore. Maybe it’s just the idealism of youth ebbing away. But I have also begun to understand the virtue of markets. If people want to breed to unproven stallions, that’s their prerogative. I can always buy a mare, send her to a sire of runners, and see y’all in the starting gate. If I’m right, the odds are in my favor; I get value from the market. And if I’m wrong, well, no need to be angry.

Even in setting all that aside, however, it’s been hard to resist another source of annual dismay in compiling our midwinter survey of covering options in Kentucky. And that’s the perennial gap between words and deeds when it comes to turf horses.

Everyone talks a good game these days about the expanding grass program in the U.S. They note the evolving role of synthetics, too, stressing the importance these surfaces may have in preserving our sport from the misapprehensions of welfare campaigners.

And then they go to a horse sale, and do their utmost to make it impossible to stand a turf stallion in Kentucky.

Now don’t get me wrong. After all, I’m constantly berating European breeders for insularity regarding the kind of American dirt prowess that invigorated their gene pool when the founders of Coolmore tapped into Northern Dancer. I’m certain that the best way to break the same empire’s Epsom hegemony, now, would be to repeat the trick and use American stallions that carried dirt speed through Classic distances.

But the other side of the coin is that American breeders also need more adventure. Regeneration should be reciprocal. We can’t get enough Uncle Mo? Well, thank goodness Spendthrift shipped over Caro (Fr). Stroll through the Claiborne cemetery, equally, and ask yourself whether the iconic farm would have left the same imprint on the breed without importing Nasrullah (Caro’s great-grandsire), Blenheim II, Sir Gallahad III and company.

English Channel winning the 2007 Breeders’ Cup Turf | Sarah Andrew

Yet it seems nearly impossible to get sustainable commercial respect for the few stallions making the same journey today; nor for the indigenous turf stallion who offers similar acceleration, stamina and durability.

Today, then, I would just like to celebrate a significant landmark in the career of English Channel.

Whatever else he may be, Calumet’s 19-year-old son of Smart Strike is not a commercial stallion. Only 14 of his yearlings even bothered with the sales ring in 2020, of which a dozen sold for an average of $27,671. This placed him at No. 92 in the national table, and represented zero yield on a covering fee–$27,500 for 2021–that presumably expresses his value to end users instead.

Because these have long known him as a quiet achiever. If Ken Ramsey has been rightly incensed by a lack of commercial recognition for Kitten’s Joy, whose stature as a turf sire has been measured by two general sires’ championships, then chew on this: English Channel matches that Titan of their kind, stride for stride, in all indices. Working from half as many foals (757 across 10 crops, compared with 1,573 named foals across 12 for Kitten’s Joy), English Channel has earned almost precisely the same per starter ($72,083 plays $72,773); and his percentages stack up almost eerily whether in black-type winners (7.1% for English Channel against 6.5%); black-type horses (11.5% against 11.7%); graded stakes winners (3.7% against 3.1%); graded stakes performers (6.3% against 6.1%); Grade I winners (1.2% against 0.9%); and Grade I horses (tied at 2.1%).

This comparison, to be clear, is intended only to exalt English Channel–and not to belittle Kitten’s Joy, whose neglect by most elite European breeders I have repeatedly rebuked in these columns. But it is only right, given this parity of performance, to record that English Channel has just been crowned champion turf stallion by North American earnings (also by North American/European purses; ditto Northern Hemisphere) for the first time.

Until the posthumous championship of Giant’s Causeway last year, courtesy of Bricks and Mortar, this title had been a six-year lock for Kitten’s Joy. So let’s give English Channel his day in the sun, and congratulate Calumet for their success–in this instance, at least!–in a conspicuous determination to stand up for their principles against the tide.

Calumet Farm | Sarah Andrew

Under its present ownership this historic farm has assembled a stallion roster that verges, in commercial terms, on eccentricity. But it is unmistakably a repository for precisely those genetic assets most under threat in the American breed, and future generations may yet look back and decide that Calumet was ahead of its time. The twin foundations of the roster appear to be proper, deeply-rooted Classic pedigrees and/or robust constitution.

I asked Eddie Kane, its general manager, whether the soundness that is one of English Channel’s calling cards makes him a suitable flagship for what Calumet is trying to do. “The team at Calumet hopes the industry’s new focus against illegal medications and practices will further shift breeders from a short-term mentality towards a more economically sustainable focus on soundness and longevity,” he replied. “English Channel’s trademarks are consistency, durability and longevity. In terms of racing value, he is constantly on or near the top.”

The obvious problem is that precisely those assets many of us consider most critical to the breed have somehow become the least commercial. How can the industry achieve a higher commercial premium for the kind of durability and stamina offered by English Channel?

“We wish we knew the answer to this one,” says Kane. “It seems many are content with the process of pushing 2- and early 3-year-olds, retiring them to stud, pumping up their first couple crops in the sales ring and then moving on. We attempt to support our stallions in the shed and stick with them. We think this benefits our breeders in the long run.”

Kane recognizes that other stud farms do this, too. But he finds it no easier to solve similar challenges about the undervaluing of grass horses. How do we get people to stop just talking the talk, and actually go to the sale ring and make it commercially viable breeding to turf stallions?

English Channel’s Travers winner V. E. Day | Lauren King

“Another very tough question,” he admits. “It is largely impacted by purses. NYRA’s 3-year-old program was a positive move in that direction. The prestige in European racing lies with turf. Here it is dirt. Many prioritize the Derby, the Triple Crown, etc. If English Channel, with six Grade I wins and the race record of his offspring, was all dirt, he would command three to four times the stud fee. You can’t say it’s right or wrong: it is just the reality of our market, the economics and the perception of prestige associated with certain races and titles.”

Yet while everyone can see major and ongoing improvement in earning potential for turf horses in North America, that is simply not being reflected in the sales ring. Moreover, those big players who are targeting such opportunities are instead doing their shopping in Europe. And doing so successfully, for now. But they must be wary of importing a ticking time bomb from the European gene pool, which is increasingly divided between a Classic bloodline that’s approaching saturation and upgraded cheap speed that will never sustain a Classic agenda.

Maybe they’ve been spending too much time with the English agent who so exasperated me when blithely announcing that he never goes to Keeneland because American breeders are obsessed with speed. If that gentleman were remotely competent to spend the funds of his wealthy patrons, he would understand that–for all the deficiencies of the American market–two-turn stallions here actually achieve far more “commercial” traction than do those of Classic profile in his domestic one. (I know, I know: getting mad again…)

The key, as I say, is that reciprocal transfusion. And if European breeders are nowadays too myopic to risk dirt blood, perhaps they should at least be a little more receptive to American turf stallions. They will certainly get value. David Redvers needed just $160,000 to buy a European champion by Kitten’s Joy, Roaring Lion, at Keeneland September in 2016. Yet European breeders remained so obtuse that he was able to return to the same sale two years later and find Classic winner Kameko, by the same sire, for $90,000.

It was only in 2018 that Kitten’s Joy was given a fresh start at Hill ‘n’ Dale, Ramsey having threatened to stand him in Europe if he didn’t get more respect. And I reckon all concerned with the horse would cheerfully trade the turf crown lost to English Channel for the striking improvement in the averages achieved by his first yearlings bred under a new regime. In a market meanwhile buffeted by the pandemic, Kitten’s Joy nonetheless advanced his 2020 yearling average to $139,505 from $86,367, elevating him from No. 33 to No. 17 in the table. (Remember these were also conceived at a more sporting fee, Hill ‘n’ Dale having immediately cut him to $60,000 from $100,000.)

That feels like a very wholesome development. The bigger picture, however, remains depressing. Flintshire (GB) (Dansili {GB}), for instance, has depended largely on support by his partnership to get started at the same farm. I am convinced that his first books will produce runners, but it looks like he won’t be “commercial” any time soon.

As I said at the outset, however, neglect spells opportunity. And perhaps there might yet be Europeans far-sighted enough to try English Channel. As it happens, that was one of the aspirations mentioned by Kane, when asked how the horse could still round off his resume.

“Well, there are a few things actually,” he says. “As a Breeders’ Cup Turf winner, one or more of his offspring repeating that accomplishment would be an important achievement. Also we feel a greater presence in European racing would be fruitful. And finally, we believe he is underrepresented on the dirt, as would be indicated by his sire Smart Strike, his [paternal] half-brother Curlin and offspring such as Travers winner V.E. Day, as well as the multiple graded stakes winner Optimizer who was the only 3-year-old of his crop to run in all three legs of the Triple Crown.”

Heart to Heart winning Keeneland’s Maker’s 46 Mile, one of two GI wins for the son of English Channel in 2018 | Coady

That’s another drum I’m always beating: the unsuspected versatility of horses whose reputation as specialists, because never stretched, becomes self-fulfilling. Take English Channel’s son Heart to Heart, at Crestwood: don’t tell me that 10 wire-to-wire stakes wins wouldn’t parlay into dirt speed. As it is, he’s a not a bad poster boy for his sire, with graded stakes wins five seasons running and 18 triple-digit Beyers. And his first two dams are by sons of Deputy Minister and, oh yes, Caro.

Few European breeders will even have heard of him. Nor would they necessarily think English Channel worth the journey if popping over the road from Blue Grass Airport to inspect him. But there’s no pleasing some people: they will then complain that dirt stallions are all too big and square.

“Biggest is not necessarily best, if so we would grade them by weight and height,” Kane remarks. “We feel he has the ideal size with balance and athleticism. He crosses well with almost any mare.”

Kane notes that English Channel has a particularly good record with daughters of Kitten’s Joy, with 14 winners from 16 starters including four at graded stakes level. That’s fun to see, because they aren’t just business rivals. They are also companions in arms; a mutual channel for the good stuff.

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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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