Horse racing on the Kentucky circuit shifts to Churchill Downs Sept. 14 with the first of three Twilight Thursday programs at 5 p.m. ET as the famed Louisville racetrack opens its 11th annual September Meet for an action-packed 14-date run through Sunday, Oct. 1.
Equine safety will be at the forefront following a spring meet that was ultimately transferred to Ellis Park as the result of at least a dozen fatalities in the spring.
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Thursday’s eight-race opener lured 79 entries (74 in the body plus five also eligible runners) for an average of 9.3 horses per race. An overflow field is entered for the featured seventh race, a $134,000 second-level allowance optional claiming event at 1 1/8 miles on turf. The Mike Maker-trained Yamato is the 5-2 morning line favorite.
Horsemen will compete for a record $15.133 million (all purses include prize money from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund), reflecting average daily purses of more than $1 million. The track’s 12-race stakes schedule is worth a record $3.775 million.
Purses in Kentucky are bolstered by slot-like historical horse racing gaming.
The track’s stakes program begins Sept. 16 with five black-type events, led by the $300,000 Iroquois Stakes (G3), which kicks off the Road to the Kentucky Derby series.
Also on Saturday, the connections of Kentucky Derby winner Mage are to receive their engraved trophies in a planned ceremony.
FanDuel TV will be live, on-site every race day at Churchill Downs with exclusive coverage of the track’s September Meet.
This press release has been edited for content and style by BloodHorse Staff.
