Kentucky Downs: Turf Racing’s September Place To Be

 

Franklin, Kentucky Track Offers Big Purses For Grass Stars

By Noel Michaels

Blink and you’ll miss it! High stakes turf racing is back at Kentucky Downs to begin the month of September, but you’ll have only five racing days over the course of two weeks to get in on the racing and wagering at the turf-only oasis located within shouting distance of the Kentucky-Tennessee border, not far from Nashville.

Kentucky Downs is home to a 1 5/16-mile turf course featuring a non-oval shape and undulating terrain. With subtle elevation changes throughout the course, a sweeping turn into the stretch run, and a quarter-mile dash from the end of the final turn to the finish line, racing at Kentucky Downs is on a class all its own.

The 2018 Kentucky Downs meet consists of five dates — Sept. 1, Sept. 6, Sept. 8, Sept. 9 and Sept. 13.  Expect big fields for all of the five days. A total of 190 horses were entered for Saturday’s 10-race card, including a 2-year-old filly maiden race that attracted 53 entries. (A maximum of 12 horses can start in a race.)

At just five days each September, the Kentucky Downs race meet is short, but sweet. The meet features $10 million in purses, with a nation-leading average of $2 million in purses per day. The all-turf track will host fourteen stakes races, including four graded stakes — the $750,000 Kentucky Turf Cup (G3), $500,000 Ladies Turf Stakes (G3), $500,000 Turf Sprint Stakes (G3) and the $450,000 Ladies Turf Sprint Stakes (G3). All 13 existing stakes races got purse increases this season.

The newly added stakes race at the meet will be the… (more)