Strong Opening Day Card Set at Churchill Downs

The horses are back at Churchill Downs, and they are ready to run.

The May 16 opening day program of the 2020 spring meet will be conducted without spectators and under strict public health guidelines as the COVID-19 crisis continues, but after delays from the original April 25 opening date, horsemen were happy to step up to the entry box to fill an action-packed 11-race card.

The Saturday program has an average field size of 11.3 horses, with 124 entered in the body of each race and 38 on the also-eligible list. The featured fourth race, a conditioned allowance event at one-mile on the main track with a purse of $85,000, has attracted champion Monomoy Girl, who will make her first start since her Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) victory in November 2018.

OSER: Monomoy Girl Set for Comeback at Churchill Downs

First post Saturday is 1 p.m. ET. 

After opening weekend (May 16-17), racing will be staged Thursdays-Sundays, with a special holiday card on Memorial Day, May 25. Closing day of the shortened 26-day meet is June 27. All racing will be conducted spectator-free until government officials otherwise issue approval of fans at Churchill Downs.

Horsemen will be able to compete for an average of $559,000 each day when the spring meet begins. A total of 125 races cumulatively worth $7,265,000 are offered in the first condition book, which covers May 16-June 5. Maiden special weight races offer a purse of $79,000 and allowance races range between $81,000 and $88,000. All purses include prize money from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund. The stakes schedule features 16 stakes totaling $2,250,000:

The second condition book for racing between June 6-27 is expected to be published by May 29.

View the May 16 Churchill Downs Overnight

Saturday's late 50-cent Pick 5 will feature a strong sequence with two allowance events and a duo of maiden special weight races with each having an over-subscribed field. The sequence, which starts in Race 7 at 4:08 p.m., has a 15% takeout.

The seventh race is a six-furlong maiden special weight for fillies and mares 3-year-olds and up with a purse of $79,000. The field includes recent Gulfstream Park runner-up Say Moi, who will be ridden by John Velazquez for trainer Bill Mott.

Race 8 is a one-mile allowance race on the turf that features the Chad Brown-trained Motagally, who is making her first start on the grass, and graded-stakes placed Uncapped for trainer Brendan Walsh.

The ninth race is a claiming event at seven furlongs for 3-year-olds and up entered for a $50,000 tag that have not won two races. The race drew 12 horses in the body with four on the also-eligible list.

Race 10 is a first-level allowance contest for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs. A field of 12 horses drew into the body of the race, with four also-eligible entrants, including grade 2-placed Portrait for trainer Brad Cox and Gasparilla Stakes runner-up Mo City.

The sequence will close with a 5 1/2-furlong allowance race on the turf for 3-year-old fillies. The uber-competitive field includes Ilchester Cheetah (trainer Jerry O'Dwyer), Cincinnati Trophy Stakes winner Karak (Wesley Ward), and Stewart Manor Stakes winner Fly So Pretty (Mark Casse).

Some of racing's biggest stars have aligned for the spring meet, which includes many of the nation's top jockeys. Javier Castellano, Jose Ortiz, Joel Rosario, and John Velazquez join several of Churchill's household names on Saturday's card including Tyler Gaffalione, Florent Geroux, James Graham, Brian Hernandez Jr., Chris Landeros, Julien Leparoux, Miguel Mena, Ricardo Santana Jr., and defending spring meet leading rider Corey Lanerie. Others joining the fray are Rafael Bejarano, Manny Franco, Mitchell Murrill, and Joe Talamo.

A total of 47 jockeys are listed on page 63 in volume one of the Churchill Downs spring meet condition book. 

Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen is poised to defend his 2019 spring meet leading trainer title but several new names have been allotted stalls for the entirety of the spring meet including Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert and multiple Eclipse Award-winning trainers Chad Brown and Todd Pletcher. Other new names stabled at Churchill Downs include Jerry Hollendorfer and John Sadler.

More than 320 horses have arrived on the backstretch of Churchill Downs and its adjacent property Trackside Louisville as of 11 a.m. Tuesday, according to senior director of the stable area Steve Hargrave. May 14 will mark the first day of ship-ins from Florida, with approximately 500 horses expected to arrive over the next three days. Horses conditioned by trainers such as Rusty Arnold, Chad Brown, Dale Romans, and Ian Wilkes are all expected to arrive in the next three days.

The first day of training will begin Wednesday at 5:30 a.m.