Keeneland in Spotlight for Five-Day Race Meet

For portions of July from 1943-2002, Keeneland was in the spotlight while it hosted its July Selected Yearling Sale, where it sold some of the world's most coveted young Thoroughbreds, including Seattle Dancer, a son of Nijinksy II that sold for a world-record $13.1 million in 1985.

Eighteen years after that particular sale was discontinued, Keeneland is about to make headlines in July again—this time by hosting a unique five-day meet July 8-12, one featuring 10 graded stakes that would have otherwise been run at the track during its canceled spring meet in April. The Lexington track was forced to abandon racing in April due to the escalating COVID-19 pandemic.

The week-long summer meet doesn't match the track's motto as "racing as it was meant to be"—no fans will be in the stands, a key element of the Keeneland social experience—but the short season does provide a showcase of top-class horses, particularly over its final three days. After July 8 and July 9 cards highlighted by allowance races, an upper-tier stakes race returns July 10 with the $300,000 Maker's Mark Mile (G1T), the first grade 1 in Kentucky since the Nov. 29 Clark Stakes Presented by Norton Healthcare (G1) at Churchill Downs.

Had this year not been disrupted by the pandemic, 10 grade 1s would have already been run in the state in April and May. Four of these races are coming at Keeneland this week, and six others will take place at Churchill in September during its postponed Derby week Sept. 1-5.

Following Friday's racing, the $400,000 Central Bank Ashland Stakes (G1), the $350,000 Coolmore Jenny Wiley Stakes (G1T), and $250,000 Madison Stakes (G1) are carded for July 11, plus three other stakes, including the $600,000 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G2).

"The Keeneland stakes program is critically important in terms of black type when you look at the four grade 1s, the four grade 2s," said Keeneland vice president of racing and sales, Bob Elliston. "These are races people point toward the whole year-round. They hopefully happen at a time they're in collaboration with other important racing programs around the country."

It took cooperation for the meet to simply happen. Ellis Park, which runs the traditional summer dates in Kentucky, needed to accommodate Keeneland's request to run and to pause its own season for a week, and Keeneland still needed to find the right timing, which allowed it to blend with the racing schedules of the other major tracks.

Ultimately it found its window, right before the Saratoga Race Course meet that begins July 16. Some of the better horses in Kentucky each spring head north to upstate New York for racing there.

Horsemen have backed the summer Keeneland meet with deep entries. Not counting also-eligibles, fields averaged just shy of 10.4 entrants per race over the nine-race cards over Wednesday through Friday. Weekend races will be drawn later this week.

No trainer is more active over the first few days than Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. He has 16 horses and one also-eligible entered from Wednesday through Friday, including one in Thursday's first race, Super Stock, in which his son, Keith, will ride.

The first of his stakes horses at the meet runs Friday when Frizette Stakes (G1) winner Wicked Whisper returns in the Beaumont Stakes Presented by Keeneland Select (G3) after last finishing fifth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) Nov. 1 at Santa Anita Park.

Then on Saturday, he expects to run Basin in the Blue Grass and Mia Mischief in the Madison, plus other horses.

"Delighted to get the opportunity to run the Blue Grass and the traditional stakes," he said. "This is the new normal, so to speak."

Particularly over the meet's final three days, some of the country's best jockeys will descend upon Keeneland, joining the already deep colony of riders that regularly participate in Kentucky.

Javier Castellano, Joel Rosario, Irad Ortiz Jr., Luis Saez, and John Velazquez will travel to Keeneland for mounts Friday, and Jose Ortiz and Flavien Prat could join them for mounts over the weekend, Keeneland racing secretary Ben Huffman said.

"We're expecting a very good, strong summer meet," he said. "We have some good horses coming here, top trainers, and jockeys. I think it is going to be interesting and exciting."

Huffman said a challenge of the summer meet falls in the recruitment of horses, emphasizing that many summer stakes are now scheduled close together in this COVID-19-changed year. On Wednesday, for example, Indiana Grand runs the $200,000 Indiana Oaks (G3) and $300,000 Indiana Derby (G3)—similar but less prestigious races than the Ashland and Blue Grass—but races that still thin the pool of available stakes horses in the region.

Huffman believes the Keeneland turf course is better now than during the spring. No horses have raced over it since last fall.

"Normally when we open in early April, it's just coming out of dormancy and in great shape," he said. "But it's really, really good right now, looking at it and walking on it. I'm excited about the graded stakes that are going to be out there."

In addition to essential horsemen like trainers and grooms, participating owners will be able to enjoy the meet with more access than they have seen for the most part this year in Kentucky. Elliston said four owners or guests of owners can visit Keeneland per entered horse in non-stakes races, and as many as six can come per each stakes entrant.

"We are making available to those owners amenities, not on par with the normal amenities at Keeneland, but we are making arrangements for dining in socially distanced spaces," he said. "We are making arrangements for seating indoors and outdoors. And we aren't running people out after their races are concluded. Our owners can enjoy a day of racing. They just have to socially distance and wear a mask at all times, unless eating or drinking. I think that's an advancement from where it has been in most places. That's important. It's not just having a horse win at Keeneland. It's about enjoying the ambiance and experience and the significance of that."

Asked why Keeneland is not allowing fans when Ellis Park has been given the authorization to allow up to 1,000 fans by reservation and is permitting media on its track apron, he responded that Keeneland desired to take incremental steps as it resumes operation amid the pandemic.

"We are all operating under protocols we have submitted that have been approved by the governor, and those protocols happen at different times," he said of discussions with the administration of Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear. 

He said Keeneland had to take into consideration providing a safe environment leading toward its other events, which include its September Yearling Sale, its fall meet in October, hosting of the Breeders' Cup Nov. 6-7, and its November Breeding Stock Sale.

"I think it is a prudent course—as we are seeing in other parts of the country, you get too far in front of your skis, spread can occur very rapidly and you have to retract," he said. "What we are trying to do is be responsive to our community, be conservative about this because each and every opportunity builds upon the next one. "

Knowing fans will be largely watching from home this meet, Keeneland is extending its broadcast options and handicapping resources, such as by providing free downloadable past-performance programs. Besides airing its races on TVG, which unlike many other media outlets received daily on-track press access, Keeneland will televise its closing-day races July 12 from 5-7 p.m. ET on NBCSN. The track will also stream its races on its website and on YouTube.

Keeneland customers can bet the races via numerous advance deposit wagering platforms, though Elliston said wagers made via Keeneland Select and from Kentucky residents via TVG return the highest percentage of betting revenue toward race purses.