Stakes Purses to Drop 16% at Keeneland This Fall

Amid business conditions affected by COVID-19, stakes purses will drop by nearly 16% when Keeneland conducts 18 stakes worth more than $4.77 million during its fall meet Oct. 2-24. Many of the stakes during the 17-day season serve as prep races toward the Breeders' Cup, which will be held at the Lexington oval Nov. 6-7.

Ten stakes are official Breeders' Cup qualifiers, providing automatic, paid entry as "Win and You In" challenge races, nine of which are over the meet's first three days. They include the $350,000 Darley Alcibiades Stakes (G1) and $200,000 Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix Stakes (G2) Oct. 2; the $750,000 Shadwell Turf Mile Stakes (G1T), $400,000 Claiborne Breeders' Futurity (G1), $350,000 First Lady Stakes Presented by UK HealthCare (G1T), and $200,000 Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes (G2) Oct. 3; and the $400,000 Juddmonte Spinster Stakes (G1), $200,000 Bourbon Stakes (G2T), and $150,000 Indian Summer Stakes Oct. 4.

The remaining "Win and You're In" race is the $150,000 JP Morgan Chase Jessamine Stakes (G3T) Oct. 7.

"The Keeneland fall racing season is highly anticipated by horsemen and fans alike, but this one is even more exciting as it serves as a prelude for the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland," Keeneland vice president of racing Bob Elliston said. "We expect to welcome many Breeders' Cup-bound stars, both human and equine, that will boost the racing competition and the handicapping fun during the fall meet and build momentum leading into the (Breeders' Cup) World Championships."

Twelve stakes were reduced from last year's record purses, most dropping $50,000, though three stakes—the Turf Mile, Breeders' Futurity, and Spinster—received reductions of $100,000 or more. The Turf Mile was worth $1 million in 2019, and the Breeders' Futurity and Spinster were both contested for $500,000.

Keeneland relies heavily on its on-track business to fund purses along with sponsorships and sales proceeds. The track canceled its spring meet this year due to COVID-19 and later ran a unique five-day summer meet in July without fans, featuring some of its most prestigious races that would have otherwise been run in the spring.

The Lexington track did not announce attendance plans for its fall meet, but most tracks around the country that are allowing fans are doing so on a sharply reduced basis.

Last year, stakes from Keeneland's opening three days of its fall meet—called "Fall Stars Weekend"—produced three Breeders' Cup winners. Alcibiades winner British Idiom won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), Spinster winner Blue Prize took the Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1), and First Lady winner Uni captured the TVG  Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T). British Idiom and Uni were later named champions. 

Keeneland will host the Breeders' Cup for the second time in 2020 after first staging it in 2015. That year the Breeders 'Cup was conducted in late October along with the track's customary fall dates, but the Breeders' Cup is later on the calendar this year, resulting in Churchill Downs briefly pausing its fall meet for the Breeders' Cup to return to Keeneland.

The placement of the stakes races this autumn largely follows those from past years with one exception. The 1 1/8-mile Hagyard Fayette Stakes (G2) will move to the second Saturday of the meet, Oct. 10, allowing it to potentially serve as a steppingstone to either the Longines Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) or Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1), both Nov. 7.