Churchill Alters September, Fall Meet Stakes Schedules

With Churchill Downs installing a new turf course, the Louisville track announced Aug. 6 an altered stakes schedule for its September and fall meets. Racing will take place exclusively on dirt during both meets, in which 22 stakes will be presented, totaling just over $7 million in purses.

The 12-date September meet (Sept. 16-Oct. 3) features 11 stakes races cumulatively worth $3.26 million, and the 21-date fall meet (Oct. 31-Nov. 28) has 11 stakes events worth $3.75 million. 

Currently, the backstretch is closed, a deviation from the track's customary summer routine of being open for training, to accommodate construction of its $10 million turf course. It reopens to horsemen for stabling beginning Sept. 8 and the main track can be used for training the following day.

The track's previous course experienced occasional problems usually during the cooler, wet months in the fall. Last fall Churchill offered just 14 turf races before scrapping turf racing there altogether, resulting in the cancellation of the Cardinal Stakes (G3T) and River City Stakes (G3T). Grass racing resumed at Churchill in the spring.

The stakes schedule for its ninth September meet will begin under the lights Sept. 18 with a quintet of races, including two important 1 1/16-mile fixtures for juveniles that could produce starters in next spring's Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) and the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1). The $300,000 Iroquois (G3) kicks off the Road to the Kentucky Derby series (Top 4 Points: 10-4-2-1), while the $300,000 Pocahontas (G3) starts the Road to the Kentucky Oaks (Top 4 Points: 10-4-2-1). Both races are Breeders' Cup "Win and You're In" Challenge events, providing paid automatic berths into the Breeders' Cup for the winners.

Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) and Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint (G1) prospects could also race that night in races for fillies and mares in the $400,000 Locust Grove Stakes (G3) over 1 1/16 miles and the $300,000 Open Mind Stakes at six furlongs. Neither race is a Breeders' Cup Challenge event, however. 

The $275,000 Louisville Thoroughbred Society Stakes, an open sprint for 3-year-olds and up at six furlongs, wraps up the Sept. 18 "Downs After Dark" stakes-laden program. It is one of six newly created races over the second half of this year.

The others are the $275,000 Bourbon Trail Stakes (3-year-olds at 1 3/16 miles) Sept. 25; $275,000 Harrods Creek Stakes (3-year-olds at seven furlongs) Sept. 25; $160,000 Seneca Overnight Stakes (3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles) Oct. 1; $200,000 Lively Shively Stakes (2-year-olds at 6 1/2 furlongs) Nov. 27; and $200,000 Fern Creek (2-year-old fillies at 6 1/2 furlongs) Nov. 27.

Other marque events during the September meet include the $275,000 Dogwood Stakes (G3) for 3-year-old fillies at seven furlongs Sept. 25. Eventual champion female sprinter Covfefe  used the race in 2019 as a springboard to a successful run in the Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint at Santa Anita Park. 

Closing weekend for the September meet is anchored by the $400,000 Lukas Classic Stakes (G3) for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/8 miles and honors Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas, the iconic four-time winner of the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks. The conditioner of 26 Eclipse Award-winning champions has been based at Churchill Downs' Barn 44 since 1989. 

Also run on Saturday, Oct. 2, is the $300,000 Ack Ack Stakes (G3) for potential Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) participants.

Churchill Downs' 132nd fall meet, which follows Keeneland's fall meet in Lexington, is once again anchored by the $750,000 Clark Presented by Norton Healthcare (G1). The 1 1/8-mile test for 3-year-olds and up is on "Black Friday," Nov. 26. It annually lures some of the top horses in North America and is one of six stakes events to be contested over Thanksgiving weekend.