Purses Spike at Turfway Park; Maidens Race for $62K

Amid reconstruction, Turfway Park is without a grandstand this winter as it was last year, but the Northern Kentucky track has another attraction: purse money.

Turfway has released its holiday meet condition book and stakes schedule for December, with maiden races worth $62,000 for Kentucky-breds and allowances reaching as high as $68,000. The values are nearly double those from last year during the first year of COVID-19.

The track has four $100,000 stakes carded during its holiday meet. The first two are for fillies and mares: the six-furlong Holiday Inaugural Stakes Dec. 4 followed by the My Charmer Stakes at 1 1/16 miles Dec. 11. The open Prairie Bayou Stakes comes next Dec. 18 at 1 1/16 miles before the six-furlong Gowell Stakes Dec. 26 for 2-year-old fillies wraps up the month's stakes schedule. All races are on Turfway's synthetic Tapeta surface.

Bottom-level maiden $5,000 claimers at Turfway race for a $12,000 pot, and purses extend as high as $33,000 in claiming races not buoyed by Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund money.

Purses throughout Kentucky are bolstered by gaming revenue from historical horse racing devices, which resemble slot machines but are based on previously run horse races. Turfway's new facility will include a gaming parlor for such devices. The track anticipates its new grandstand and gaming parlor could be finished by next summer.

Horsemen's representatives have asked for improvements to the backside at Turfway, which track officials plan to eventually update.