Churchill Downs Trackside to Remain Open This Winter

It has been 13 years since Churchill Downs Trackside remained open in Louisville, Ky., for winter training, and several outfits are eager to keep horses to run at Turfway Park when the Northern Kentucky track begins its Holiday Meet Nov. 30.

"It's great to be able to keep a string of horses home for the winter," trainer Greg Foley said, a mainstay at Turfway for years before spending the winters at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots. "We'll keep about 12 horses here and still have a full barn down in New Orleans at Fair Grounds. This gives us an option to see if some of our horses will like the Tapeta surface, and you can't argue with the purses up at Turfway. They're great."

Churchill Downs Trackside is Churchill's off-site training facility, located at the site of the old Louisville Downs harness track, about five miles away from Churchill Downs. Derby City Gaming, Churchill Downs' lucrative gaming center, sits approximately where the old Louisville Downs grandstand used to be. Churchill Downs initially used the area as a simulcast facility after acquiring Louisville Downs in the early 1990s.

Churchill Downs Inc. acquired Turfway Park in Florence, Ky., in 2019 and replaced its Polytrack with a new $8.1 million Tapeta surface. Both surfaces are synthetic. In addition, there was an additional $31 million invested in the aging backside of Turfway Park to improve dormitories for track workers, add five new barns and install new stormwater collection systems to improve the environment around the facility.

A new frontside facility, geared around historical horse racing gaming, opened in September and will be available for a race meet for the first time this winter.

With purses up at Turfway and with improvements to the facility, horsemen are more willing to stable and race in Kentucky during the winter.

Churchill Downs Ben Huffman, vice president of racing and racing secretary at Churchill Downs, said earlier this year that the winter period had been a period of time when track employees would "repair, update, fix" at Churchill Downs Trackside.

With Turfway now opened and operated by CDI, the track operator can experience benefits from an increased horse population in Kentucky during the winter. A larger horse population often leads to bigger fields, which in turn increases betting.

Among the trainers joining Foley at Churchill Downs Trackside include Juan Cano, Brad Cox, Michael McCarthy, Helen Pitts-Blasi, and Dale Romans.

Trainers already based at Trackside, such as Whit Beckman, Cherie DeVaux, Tim Glyshaw, and Mike Maker, are all scheduled to keep horses there this winter.

Winter training hours at Churchill Downs Trackside will be 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. ET. Later training hours reduce the likelihood of training over a frozen surface.

Among the regular Churchill Downs jockeys scheduled to remain at Turfway include Vince Cheminaud, Gerardo Corrales, Jack Gilligan, Chris Landeros, and Joe Rocco Jr.

The Turfway Park Holiday Meet will run through Dec. 31 before its Winter/Sprint Meet continues from Jan. 5-April 1.