Ultima Grace Returns at KY Downs After Queen Mary Fade

Before staging the $1.5 million Gun Runner Stakes Sept. 8, Kentucky Downs will precede that race with three $1 million stakes for juveniles, all overdrawn.

Stakes at Kentucky Downs, an all-turf track in the southern part of the state along the border with Tennessee, include supplements for horses bred in Kentucky. Horses not bred in the Bluegrass State race for lesser but still sizable purses. Purses are massive at Kentucky Downs due to purse-boosting historical horse racing gaming revenue and the track running only seven days a year.

C2 Racing Stable and Mathis Stable's Forged Steel , a Vekoma   juvenile colt who broke his maiden in his second start by 8 1/2 lengths at Gulfstream Park, is favored at 3-1 on the morning line in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile Stakes. 

The Untapable Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at 6 1/2 furlongs includes numerous recent sprint winners, plus For the People Racing's Ultima Grace . The daughter of American Pharoah   was a Keeneland first-out maiden winner in April who resumes racing in the United States after leading and fading to 20th in the June 19 Queen Mary Stakes (G2) at Royal Ascot for trainer Wesley Ward. She races with blinkers off.

Juvenile fillies go a longer distance in the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies Stakes at a mile.

Debut winners at Saratoga Race Course in routes—KatieRich Stable's May Day Ready  (Tapit  ) and Gary Barber's She's Got Will  (War of Will  )—are two contenders.