Turfway Park to Add Three Stakes Races in December

Turfway Park intends to add three stakes races in December and raise maiden special weight purses from $80,000 to $90,000 during its upcoming meets, track officials told the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation's Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund Advisory Committee Oct. 1.

Gary Palmisano Jr., vice president of racing for Churchill Downs Inc., which owns Turfway Park, said the additional stakes will be positioned in December, when the track has its highest field size. This also comes during a month when Los Alamitos Race Course races many of the December dates in California, providing less competition than Del Mar or Santa Anita Park for simulcast and advance-deposit wagering exposure.

"If you all remember, last year, we ran four stakes (in December), and we bundled them together and called it the Turfway Park Synthetics Championship that delivered almost 2 1/2 times the handle last year," he told the committee.

The Turfway Park Synthetic Championships will return in 2025. The additional stakes announced Wednesday will be held on Saturdays, which last year had been without a stakes race due to the positioning of four stakes races on the Turfway Park Synthetic Championships program.

He said that while Turfway Park would soon like to be able to promote $100,000 maiden races for Kentucky-bred horses, "we do want to bump the bottom (in claiming races) because that is the bread and butter of our Kentucky circuit."

Maiden races in Kentucky are open events with a base purse, plus a KTDF supplement available only to Kentucky-breds, which usually account for the bulk of the starters. 

Purses in Kentucky are bolstered by slot-like historical horse racing, gaming machines that have been highly profitable for track operators.

In total, the committee unanimously approved a KTDF allotment request of between $11.6 million and $12.4 million for Turfway over its holiday meet in December and its 2026 winter/spring meet from January through March.

Last year, Kentucky Downs—which hosts a short meet and operates lucrative gaming facilities in the state—redistributed KTDF funds to Turfway Park to supplement its purses. The Southern Kentucky track did not do so Wednesday.

Ted Nicholson, vice president of racing at Kentucky Downs, said they will "probably" have funds to send to Turfway, but that he didn't have time to evaluate the decision fully.

The committee further approved an increase in KTDF registration fees. Foal nominations rise from $75 to $95, yearlings rise from $100 to $140, and racing-age nominations go from $350 to $700. Stallion nomination fees remain the same.

These approvals, like all those done by the committee, are subject to authorization by the KHRGC, which is usually a formality.

In other discussions before the committee:

• Kentucky Downs officials said that television coverage by NBC of a day of racing at the all-turf track during its recently concluded meet was a success, and they intend to have NBC return in 2026.
• Handle rose at Kentucky Downs, as it did at Ellis Park and Churchill Downs, officials said.