Keeneland Offers $5.575 Million Fall Stakes Schedule

Keeneland will award $5.575 million in stakes purses for its 17-day Fall Meet to be held Oct. 5-27 to mark a record for a season without the Breeders' Cup World Championships.

Highlighting the meet will be the $1 million Shadwell Turf Mile (G1T); the addition of the $200,000 Indian Summer as the season's tenth Breeders' Cup Challenge "Win and You're In" race and 18th stakes overall; and the upgrade and purse increase to $200,000 for the JPMorgan Chase Jessamine Stakes (G2T).

Keeneland's Fall Meet is led by six grade 1 races, six grade 2 races and five grade 3 races and will showcase many top contenders aiming for the Breeders' Cup at Churchill Downs during its signature Fall Stars Weekend the opening three days of the season, Oct. 5-7.

"Year after year, Keeneland's Fall Meet grows in stature, thanks to its lucrative purses and major stakes," said Keeneland vice president of racing and sales Bob Elliston. "The season is a key launching pad for the Breeders' Cup, and we are pleased to introduce the Indian Summer as a tenth Breeders' Cup Challenge race to further enhance our spectacular Fall Stars Weekend."

Fall Stars Weekend features 10 stakes worth a total of $3.95 million and is anchored by the Shadwell Turf Mile, the eight-furlong test Shadwell Farm has sponsored since the 1999 Fall Meet. Nine Fall Stars stakes are Breeders' Cup Challenge "Win and You're In" races, which award the winners automatic berths in the Nov. 2-3 Breeders' Cup.

The newest Keeneland Win and You're In race is the Indian Summer, a 5 1/2-furlong race on the turf for 2-year-olds worth $200,000. The stakes, which Keeneland held from 1991-1996 and 1998-2001 under different conditions, awards the winner an automatic berth in the inaugural Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint Nov. 2.

Keeneland's Win and You're In races during Fall Stars Weekend are the $400,000 Darley Alcibiades (G1) (Juvenile Fillies) and $250,000 Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix (G2) (TwinSpires Sprint) on Oct. 5; $1 million Shadwell Turf Mile (Mile), $500,000 Claiborne Breeders' Futurity (G1) (Sentient Jet Juvenile), $400,000 First Lady (G1T) (Filly and Mare Turf) and $250,000 Thoroughbred Club of America (G2) (Filly and Mare Sprint) on Oct. 6; and $500,000 Juddmonte Spinster (G1) (Distaff), $250,000 Dixiana Bourbon Stakes (G3T) (Juvenile Turf) and $200,000 Indian Summer (Juvenile Turf Sprint) on Oct. 7. (All Breeders' Cup races except the Juvenile Turf Sprint are grade 1.)

The other graded stakes during Fall Stars Weekend, also being run Oct. 6, is the $200,000 Woodford Stakes Presented by Keeneland Select (G2T).

The Jessamine Stakes, whose purse was increased $50,000 with the upgrade from a grade 3 event in 2017, will be Oct. 10 and awards the winner a spot in the starting gate for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T).

The Fall Meet's sixth grade 1 stakes, scheduled Oct. 13, is the internationally prestigious $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Presented by Lane's End. The invitational is for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/8 miles on the turf.

NBC will cover four of Keeneland's Breeders' Cup Challenge races on opening weekend of the Fall Meet as part of its "Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In, presented by America's Best Racing." On Oct. 6, from 4:30-6 p.m. ET, the  Shadwell Turf Mile and Breeders' Futurity will air. On Oct. 7, NBC will broadcast the  Spinster and Bourbon Stakes from 4:30-6 p.m.