Turfway Park

Turfway Park Racing & Gaming and Claiborne Farm have teamed up to present a three-race series which will reward top-three-finishing fillies and mares a future stallion credit when they retire from racing. Dubbed the "Make Your Mare" series, the top three finishers of the Dec. 2 Holiday Inaugural S., Dec. 9 My Charmer S., and Jan. 13 Likely Exchange S. will all receive "Claiborne Credit" on a $10,000, $5,000 and $2,500 scale to be applied to future stallion fees. "We're very excited to partner with Claiborne Farm for this series...

The Jockeys' Guild has reached an agreement with the Kentucky HBPA and the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association on a mount fee increase effective Nov. 29, which is opening day of the Turfway Park Holiday meet, the organization said in a release Wednesday. The mount fee schedule calls for a minimum fee of $125 at all Kentucky racetracks, including Churchill Downs, Keeneland, Ellis Park, Kentucky Downs and Turfway Park. This agreement also provides for $500 minimum fee in races with purses of $1 million or more. "On behalf of our members who...

Turfway Park purses for maiden special weight (MSW) races are projected to stay level at $70,000, the same as last season. The dovetailed 2023-24 meets that run through March will open Nov. 29. Chip Bach, Turfway's general manager, reported that projection during the Oct. 3 Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund (KTDF) advisory board meeting. The overall purse structure, Bach said, will also be "similar" to the previous meet "even though we're adding days and races." Bach said Turfway plans on running Wednesdays through Saturdays with a 5:55 p.m. Eastern first post,...

At a time that so plainly demands leadership, where better to come than the desk of John Sikura? A man of notably independent outlook, the owner of Hill 'n' Dale can be relied upon for a perspective that combines candor and detachment with flair and imagination. And those are all assets that appear to be in short supply right now. For while our community's emotional response to the traumas at Saratoga this summer was one of shared horror and grief, the polarization of opinion since has been emotive. Much as...

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) has approved temporary licenses for six Churchill Downs Inc. (CDI) properties to begin accepting in-person sports wagers on Thursday, Sept. 7, the company said via a release Wednesday morning. CDI will operate Race and Sports Books at its racetracks and Historical Racing Machine (HRM) facilities in Kentucky which include: Churchill Downs Racetrack: 15 sports betting kiosks, 168 sq. ft. video screen, 20 large format televisions; Derby City Gaming & Hotel: 15 sports betting kiosks, 300 sq. ft. video screen, 12 large format televisions; Ellis...

2nd-CD, $134K, OC, 3yo, f, 6f, 6:28 p.m. A pair of fillies will look to stay unbeaten in their third career starts at Churchill Downs on Friday evening. 'TDN Rising Star' SUNDAY SHOES (Pioneerof the Nile) came from off the pace breaking her maiden sprinting at Turfway Park Feb. 15, then got up by 3/4 of a length in Florence Apr. 1 in the Serena's Song S. over next-out stakes winner Jill Jitterbug (Cross Traffic). The $500,000 Keeneland September Yearling sale purchase trained by Wesley Ward counts among her female...

They know perfectly well, by this stage, that the apostrophe shouldn't be there. They've been asked, and told, about it often enough. But you know what? They're fine with that. They have come round to the view that it fits the horse, that quirky outlying touch; fits their whole story. Because really there's no way they should be here, either. "Every year, 20,000 foals are born," reflects Anthony Sagan. "And only 20 make it to the Derby. But not only did we make it, we were a length off winning...

The colt had been getting a little fractious in the gate and now he half sat down: too low for Jareth Loveberry to climb out, but not low enough to scramble underneath. "Get me out!" the jockey hollered. He was just trying to lift himself clear when his mount came back up and pinned a calf against the steel. The pain was excruciating. It was only five seconds or so before they got the gate open but that was enough, as they stretched him out, for the agony to be...

We're approaching the edge of the GI Kentucky Derby abyss. Three final 100-points prep races Saturday, followed by four weeks of microscopic analysis and animated speculation. Bring it on! 1) FORTE (c, Violence--Queen Caroline, by Blame) 'TDN Rising Star'. O-Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable; B-South Gate Farm (KY); T-Todd Pletcher. Sales history: $80,000 Wlg '20 KEENOV; $110,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP. Lifetime Record: Ch. 2yo Colt, MGISW, 7-6-0-0, $1,833,230. Last start: 1st GI Curlin Florida Derby at Gulfstream Apr. 1. Kentucky Derby Points: 190. 'TDN Rising Star' Forte has made...

All-sources handle on the Turfway Park Winter/Spring Meet, which concluded Saturday, increased 62% from a year ago, while purse money awarded jumped 43%, according to a release from the Kentucky track. More than $145 million was wagered at the meeting, nearly $56 million more than 2022. Connections who raced at Turfway Park were rewarded with more than $19 million in prize money, an increase of more than $5.5 million (including funds from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund). Turfway Park ran nine additional days this year and had an increase of...

In this series, the TDN takes a look at notable successes of European-based sires in North America. This week's column is highlighted by the victory of Bobby Flay homebred Contemporary Art (Dubawi {Ire}) in a 1 1/16-mile turf allowance. Making her first start for Christophe Clement, the 4-year-old came from out of the clouds to win going away in an allowance optional claimer at Gulfstream Park on Sunday (video). Previously a Belmont maiden special weight winner second out last June, the daughter of GIII Autumn Miss S. heroine Cover Song...

A few days prior to Saturday's GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks at Turfway Park, Larry Rivelli, the trainer of Two Phil's (c, 3, Hard Spun--Mia Torri, by General Quarters), had said, "I've been trying to think of the easiest spot for the money and I think this will be the spot. If he absolutely hates the surface, that's on me. I'm sort of putting myself out there saying that I think he will run well over it." He didn't hate the surface. Patricia's Hope LLC and Phillip Sagan's Two Phil's powered...