Churchill Downs has unveiled a $9.025 million stakes schedule for its spring
and fall racing meets in 2010 headed by the 136th renewals of the $2 million
Kentucky Derby (G1), the $500,000 Kentucky Oaks (G1) and $500,000 Clark H. (G1)
among its six Grade 1 offerings.
Stakes purses for the historic track’s 42-day spring meet, which is scheduled
for April 24 through July 4, total $7.1 million while $1.925 million has been
allocated for the 20-day fall meet that runs from
October 31 through November 27.
The schedule of stakes events features six Grade 1 events after
the American Graded Stakes Committee restored the Clark H. to Grade 1 status for the first time since 2006. Three of
those Grade 1 events are scheduled on Kentucky Derby Day on May 1,
including the $500,000 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic and
$300,000 Humana Distaff. The April 30 Kentucky Oaks and the $600,000 Stephen Foster
H. on June 12 are the
other Grade 1 events contested at Churchill Downs this year (not including
the Breeders’ Cup World Championship races).
The 2010 Churchill Downs stakes schedule includes 40 races, all but one of
which are graded events. Along with the six Grade 1 races, the track will offer
12 Grade 2 stakes races and 21 contests with Grade 3 status.
The Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Oaks and Stephen Foster H., respectively,
head three special event days that consist of five or more stakes races with
total purses in excess of $1 million. The biggest of those days is Kentucky
Derby Day, which includes six stakes races with total purses of $3.35 million.
Kentucky Oaks Day features the main event and five other stakes races with total
purses of $1.325 million. Five stakes races are set for Stephen Foster Handicap Day,
carrying total purses of $1.15 million.
Churchill Downs’ popular of “Stars of Tomorrow” programs devoted exclusively
to two-year-olds are scheduled for the opening and closing days of the fall meet.
The Breeders’ Cup will also return to the
historic Louisville, Kentucky, track in 2010 for a record seventh time, and for the first time
since it switched to a two-day format, on November 5-6. One Churchill Downs stakes race is scheduled
daily over Breeders’ Cup Weekend, November 4-7.
“Our goal every year is to provide our fans and horsemen with a high quality
stakes schedule that offers compelling and competitive opportunities for horses
in every division,” said Don Richardson, senior vice president of racing. “We
believe the 2010 stakes schedule at Churchill Downs — topped by the historic
136th renewals of the Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Oaks and Clark H. among its
six Grade 1 offerings — is one of our strongest schedules ever, with all but one
race having achieved recognition as a graded race from the American Graded
Stakes Committee.
“It is going to be an exciting year with the return of the
Breeders’ Cup World Championships and six racing sessions scheduled under our
new permanent lights, and we look forward to working with owners and trainers
throughout North America in an effort to bring their most talented horses to
Churchill Downs to compete in the stakes races that will be run beneath the Twin
Spires.”
Several races on the 2010 schedule have undergone name, purse or distance
changes, including significant changes for the final Kentucky Derby prep race
and the return of the name of the great mare La Troienne to the schedule. Those
changes include the $300,000 Louisville S. (G2), a 1 1/16-mile race for fillies and mares ages
three and
up on Kentucky Oaks Day, receiving a name change to the La Troienne S., while
the $100,000 Aegon Turf Sprint (G3) on April 30 will now be known as the
Churchill Downs Turf Sprint.
Other changes include prominent Thoroughbred
owner/breeder Robert LaPenta sponsoring the newly renamed Cliff’s Edge Derby Trial (G3) on April 24, the last of the year’s Kentucky Derby prep races.
The Derby Trial’s purse has been doubled to $200,000 and the race distance
returns to one mile after a string of three consecutive renewals at 7 1/2
furlongs.
Purse increases from 2009 include the addition of $100,000 to the Clark
and $50,000 to Pocahontas on October 31, which will will now run for $150,000 after the American Graded Stakes Committee granted it
Grade 2 status. Other races scheduled for purse hikes in 2010 include the
American Turf, an Oaks Day staple that is now a Grade 2 event with a purse of
$175,000, an increase of $25,000; the Firecracker H. (G2), up
$25,000 to $175,000; the Northern Dancer (G3), with a purse of
$125,000 that reflects a $25,000 increase; and the $125,000 Mint Julep (G3), which also gains $25,000.
Races with reduced purses for 2009 include the $100,000 Jefferson
Cup, which carried a $150,000 purse in 2009. The race is now a Grade 3 event, down from Grade
2 status a year ago, and will be run at a new distance
of 1 1/16 miles on turf. Also reduced by $25,000 is the $125,000 Regret (G3).
The $100,000 Ack Ack H. (G3) will be run at a new distance of
1 1/16 miles. The race had been previously run at one mile or 7 1/2 furlongs. In
addition, the $100,000 Edgewood, a 1 1/16 mile turf race
for three-year-old fillies that had been run on Kentucky Oaks Day, will be
taking a hiatus in 2010.
The four Churchill Downs stakes races scheduled to support the November 5-6
Breeders’ Cup are the $100,000 River City H. (G3) on November 4; the Ack Ack H. on November 5; the
$150,000 Chilukki (G2) on November 6; and the $100,000 Cardinal (G3) on November 7.