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Churchill announces Spring Meet stakes The 139th runnings of the $2 million Kentucky Derby, the opening leg of racing's elusive Triple Crown, and the $1 million Kentucky Oaks, top a schedule of 24 stakes races carrying total purses of $7.475 million that will be featured during the 2013 Spring Meet that will open April 28 and run through June 30 at Churchill Downs. While the Derby and Oaks are among the most anticipated events on the American racing calendar, other marquee stakes events on the 2013 Spring Meet schedule include three more Grade 1 events in the $500,000 Stephen Foster Handicap, a 1 1/8-mile race for three-year-olds and up; the $500,000 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic, a Kentucky Derby Day event for four-year-olds & up at 1 1/8 miles on the Matt Winn Turf Course; and the $300,000 Humana Distaff, for older fillies and mares ages at seven furlongs that is also a Derby Day fixture. Churchill Downs will continue its emphasis on "big event" days that feature several stakes events. Kentucky Derby Day on May 4 will offer six stakes races and total purses of $3.575 million. Six stakes races also are set for Kentucky Oaks Day on May 5. The purse total for the half-dozen Oaks Day races is $2.1 million. Three additional stakes races will support the Stephen Foster Handicap on June 15 when that multi-race program will be run under the Churchill Downs lights as a "Downs After Dark" night racing spectacular for the second consecutive year. And two stakes events will highlight the final Saturday of Spring Meet racing on June 29, also a "Downs After Dark" night racing celebration, on the eve of the meet's closing day. The 2013 Spring Meet stakes events are the same as those offered last year, but purses for five races have been adjusted. Those changes include: Total purses for the 24 Spring Meet stakes races reflect an increase of $200,000 from last year's spring racing session. "Our Spring Meet stakes races at Churchill Downs in 2012 were memorable in terms of the high quality of their fields, the impressive success throughout the year for horses that participated in those races and the drama that played out on the track when those races were run," said Ben Huffman, Churchill Downs Racing Secretary. "Particularly pleasing was the response by horsemen and our fans to our first nighttime Stephen Foster Handicap multi-stakes event, and we'll be back under the lights with that terrific program this year. We're happy to have been able to boost some purses for 2013, including restoration of $100,000 to the Stephen Foster purse, and are excited to offer some wonderful opportunities to owners and trainers to bring their horses to Churchill Downs to compete in a diverse schedule of high-quality, tradition-rich races set for our 2013 Spring Meet." Twenty-two of the 24 Spring Meet stakes races are graded stakes events. The two listed stakes races are the $100,000 Debutante, a six-furlong race for two-year-old fillies set for June 22, and the $150,000 Edgewood, an Oaks Day race for three-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles on turf. The Debutante was a Grade 3 race in 2012, but was downgraded by the American Graded Stakes Committee to listed status for 2013. There will be no surface, distance or basic name changes for races on the 2013 Spring Meet schedule. The entire stakes schedule can be viewed here. Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com
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