Ack Ack kicks off Churchill meet
The site of the famed Kentucky Derby (G1), Churchill Downs,
ushers in it’s “Fall Festival of Racing” meet Sunday
with the a Halloween Day racing program that includes the 12th
running of the $150,000 Ack Ack H. (G3). Also on the day’s card is a
holiday favorite, the “Gray Ghost,” an event restricted
to gray Thoroughbreds.
The 21-day meet concludes November 27 and will offer a record
$2.35 million stakes schedule. For this meeting, three of the six
floors of the newly renovated Clubhouse will be open to patrons
as well as Gate 10, located adjacent to the Longfield Avenue
parking lot.
The daily schedule will include 10 races with first-race post
at 12:40 p.m. (EST), with the exception of the “Big Four
Weekend,” the annual closing event held over the
Thanksgiving holiday, when the races will begin at 11:30 a.m.
The opening-day feature attracted sophomore sensation FIRE
SLAM (Grand Slam), who won the seven-furlong Riva Ridge Breeders’
Cup H. (G2) at Belmont Park at nearly the same distance of the 7
1/2-furlong Ack Ack. Perennial leading rider Pat Day, who will
return for his 50th Churchill Downs meet, will be aboard the bay.
The Big Four Weekend is the highlight of the meet with four
Grade 2 events worth $1.2 million, beginning with the 1 1/8-mile
$300,000 Falls City H. (G2) for fillies and mares, three-years-old
and up. The marquee race for the Thanksgiving festival is the
$500,000 Clark H. (G2), a nine-furlong dirt contest for
three-years-old and up. The closing-day features are reserved for
juveniles, with the Golden Rod S. (G2) for two-year-old fillies
and the Kentucky Jockey Club S. (G2) for two-year-old colts, both
at 1 1/16 miles and both worth $200,000.
New areas of the Clubhouse now open to the public include
finish line views from the box seats on the first and third
floors. The new simulcasting area comes complete with a Food
Court, and a pair of lounges, “Silks” for non-smokers,
and “Champions,” for those that prefer the occasional
victory cigar.