Historic Churchill Downs will raise the curtain on Saturday on its historic
52-day Spring Meet, highlighted by the 135th renewals of the Kentucky Derby (G1)
and the Kentucky Oaks (G1). The meet will also be marked by the first sessions
of night racing in the legendary track’s history and the introduction of Mark
Johnson as track announcer, the first international voice to provide the
on-track call of the “Run for the Roses.”
Johnson, the British commentator who succeeds the late Luke Kruytbosch as
announcer, will welcome racing fans who gather beneath the track’s historic Twin
Spires on Saturday for an 11-race opening day program that gets underway with
the 1ST race at 12:45 p.m. (EDT). The racing program is topped by the 85th
running of the $100,000 Derby Trial (G3), a 7 1/2-furlong race that is the final
prep for the May 2 Kentucky Derby.
Racing during Kentucky Derby Week will be held daily, with the exception of
Monday, through the running of the Kentucky Derby next Saturday. First race post
time for each of those programs — with the exception of Oaks and Derby Days —
will be 12:45 p.m. First post on Kentucky Derby and Oaks Days will be 10:30
a.m., a half-hour earlier than last year. Admission to the track for Derby Week,
with the exception of Derby and Oaks Days, and most of the rest of the meet will
be $3 for adults, $1 for Twin Spires Club members, $1 for seniors 60 and over,
and free to children 12 and under.
The three-day celebration of Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks Weekend kicks
off with the increasingly popular Thursday program that features 10 races and is
headed by the $100,000 Kentucky Juvenile (G3). That race for two-year-olds at
five furlongs is the first graded stakes event of the year for that age group.
Fans visiting the track on Thursday will have the first opportunity to enjoy
the new Infield Club as part of the “Crown Royal Festival in the Infield Club.”
The Infield Club offers the energy and excitement of the infield in a more
comfortable sports-bar atmosphere. The private section of the infield
includes a 430-foot horseshoe bar, first-come first-served shaded seating, food
and music.
The Infield Club will be the only infield activity at Churchill Downs on
Thursday of Kentucky Derby Week.
Admission to the track for the Thursday program is $5, $1 for Twin Spires
Club members and seniors 60 and over, and free to children under 12.
Admission to the Infield Club on Thursday will cost an additional $10 and will
be available for purchase on that day, but advance sale of those tickets will be
offered at Gate 17 each day leading up to that program.
Advance tickets for the Infield Club experience on Kentucky Oaks and Derby
Days will also be offered on track at Gate 17 and will continue through
Thursday. Infield Club tickets for Kentucky Oaks Day are available for $50
and for $150 for Kentucky Derby Day. A ticket for both of those big days can be
purchased for $175.
A race has been added to both the Kentucky Oaks program on Friday and the
Kentucky Derby racing card next Saturday. Admission gates open at 8 a.m.
General admission tickets will be available for both days at a cost of $25 on
Oaks Day and $40 for Derby Day.
After next week’s Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby Weekend, the Spring Meet
will resume on May 6. The meet will feature its regular schedule of stakes races
that include the $750,000 Stephen Foster H. (G1) on June 13. But the first
sessions of night racing conducted beneath the historic Twin Spires figure to be
highlights of the Spring Meet. Temporary lighting will illuminate the historic
track during those sessions of racing under the stars at Churchill Downs.
The first racing sessions in the history of the home of the Kentucky Derby
are scheduled for June 19 and 26, which are Friday nights, and July 2, a
Thursday evening of racing under the lights which will serve as the kick-off for
Independence Day Weekend festivities. Post time for the three night racing
sessions is set for 6 p.m. Details of those special programs will be announced
after the Kentucky Derby.
Along with the Derby Trial, Saturday’s opening day program will also feature
a T-shirt giveaway sponsored by Fifth Third Bank. Those shirts will be given
away to the first 5,000 patrons through the admission gates, which open on
Saturday at 11 a.m. And all opening day fans will have the opportunity to
register for a chance to escort the famed Garland of Roses that goes to the
winning horse in the Kentucky Derby to the winner’s circle prior to the running
of America’s greatest race. Each patron will receive a voucher at the admission
gates that they can fill out and deposit at any active Fifth Third Bank ATM
location at the track.
The winner will be selected in a drawing from those vouchers and that person
will receive two tickets to both the Kentucky Derby and the Kentucky Oaks, and
the winner and a guest will help escort the prized Derby roses to the winner’s
circle for the post-race salute to the winner following the “Run for the Roses.”
Sunday’s second day of the Spring Meet features a 10-race program at 12:45
p.m. that will be preceded by the unveiling of an extraordinary sculpture of
Barbaro, the winner of the 2006 Kentucky Derby. The statue was commissioned by
Roy and Gretchen Jackson, who bred and owned Barbaro, and was created by
Wisconsin sculptor Alexa King. The bronze also marks the final resting place for
Barbaro, who died in early 2007 following a courageous battle for life that
captured the attention of the nation. Barbaro was cremated following his passing
and his remains are interred at the site, which is located at the Gate 1
entrance to Churchill Downs.
The meet runs through July 5.