The meet soared from the starting
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Other highlights of the track’s
141st Spring Meet included a very promising start for its new “Twilight
Thursday” racing programs that featured a compact schedule of eight live races
and a first-race post time of 5 p.m. (all times EDT); favorable business levels
that combined with Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks Week’s record results to
allow a 10 percent increase in overnight purses during the meet’s last 11 days of
competition; a positive reception for the new $4.2 million Winner’s Circle
Suites and Courtyard seating and hospitality from the owners of Kentucky Derby
and Oaks horses, and from fans who enjoyed races in those new venues throughout
the Spring Meet; and a dramatic race for “Leading Jockey” that saw a contest
between seven-time leading rider Corey Lanerie and nine-time Churchill Downs
riding champion Julien Leparoux come down to final yards of the 38-day meet’s
last race.
The meet provided good news for
racing fans, horsemen and the track as the size of both the average field and
average purse for races during the Spring Meet races rose above the levels from
the previous year.
A total of 2,867 horses competed in 368 Spring Meet races, and the average
number of horses-per-race was 7.79, an increase of 6.9 percent from the 2014 Spring
Meet average of 7.29 horses-per-race. The Spring Meet of 2014, which also was a
38-day racing session, included 372 races that attracted 2,712 horses. The total
number of horses that competed during the meet rose 5.7 percent although the 2015 meet
featured four fewer races.
A race during the 2015 Spring Meet offered an average purse of $55,982,
an increase of 0.5 percent from 2014. Total purses paid during the just-completed
38-day meet totaled $20,601,382, a decrease of 0.6 percent from the total of
$20,728,293 in the spring of 2014, which featured four more races. Daily purses
offered during a 2015 meet averaged $542,142, a slight decrease of 0.5 percent from
average daily purses of $535,481 in the 2014 Spring Meet.
“While American Pharoah’s Kentucky
Derby and Triple Crown heroics provided an emotional lift to all Churchill Downs
racing fans, our team and the entire horse industry, the Spring Meet got off to
a strong start with a record Kentucky Derby and Oaks Week schedule and continued
with good news and solid business levels throughout the meet’s 38 days,”
said Kevin Flanery, president of Churchill Downs Racetrack.
“Field size and
purse levels remain major concerns for our daily racing product, but we offer
our gratitude to our horsemen and racing fans in our region, those at simulcast
outlets across North American and those who supported our racing through TwinSpires.com and other online wagering platforms. All helped Churchill Downs
racing take small steps forward on a challenging competitive landscape during
the just-completed meet and we appreciate that support.
“A special thank you goes out to our
entire team at Churchill Downs. Tireless efforts from team members in each
department and at every level of our operation were major contributors to a
satisfying meet. We are encouraged by the positive response to our new ‘Twilight
Thursdays’ and the ongoing success of ‘Downs After Dark’ night racing.
“And we
offer a special thanks to Zayat Stables and trainer Bob Baffert and his team for
sharing American Pharoah with our community for six unforgettable weeks. The
Derby and Triple Crown winner intensified the spotlight on our sport and we
pledge our best efforts to provide a wonderful experience at our track for fans
who have been inspired to visit us by this magical spring for a new American
sports hero.”
Both the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks
programs attracted record crowds and all-sources wagering. The Derby’s
attendance reached a new high of 170,513 and the attendance record for the
Kentucky Oaks improved to 123,763. All-sources wagering on the six racing days
during Kentucky Derby and Oaks Week — from Opening Night, Saturday, April 25,
through Derby Day, Saturday, May 2 — rose to a record $263.3 million, up 4
percent from
2014’s $253.8 million, and 2 percent over the record set in 2013.
While support for Churchill Downs’ “Downs After Dark” programs, which
debuted in 2009, continued to be strong, it was the second of three night racing
programs that provided the meet’s brightest post-Derby and Oaks Week highlights.
The June 13 “Downs After Dark” headlined by the Stephen Foster featured the added attraction of a public appearance by Kentucky Derby
winner American Pharoah just one week after he had completed the first sweep of
racing’s Triple Crown since 1978 with his dominant victory in the Belmont S. on June 6 at New York’s Belmont Park.
Along with that evening’s popular
on-track parade of American Pharoah, the members of his team continued recent
Stephen Foster tradition when they accepted their engraved Kentucky Derby
winner’s trophies in a ceremony in the new Winner’s Circle.
Owner-breeder Ahmed Zayat and family were presented with the solid gold Kentucky
Derby Winner’s Trophy and a smaller sterling silver replica presented to the
winning breeder. Baffert and jockey Victor Espinoza were presented with their
sterling silver trophies for winning trainer and jockey. The trophies were the
first for Zayat, the fourth for Baffert and the third for Espinoza.
Three of the evening’s races were
featured in a two-hour live broadcast on NBCSN that kicked off the network’s
coverage of the “Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series.” The Stephen Foster
and the Fleur De Lis H. (G2) are included on “Breeders’ Cup Win &
You’re In Challenge Series” race schedule and their respective winners earned
automatic starting berths in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) and the
$2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) on October 30-31 at Keeneland in
Lexington, Kentucky.
The combination of the on-track
appearance of American Pharoah, the night’s strong roster of four stakes races
and “Downs After Dark” entertainment attracted 28,968 on June 13 — the largest
attendance figure of the meet outside of Kentucky Derby and Oaks Week. On either
side of the Stephen Foster attendance number was the on-track crowd of 30,647
for Kentucky Derby and Oaks Week’s “Thurby” celebration on Thursday, April
30, and the closing night “Downs After Dark” program on Saturday that drew
24,192 patrons through the admission gates.
The strong 2015 Derby and Oaks Week results combined with favorable
business levels after that successful week enabled Churchill Downs Racetrack to
raise purses levels for its overnight races for the first time since the Spring
Meet of 2012. The higher purse levels started with racing on Thursday, June 11
and continued through the meet’s final 11 racing days. Races that benefited from
the increase included allowance races, maiden special weight events, starter
allowance and claiming and maiden claiming races. Purses for stakes races were
not affected by the increase.
The Spring Meet’s new “Twilight
Thursdays”, which debuted after Kentucky Derby Week, contributed to the
favorable business results. “Twilight Thursdays” offered eight-race programs and
a 5 p.m. first post and featured activities on the Plaza that included $1
12-ounce beers, food trucks, live music and a “Handicapping 101” fan education
tent. Sales of general admission tickets, box seating and dining increased on
Twilight Thursdays over sales for both Thursday and Friday programs in the 2014
Spring Meet to get the new concept off to a promising start.
While the triumph by wagering favorite and future Triple Crown winner
American Pharoah in the 141st running of the Kentucky Derby will reign as the
most memorable equine performance and memory of the 2015 Spring Meet for many
observers, there were many other outstanding efforts that merit being a part of
“Best of the Spring Meet” conversations.
Foremost among those was the victory
by Brereton Jones’ homebred Lovely Maria (Majesticperfection) in the 141st running of the $1 million Kentucky Oaks on Friday, May 1.
She
provided a third Kentucky Oaks victory to both Brereton Jones, the former
governor of Kentucky, and trainer and Hopkinsville, Kentucky, native Larry Jones. The
Joneses had earlier won the 2008 Kentucky Oaks with Proud Spell and its 2012
running with Believe You Can. The Oaks triumph was the first for 56-year-old
jockey Kerwin Clark, whose victory in America’s premier race for three-year-old
fillies capped what the Louisiana-born veteran called “the best day of my life.”
The Spring Meet’s strong schedule of
stakes events include Grade 1 victories by Bill Cubbedge’s Molly Morgan (Ghostzapper), who
took the $300,000 La Troienne for fillies and mares
ages four and up for trainer Dale Romans in the final race of her career; Donegal
Racing’s Finnegans Wake (Powerescourt), who got up in the final strides to take the $500,000
Woodford Reserve Turf Classic on Derby Day for trainer Peter Miller and
jockey Victor Espinoza; and celebrity chef Bobby Flay’s Dame Dorothy (Bernardini), who edged
2014 Eclipse Award Filly & Mare Sprint champion Judy the Beauty (Ghostzapper) and Moonlit
Stroll (Stroll) in a dramatic finish to win the $300,000 Humana Distaff for fillies and
mares ages four and up for trainer Todd Pletcher and rider Javier Castelleno.
John C. Oxley’s Noble Bird (Birdstone) earned both his first Grade 1 victory and a
guaranteed spot in the starting gate for the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic
on October 31 at Keeneland when he held off Claiborne Farm and Adele
Dilschneider’s Grade 1 winner Lea (First Samurai) to win the June 13 Stephen Foster.
Noble Bird won the “Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In Classic Division” race by a
head under jockey Joel Rosario for trainer Mark Casse, who earned his second
Foster triumph.
Earning a Breeders’ Cup starting
berth on the same evening was G. Watts Humphrey’s homered Frivolous (Empire
Maker), who took
the $200,000 Fleur De Lis at odds of 32-1 under veteran
jockey Jon Court. Trained by Vicki Oliver, the owner’s daughter, Frivolous
earned a spot in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff on October 30 at Keeneland with her surprise in the Fleur De Lis,
which made its debut on the Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In Distaff Division”
race schedule. Frivolous had scored a 19-1 upset in winning Churchill Downs’s
Falls City H. (G2) in
November.
Departing (War Front) provided Claiborne Farm with a milestone victory when the
six-year-old gelding won the the $200,000 Firecracker (G2) on the meet’s closing
night. The victory in the one-mile grass race was the 33rd stakes victory by the
Paris, Kentucky-based breeding and racing icon and pulled the farm into a tie
with Calumet Farm for the all-time lead in stakes wins by an owner at Churchill
Downs.
Other notable stakes wins during a
stellar Kentucky Derby and Oaks Week included a narrow triumph by Protonico
(Giant’s Causeway) over
future Stephen Foster winner Noble Bird in the $400,000 Alysheba (G2); a victory
by Private Zone (Macho Uno) in the $500,000 Churchill Downs (G2); a front-running win by the Casse-trained Tepin
(Bernstein) in
the $300,000 Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (G2); a
late-running victory by Divisidero (Kitten’s Joy) in the $250,000 American Turf
(G2); a romp by then-unbeaten Competitive Edge (Super Saver) in the $200,000 Pat Day Mile (G3),
a race formerly known as the Derby Trial; unbeaten Promise Me Silver’s (Silver
City) easy victory in the $200,000 Eight Belles (G3); a gritty win by Power Alert (Alert)
over the late-charging Undrafted (Purim), next-out winner of Royal Ascot’s
Diamond Jubilee (Eng-G1), in the $150,000 Twin Spires Turf Sprint (G3); Feathered’s
(Indian Charlie) win in the $150,000 Edgewood (G3); and a victory by the Steve Asmussen-trained Cinco Charlie
(Indian Charlie) in the
inaugural running of the $100,000 William Walker for three-year-olds on the meet’s
soggy “Opening Night” celebration on Saturday, April 26. The William Walker was
named in honor of the African-American riding hero who guided Baden-Baden to
victory in the 1877 Kentucky Derby.
Other Spring Meet stakes highlights
included a narrow win by Carl Pollard’s homebred Kiss Moon (Malibu Moon) in the $100,000 Mint Julep (G3) on turf; an upset of reigning Breeders’ Cup Sprint
(G1) and Eclipse Award Sprint champion Work All Week (City Zip) by trainer Chris Hartman’s Alsvid
(Officer) in
the $100,000 Aristides (G3); Street Story’s (Street Cry) win in the $100,000 Winning
Colors (G3); Xtra Luck’s (Exchange Rate) victory for veteran trainer Neil Howard
in the $100,000 Louisville H. (G3) at 1 1/2 miles on turf; an easy win by
the Bret Calhoun-trained He’s Comin In Hot (Early Flyer) in the 114th running of the Bashford
Manor (G3) for two-year-olds; Cosmic Evolution’s (Proud Citizen) upset under popular
jockey Calvin Borel in the 115th running of the $100,000 Debutante for two-year-old fillies; Island Town’s
(Hard Spun) hard-fought win over
favored Fame and Power (First Defence) in the $100,000 Matt Winn; and overnight stakes wins
by Katie’s Eyes (Leroidesanimaux) in the Unbridled Sidney; Courtesan (Street
Sense) and Ceisteach (New Approach) in divisions of
the Keertana; Viva Majorca (Tiago) in the Kelly’s Landing; and Fioretti’s (Bernardini) 25-1 surprise
in the Roxelana that gave jockey Sophie Doyle and trainer Anthony Hamilton
Jr. their first North American stakes wins.
Robby Albarado finished third in the Spring Meet standings with 29
Mike Maker saddled 23 winners during the meet to earn his fifth “Leading
Ken and Sarah Ramsey earned another “Leading Owner” title during the Spring Meet
Festivities surrounding the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks continued to
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national non-profit organization focused on the prevention and early detection
of breast and ovarian cancer in young women along with support for high-risk
individuals. This was Bright Pink’s second year as a Kentucky Oaks’ women’s
health partner, a focus that dates to 2009 when the event’s “Ladies First” theme
was introduced. With the 2015 donation to Bright Pink, Churchill Downs has
donated $174,705 to Bright Pink and a total of $706,705 to its Kentucky Oaks
women’s health partners since 2009.
initiative in Kentucky’s horse industry launched by Kentucky First Lady Jane Beshear. The
donation represents $1 from each on-track sale of the “Oaks Lily,” the signature
drink of the Kentucky Oaks, and will support Horses and Hope’s programs at
racetracks and farms in Kentucky’s horse industry. With its 201 donation,
Churchill Downs has donated $210,000 to Horses and Hope during its seven-year
Kentucky Oaks partnership.
from the from the fifth annual “Taste of Derby”
celebration in the North Wing Lobby of Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center
on Thursday, April 30. The celebration of racing cuisine, celebrity and
style attracted more than 1,500 patrons. Since the inaugural “Taste of
Derby” in 2010, Churchill Downs has donated $138,760 to Dare to Care.
Arts Program was awarded a $25,000 donation for the program’s ongoing
support and participation in “Taste of Derby.” Faculty and students in the
Sullivan Culinary Arts Program play a major role in the important Derby Week
charitable event as the program opens its kitchens to visiting chefs and
Sullivan students gain valuable experience while they assist in the event.
Business was brisk at the Churchill Downs claims box during the Spring Meet as a
total of 243 horses were claimed during its 38 racing days, a 34 percent increase from
the 181 claims registered during last year’s spring racing session. Those claims
totaled $4,779,500 and generated $286,770 in sales tax revenue for the
Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Churchill Downs racing resumes during its September Meet, which features 11
racing days (Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays) from September 11-27. The
track’s November 1-29 Fall Meet will offer 21 racing dates on a weekly
Thursday-through-Sunday schedule.
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