Nominations for Kentucky Downs’ first eight stakes released

FRANKLIN, Ky. (Friday, Aug. 27, 2021) —America’s most celebrated turf meet runs Sept. 5, 6, 8, 9, 11 and 12 and offers among the richest purses in the world. The names of horses made eligible to the first eight stakes (Sept. 5-9) were released Friday, with the nominations for the remaining eight to be announced early next week.

Entries for the opening card on Labor Day Eve Sunday will be taken this coming Monday, with the racing program highlighted by the $750,000 Big Ass Fans Dueling Grounds Derby for 3-year-olds and the $500,000 Exacta Systems Dueling Grounds Oaks for 3-year-old fillies.

The Labor Day Monday program features the first of the meet’s trio of $1 million stakes in the WinStar Mint Million at a mile, which received Grade 3 status for the first time in 2021 and got a $250,000 purse increase. Also on Sept. 6 are a pair of mile stakes for 2-year-olds, the $500,000 Aristocrat Juvenile Fillies and the $500,000 Kentucky Downs Juvenile.

The total stakes purses include money from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund available for registered Kentucky-breds, which are the vast majority of the horses racing here.

Reflecting horses and stables from across the country and beyond, nominations for the first eight stakes range from 42 for the Dueling Grounds Oaks to 75 for the $500,000 Global Tote Juvenile Sprint on Sept. 9. The average number of nominations is 55, including horses nominated in more than one stakes.

The WinStar Mint Million attracted 43 nominations. They include 2020 winner Flavius and Grade 1 Fourstardave runner-up Set Piece, both owned by Juddmonte Farms, and the 1-2 finishers in Belmont’s Grade 1 Jaipur in Casa Creed and Chewing Gum, both trained by Bill Mott. Garrett O’Rourke, head of Juddmonte’s American operation, said Flavius will return to Kentucky Downs, with Set Piece racing next either at Woodbine or Keeneland.

If it’s Kentucky Downs, one thing you can bank on is Bloom Racing’s Snapper Sinclair showing up.

Now 6, Snapper Sinclair won the Kentucky Downs Juvenile at age 2, the Tourist Mile (now the WinStar Mint Million) at 4 and last year was second by three-quarters of a length in the same race to Flavius. Snapper Sinclair is nominated to both the Mint Million and the $400,000 TVG Stakes on Sept 8 for horses that have not won a stakes in 2021. Jeff Bloom, president of Bloom Racing, said they’ll look at both races but that the TVG Stakes is the most logical. Snapper Sinclair has raced only once since finishing fourth in the Grade 2 Godolphin Mile in Dubai, that being a runner-up effort to Set Piece in Churchill Downs’ $130,000 Opening Verse.

“You could put the tag ‘Kentucky Downs’ on his name in addition to Snapper Sinclair,” Bloom said. “Kentucky Downs has been very good to us and Snapper. It’s like he’s a different horse when he’s there; it’s like his happy place. You look at the campaign and say how to work it back from getting to Kentucky Downs?

“He’s also eligible for (the TVG), and with the purses being what they are, shoot, $400,000 for a listed stakes like that. So Kentucky Downs, yes, and where we end up I guess we’ll know in a few days.”

Wesley Ward, the only trainer to win in the first three runnings of the Juvenile Sprint, has nominated eight 2-year-olds to the 6 1/2-furlong stakes. Six of those are fillies, with Ward winning the Juvenile Sprint in 2018 and 2019 with fillies.

Among Ward’s 2021 nominations for the Juvenile Sprint: 3-for-3 Averly Jane, winner of Saratoga’s off-the-turf Skidmore in her last start; 2-for-2 Chi Town Lady, winner of Saratoga’s Bolton Landing over yielding turf; 2-for-2 Miss Alacrity, winner of Monmouth’s Colleen on turf; and Her World, who in her only start won Monmouth Park’s Tyro on grass by six lengths against males. Ward also could choose to go his Royal Ascot-to-Kentucky Downs route with Kaufymaker, an impressive Keeneland debut winner who finished a competitive eighth in Ascot’s Group 2 Coventry Stakes.

Trainer Vicki Oliver, who swept Ellis Park’s automatic qualifying races to the Dueling Grounds Derby and Oaks with a pair of fillies, has made Kentucky Downs TVG Preview Dueling Grounds Derby winner Core Values and Preview Dueling Grounds Oaks winner Flippant eligible to both stakes at Kentucky Downs.

Kentucky Downs’ other $1 million races are the Grade 2 Calumet Turf Cup at 1 1/2 miles and the Grade 3 FanDuel Turf Sprint at six furlongs. Both races are Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series events, with the winners earning a fees-paid spot in the corresponding Breeders’ Cup race on Nov. 6 at Del Mar. NBC will be on hand at Kentucky Downs for the first time to televise the Calumet Turf Cup and the FanDuel Turf Sprint.

Kentucky Downs sends seven qualifiers for the 2021 NHC

The National Horseplayers Championship (NHC) began today (Friday) at Bally’s in Las Vegas, with seven players who qualified through Kentucky Downs’ online tournaments last fall. Heading the way is Andy Muhlada, who won the 2020 Kentucky Downs’ King of the Turf Handicapping Challenge to be crowned the National Turf Handicapping Champion. The others: Eric Adler, John Gaspar, Chris Goodrich, Rich Nilsen, William Shurman and Scott Carson.

The 2021 NHC was postponed from February until this weekend because of COVID considerations. Players were given the option of deferring their qualifying seat until the 2022 NHC returns in late January. Among those opting to wait until next year were Kentucky Downs qualifiers Marikate Carter, Steve Meier, Chris Cupples and Mike Elsass.

Kentucky Downs’ 2021 King of the Turf Handicapping Challenge presented by Daily Racing Form will feature a trio of two-day handicapping contests spanning the meet’s six days.

Seats at the 2022 NHC will be awarded to the top finishers in all three individual competitions, with seats for the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge also up for grabs in the final two contests. The overall winner who participates in all three contests over the six dates will be crowned National Turf Handicapping Champion and earn additional prize money, along with the National Turf Handicapping Champion Trophy presented by BetMakers.

For more information or to sign up, contact tournament director Brian Skirka at bskirka@monmouthpark.com