Sponsored by:
Ellis Park in Henderson, Ky.
Ellis Park is back on track to offer record purses while adding two new stakes for the 2021 racing season. The meet runs Sunday June 27 through Saturday Sept. 4.
Racing secretary Dan Bork said maiden races likely will top the record $50,000 achieved in 2019 before the pandemic forced cutbacks last year in the wake of a three-month shutdown. Average daily purses should top $350,000, which would be the highest in Ellis Park s 99-year history. Those numbers include Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund supplements, for which the vast majority of horses are eligible.
The condition book, which details the races for which entries will be taken on a given day, will be finalized in May after the Kentucky Derby, Bork said. Meanwhile, a 14-race stakes schedule was announced today, highlighted by the highly successful Kentucky Downs Preview Day now becoming Preview Weekend on Aug. 7-8 with the two new races. Six stakes received $25,000 p
Sponsored by:
Kentucky Downs in Franklin, Ky.
For the first time in its 31-year history, Kentucky Downs is offering three $1 million races during its six-date 2021 meet. Added to the track s signature Grade 2 Calumet Turf Cup, whose purse was first raised to seven figures in 2019, Kentucky Downs $1 million trio also will feature the Grade 3 Turf Sprint and Grade 3 WinStar Mint Million.
Kentucky Downs will stage 16 stakes worth a track-record total of $10 million, including $4.85 million in purse supplements for registered Kentucky-bred horses. The all-grass meet runs Sept. 5, 6, 8, 9, 11 and 12 over Kentucky Downs undulating, kidney-shaped 1 5/16-mile race course.
The WinStar Mint Million, formerly the Tourist Mile, presently stands as the United States second-richest eight-furlong grass stakes behind only the $2 million Breeders Cup Mile (G1). The race was worth $750,000 last year, while the six-furlong Turf Sprint was $700,000.
KEEP: A Legislative Fix For HHR Is About Keeping The Status Quo, Not Expanding Gaming Sponsored by:
The Kentucky Equine Education Project (KEEP), Kentucky s equine economic advocate, released the following statement on the importance of legislation to maintain historical horse racing in Kentucky on Tuesday:
Kentucky s signature equine industry has a simple request for state legislators in 2021: maintain the status quo and protect local jobs and investment by allowing historical horse racing to continue in Kentucky. Inaction would cost us thousands of jobs, millions in tax revenue and significant economic development opportunities at a time when they are needed most. The longer-term impact to Kentucky s world-renowned horse racing industry, including the breeding, farming, training, tourism and other sectors it supports, is of even greater concern.