Mike and Laurie McAbee from the Dallas area fulfilled their bucket-list item of attending a race day at Kentucky Downs on Sept. 1. They said the experience exceeded expectations.
“It’s the atmosphere. It’s the combination of down-home friendly, Kentucky friendly, but it’s also some of the best horses in the country,” Mike McAbee said. “When you’re a big racing fan, to see the horses and the people up this close, this is an opportunity you don’t get anywhere else. We’ll be back, definitely.”
Whether people attended in person or watched and wagered at simulcast outlets or online accounts, Kentucky Downs’ popularity kept up its growth.
Kentucky Downs’ seven-day meet that ended Wednesday again set records for wagering and purses paid out to horse owners for the 12th straight year.
Purses totaled $34,624,472 for 76 races, including $13.6 million from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund available only to registered Kentucky-bred thoroughbreds. That reflects an increase of 38 percent over last year’s total purses of $25.06 million paid out for 76 races. Sixteen of the 18 stakes-winners were foaled in Kentucky, taking full advantage of the KTDF funding.
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All-sources wagering totaled $90,181,408, up 8 percent over last year’s $83,640,261. In the six meets with the ownership group headed by Ron Winchell and Marc Falcone at the helm, total betting has increased 148 percent. While that reflects going from five days in 2018 to the current seven days, the per-day average has gone from $7.28 million for five days to the $12.88 million daily average this year.
The signature Saturday Sept. 7 card—this year packaged as the FanDuel TV U.S. Open Turf Championships featuring six graded stakes paying out $2 million apiece to Kentucky-breds and $1 million to others—attracted track-record betting of $21,184,941.
The average field size was 10.89, horses per race, up from the 10.42 last year that led America, and Kentucky Downs’ highest average since 2019.
“We are extremely happy with the results of the meet,” said Ted Nicholson, Kentucky Downs’ Vice President for Racing. “We continue to see positive growth in every metric we look at, and l am already excited for next year’s meet.”
International star Frankie Dettori, riding for the first time at Kentucky Downs, won eight races, one fewer than meet-leaders Irad Ortiz Jr. and Tyler Gaffalione. Four of those were stakes, including the meet’s new signature race the $3.1 million DK Horse Nashville Derby on British invader Bellum Justum and sweeping the pair of closing-day stakes. That ballooned his mounts’ earnings to $3.86 million, topped only by Ortiz’s $4.1 million.
“Listen, it’s amazing,” Dettori said during the meet. “There’s a great incentive to the owners, a great incentive to the European horses to come over. Great incentive for the turf horses in America to race for this kind of money. … I am very pro what they have done here at Kentucky Downs.”
Kentucky Downs’ winning owners have said for years that the big purses give them more bankroll to reinvest at the Keeneland September yearling sale. Horsemen say the track is making turf pedigrees more popular.
“Grass horses are definitely more appealing now,” said trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. “With Kentucky Downs’ purses, it can make the horse’s career. … It’s a huge plus.”
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