The long winter stand at Turfway Park begins Wednesday in Florence, Ky., and runs for roughly the next four months.
An early highlight will be the debut of the Turfway Park Synthetic Championships, with four stakes worth a combined $1 million, on Dec. 14. The meet’s 3-year-old races will build toward a major card highlighted by the Grade 3, $700,000 Jeff Ruby in March, a race that has been a meaningful prep toward the Triple Crown series in recent years.
The Turfway season is officially divided into two meets – the Holiday meet, which runs through Dec. 29, and the winter/spring meet, which begins Jan. 1 and runs through the end of March. Judging by the initial days of entries, full fields will again be the norm during the lucrative season. The first condition book averages $467,793 in purses per day, with maiden special weight races at $80,000 and allowances up to $86,000, including contributions from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund earmarked specifically for eligible Kentucky-breds.
The first racing week, with nine-race cards from Thursday through Sunday, has drawn an average field size of 13 entrants, with also-eligibles in a majority of the races.
“We’re excited to offer top-tier racing opportunities at Turfway Park this winter and continue building on Kentucky’s strong year-round circuit,” Tyler Picklesimer, director of racing and racing secretary for Turfway Park, said in a release. “With a robust stakes schedule and attractive purses, Turfway is the place to be for winter racing.”
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The stakes schedule begins Dec. 14, with four stakes which have each received robust purse hikes to create a showcase program. The Prairie Bayou, Holiday Cheer, Holiday Inaugural, and My Charmer Stakes, previously run across four separate weekends, are now worth $250,000 each, and have been assembled on the same program. The goal of the inaugural Synthetic Championships program is to lure high-level surface specialists from across North America to compete on Turfway’s Tapeta surface.
The Holiday Inaugural and My Charmer, along with the $125,000 Likely Exchange Stakes in January, make up the “Make Your Mare” series, with Turfway again partnering with Claiborne Farm following the program’s debut last year. The series offers fillies and mares the chance to earn credits toward future Claiborne stud fees for top-three finishes.
Along with the Synthetic Championships card, the other multi-stakes program at Turfway is the marquee March 22 card, with the Ruby highlighting six stakes. The Ruby is joined by its sister race, the $300,000 Bourbonette Oaks, the Grade 3, $300,000 Kentucky Cup Classic for older horses, and the $250,000 Latonia, $250,000 Rushaway, and $250,000 Animal Kingdom.
The Ruby is Turfway’s signature Kentucky Derby prep race, and awards its top finishers qualifying points on a 100-50-25-15-10 scale in the series laid out by Churchill, whose parent company also owns Turfway. The race is preceded by a series of local preps highlighted by the $175,000 John Battaglia Memorial on Feb. 22, which awards points on a 20-10-6-4-2 scale. The Bourbonette Oaks (50-25-15-10-5) and its local prep, the $175,000 Cincinnati Trophy (20-10-6-4-2) on Feb. 21, offer points toward the Kentucky Oaks.
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Form on the Tapeta has transferred well to dirt at Churchill Downs, and elsewhere, in recent years, with the Ruby serving as a meaningful prep. In 2022, Rich Strike finished third in the Ruby before pulling off the second-biggest upset in Kentucky Derby history. Two Phil’s won the 2023 Ruby before finishing a gallant second in the Derby. Last year, Seize the Grey, third in the Ruby, went on to win the Preakness.
Another major horse to use Turfway as a winter base in recent seasons is Idiomatic. She won three races in early 2023, including her stakes debut in the Latonia, launching an Eclipse Award championship season.
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