The Thoroughbreds Return to Kentucky Downs

The horses are back on the grass!

As summer stretches toward autumn, Kentucky Downs prepares for hundreds of blooded race horses to fill their barns. Maidens, platers, allowance winners and stake horses are coming to almost within sight of the Tennesse border, to test their own speed and courage against the heart and determination of all the others in their class in exciting live turf action. Whether two-year-olds, or three- and four-year-old fillies and colts, or fully matured five-year-old-and-above horses and mares, even the occasional ancient gelding of eight or nine years still demonstrating a lightening foot on the turf, the horses who have shown — or hope to acquire — an affinity for speed on the grass are back in Southern Kentucky to determine the very best in a variety of sprints and routes.

With the gathering of blooded stock will come a throng of onlookers and participants. College students on a date or carefully groomed elders who’ve been coming to the Downs for years and all those in-between, the crowd will converge on the one-mile-and-five-sixteenths turf track for Kentucky Downs’ Summer-Fall 2008 Meet, six days of live racing September 13, 15, 16 and September 20, 22 and 23. Post times will be at one o’clock on Saturdays, and at one-thirty p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays.

“We’re really family friendly,” General Manager Jon Goodman said. “We want to entertain everyone. You don’t have to be a racing fan to enjoy the county-fair atmosphere at Kentucky Downs live racing. My little boy loves the races. He thinks it’s all a party.”

The crowds will spill from the clubhouse, and out by the pavilion near the finish line, the barn — owners, trainers, jockeys, grooms, hot-walkers — will mix with the press of railbirds, farmers, businessmen, housewives, educators and all the varieties that make up the general public, and most of the resulting conversations will be about horses. Even in the twenty-first century — the Information or Digital Age, with cell phones and computers and speed-controlled automobiles — conversations will start, pause and resume for six days at Kentucky Downs with speculation about race horses. Just as such speculation occurred among Colonial Kentuckians in the 18th century, or ancient Greeks or Romans at a chariot race in the Hippodrome or among the gods and giants of Norse mythology. A spectator at the live races may run into his Great Aunt Matilda, whom he hasn’t seen in a decade, but the first question may well be, “Auntie, who do you like in the third?”

For eleven months of the year, Kentucky Downs simulcasts and televises races from most American tracks and abroad, and the barns stand empty. September is different. Real horses — chestnuts, bays, roans, greys groomed and braided into shining splendor for their race on the grass with jockeys brilliant in colorful silks on their backs — return to live contests, and Kentucky Downs then broadcasts its signal — “They’re off!” — to the rest of the world.

“It’s exciting,” said Debbie Reid, the track artist at Kentucky Downs. “Six days of live racing, up close and personal.”

Admission, parking and golf cart shuttle rides to and from the clubhouse to paddock are free, and this year, race fans can watch the big-screen television in the infield, located opposite the clubhouse. On Opening Day, September 13, there will be a party zone for Western Kentucky University students to bring their own tents and chairs. In addition, after each of seven live races that Saturday, Kentucky Downs will award a $1,000 scholarship to some lucky Hilltopper in attendance, and the student group with the largest attendance will receive free rental for a party room in the clubhouse to be used at a later date. Live music is planned for the south patio of the clubhouse, and families are encouraged to bring their own chairs to picnic or watch the races from the grass turfside. There will be games and a jump tent for those young enough enjoy expending all that energy.

“I love it,” said Joann Yates who is in charge of the money room at Kentucky Downs. “Live racing is our busiest time of the year, but I love everything about it . . . the horses, the big winners, the excitement of it all.”

Also on opening day, the gift shop at Kentucky Downs will sponsor a favorite hat contest, and award a prize following the Ladies Cup Race. Ladies are invited to knock themselves out with their best — or craziest — hats. Gentlemen, too, may be considered, but it’s likely going to take more than a stockman’s cowboy Stetson to win.

For the first time in more than a hundred years, Belle Meade Plantation of Nashville will re-enter racing as they sponsor two live steeplechases. Iroquois, the only American-bred stallion ever to win the English Derby, stood at stud at Belle Meade more than a century ago.

Kentucky Downs’ biggest race, the Grade III Kentucky Cup Turf, is also scheduled for opening day. It is at one and a half miles up and down the undulating turf course, the only European-style race course in North America, contested by three-year-olds and older. Some of the best turf runners from both Europe and America are expected to come for the $200,000 purse.

Saturday September 20, Kentucky Downs hosts the National Handicapping Championship Tour, a handicapping contest sponsored by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and The Daily Racing Form with $10,000 in prizes. The first, second and third-place winners, in addition to their prize money, will be awarded a slot in the national contest to be held in January 2009 in Las Vegas. They will also win round-trip air fare and hotel accomodations for their stay out west. Interested punters are invited to contact Kentucky Downs for more information or to enter that contest for an entry fee of $150.

“Kentucky Downs is proud to be part of the National Handicapping Tour, one of the most popular events in horse racing. I promise the players that Kentucky Downs will present a first class contest, with red carpet treatment in a roomy, comfortable setting. Based on the site and the seven grass races we will present that day, it should be no surprise that this event will focus on turf racing. This will be one of the highlights or our live season,” commented Kentucky Downs President Corey Johnsen.

Exhibition racing of a canine variety is also available September 20. Added to the customary Weiner Dog Race (non-betting) of long standing, this year there will be a Jack Russell Terrier Race (non-betting), sure to delight the children and dog lovers in the crowd.

“The crowd loves a fast dog,” according to Mike Martin, Simpson County Animal Control Officer. “Of course, they love the confused, the slow and the fat ones, too.”

The clubhouse, as always, will feature wide-screen television broadcasts and betting of all the racing at major American tracks. In the Longshots Sports Bar, additional wide-screen televisions will keep the sports fan concurrent with other sporting events across the nation. The chef of the Winning Colors Restaurant and Gallery, Brian Jennings, plans a buffet for the gourmet diner, while outside grills and inside deli’s will provide lighter fare for hungry race fans. A full range of beer, wine and mixed drinks are available at the bar, and Debbie Reid’s prints of original paintings with a racetrack theme are displayed and on sale throughout the gallery and gift shop.

“Come one and all,” Goodman invited the public. “It’s our showcase of the year, and we want to share it with Southern Kentucky. A good time is planned for all.”