The shortest meet on the Kentucky thoroughbred racing circuit began Thursday, but millions of dollars will be at stake as some of the best turf horses from across the country and world vie for the richest purses in the U.S. at Kentucky Downs.
Thursday’s card began a seven-day meet that also includes races on Saturday, Sunday, Sept. 5, Sept. 7-8 and Sept. 11. Located in Franklin on the Tennessee border, Kentucky Downs is a turf-only European-style course. The track itself is not an oval as it features a slight right curve ahead of the first turn, which is longer than the second turn on the opposite end.
Thanks to revenues generated by The Mint, its historical horse racing gaming hall, Kentucky Downs offers the highest purses among all U.S. tracks. Maidens, horses that have not yet won a race, will run for purses up to $170,000 for Kentucky-breds. Overall, the track will award up to $37 million in prize money, with $15 million in incentives available for Kentucky-bred horses.
Millions will also be wagered on the races, too. Last year, Kentucky Downs posted a record all-sources handle of $83.6 million, yet another feather in the cap for Kentucky sports betting.
Franklin-Simpson, Nashville Derby Highlight Stakes Races
There will be 18 stakes races held throughout the meet, including nine graded stakes, and 15 of those will have purses of $1 million or more. For the first time since the track opened in 1990, Kentucky Downs’ meet includes a Grade 1 race – the eighth running of the Franklin-Simpson, a six-and-a-half furlong race for 3-year-olds.
Saturday’s card includes the new FanDuel TV U.S. Open Turf Championships, a set of six stakes races. Along with the Franklin-Simpson, Saturday’s races include the Grade 3 DK Horse Nashville Derby. With a purse of up to $3.1 million, it will be the most lucrative race for 3-year-old Kentucky-bred horses outside of the Kentucky Derby.
DK Horse is the standalone horse racing wagering app offered by DraftKings Kentucky Sportsbook.
Don’t be surprised to see several runners at Kentucky Downs eventually make it to the Breeders’ Cup in November. Winners of the Grade 2 FanDuel TV Kentucky Turf Cup and Grade 2 Ainsworth Turf Sprint will receive automatic entries into Breeders’ Cup races at Del Mar in California. Kentucky Downs will also pay the entry fee for winners of the Franklin-Simpson, Grade 3 Mint Millions and Grade 3 Ladies Marathon if they also qualify for the championship series of races.
New Circa Sportsbook Open At Kentucky Downs
Kentucky Downs’ meet starts just a couple of weeks after it opened the Circa Sports retail sportsbook at the track. The latest brick-and-mortar venue offers four betting windows and five kiosks. Patrons can also watch the action on 10 televisions and track odds on four other screens.
The current setup is just a temporary venue as Circa plans to open the permanent sportsbook there next summer. Circa Sports Director of Operations Jeff Benson said it will resemble Circa’s three-story sportsbook at its flagship resort in downtown Las Vegas, with the goal of making players feel like they’re at a stadium.
“Derek Stevens, our CEO and owner, loves sports. He wants to make the sports book the prominent feature within the casino,” Benson said. “Our motto is we build a sportsbook so big that we have to build a casino around it, and I think that kind of carries into the project that we’re doing here.”
The retail sportsbook is open daily from 9 a.m. to 11 p.m. Central Time. Circa also has a Kentucky sports betting app available statewide through a partnership with Cumberland Run, a harness track in Corbin that’s owned primarily by Kentucky Downs owners Ron Winchell and Marc Falcone.
USA Today photo by Pat McDonogh.
