The
139th annual runnings of the $2
million-guaranteed Kentucky Derby 2013 Presented by Yum! Brands (Grade I),
America’s greatest race and the opening leg of racing’s elusive Triple Crown,
and the $1 million Kentucky Oaks (GI), the nation’s premiere race for
3-year-old fillies, top an impressive schedule of 24 stakes races carrying
total purses of $7.475 million that will be featured during the 2013 Spring
Meet that will open Saturday, April 28 and run through Sunday, June 30 at
historic Churchill Downs Racetrack (“CDRT”).
While
the Derby and Oaks are among the most anticipated events on the American racing
calendar, other marquee stakes events on the 2013 Spring Meet schedule include
three more Grade I events in the $500,000-added Stephen Foster
Handicap, a 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-olds and up that has become of the
nation’s most significant events for older horses; the $500,000-added
Woodford Reserve Turf Classic, a Kentucky Derby Day event for 4-year-olds
& up at 1 1/8 miles on the Matt Winn Turf Course; and the $300,000-added
Humana Distaff, for fillies and mares ages 4 & up at seven furlongs
that is also a Derby Day fixture.
Churchill
Downs will continue its emphasis on “big event” days that feature several
stakes events. Kentucky Derby Day on Saturday, May 4 will offer six stakes
races and total purses of $3.575 million. Six stakes races also are set for
Kentucky Oaks Day on Friday, May 5. The purse total for the half-dozen
Oaks Day races is $2.1 million.
Three
additional stakes races will support the Stephen Foster Handicap on Saturday,
June 15 when that multi-race program will be run under the Churchill Downs
lights as a “Downs After Dark” night racing spectacular for the second
consecutive year. And two stakes events will highlight the final Saturday
of Spring Meet racing on June 29, also a “Downs After Dark” night racing
celebration, on the eve of the meet’s closing day.
The
2013 Spring Meet stakes events are the same as those offered last year, but
purses for five races have been adjusted. Those changes include:
- The restoration of $100,000 in
purse money to the Stephen Foster Handicap, which has a value of
$500,000-added in 2013;
- The purse for the Foster Day Fleur
De Lis (Grade II) for fillies and mares ages 3 & up was raised by
$25,000 to $175,000-added;
- A $50,000 boost to the purse of the
Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (GII) raised the value of that one-mile
Kentucky Derby Day turf race to $250,000-added;
- The Eight Belles Presented by
Xerox (GIII), a Kentucky Oaks Day event for 3-year-old fillies at
seven furlongs, now has a purse of $150,000-added following a purse hike
of $50,000;
- The purse for the meet-opening Derby
Trial (GIII), the final event on the new “Road to the Kentucky
Derby” points system that will determine eligibility to compete in
Kentucky Derby 139, will be $175,000-added, a decrease of $25,000 from
2012. The name of the race has reverted to the traditional Derby
Trial following the conclusion of a sponsorship agreement.
Total
purses for the 24 Spring Meet stakes races reflect an increase of $200,000 from
last year’s spring racing session.
“Our
Spring Meet stakes races at Churchill Downs in 2012 were memorable in terms of
the high quality of their fields, the impressive success throughout the year
for horses that participated in those races and the drama that played out on
the track when those races were run,” said Ben Huffman, Churchill
Downs Racing Secretary. “Particularly pleasing was the response by
horsemen and our fans to our first nighttime Stephen Foster Handicap
multi-stakes event, and we’ll be back under the lights with that terrific
program this year. We’re happy to have been able to boost some purses for
2013, including restoration of $100,000 to the Stephen Foster purse, and are
excited to offer some wonderful opportunities to owners and trainers to bring
their horses to Churchill Downs to compete in a diverse schedule of
high-quality, tradition-rich races set for our 2013 Spring Meet.”
Twenty-two
of the 24 Spring Meet stakes races are graded stakes events. The two
listed stakes races are the $100,000-added Debutante, a six-furlong race
for 2-year-old fillies set for Saturday, June 22. The Debutante was a
Grade III race in 2012, but was downgraded by the American Graded Stakes
Committee to listed status for 2013. The $150,000-added Edgewood
Presented by Forcht Bank, a Kentucky Oaks Day race for 3-year-old fillies
at 1 1/16 miles on turf, is also a listed stakes race.
There
will be no surface, distance or basic name changes for races on the 2013 Spring
Meet schedule. If you are following horse racing, you might consider horse racing at william hill online.
The
2012 renewals of each of the Grade I races set for Churchill Downs’ 2013 Spring
Meet had a significant impact on the Eclipse Awards presented over the weekend
to last year’s top American racing stars. All three finalists for “Horse
of the Year” competed in major events beneath the historic Twin Spires in
2012. The victorious Wise Dan suffered his only 2012 defeat in a
narrow loss in the Stephen Foster Handicap. The other finalists were 2012
Kentucky Derby winner I’ll Have Another and Fort Larned,
who was eighth in the Foster and runner-up in Churchill Downs’ Alysheba
(GII).
Wise
Dan also earned Eclipse Award honors as top older male and male turf
horse. Fort Larned and Little Mike, winner of the Woodford Reserve
Turf Classic, were finalists in the older male division, and Little Mike was a
turf male finalist.
I’ll
Have Another was honored as the top- 3-year-old of 2012 over finalists that
included Kentucky Derby runner-up Bodemeister and Union Rags, who
was seventh in the Derby and would later win the Belmont Stakes. Kentucky
Oaks winner Believe You Can was a finalist for the Eclipse Award for
3-year-old female won by Questing.
Groupie
Doll, winner of the
2012 Humana Distaff, was honored with the Eclipse Award for female
sprinter. She also was a finalist for the award for top older female won
by Royal Delta, the two-time Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic (GI) winner
who scored a victory in Churchill Downs’ Fleur De Lis during her championship
campaign.
The
male sprint champion was Trinniberg, who finished 17th in the Kentucky Derby but completed his
year with a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (GI). Shackleford,
winner of the Churchill Downs (GII) and the Clark Handicap Presented by
Norton Healthcare (GI), was a finalist in that division.
Tapitsfly and Marketing Mix, finalists
with the victorious Zagora in the female turf Eclipse division, finished
second and fourth, respectively, in the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile
(GII).