January 2018 newsletter
HAPPY NEW YEAR! Our 2018 dates: Sept. 1,6, 8, 9, 13
New in 2018: Enhancements include valet parking, permanent Finish Line pavilion, group-sales area
With the start of new year, we asked Kentucky Downs’ senior vice president and general manager Ted Nicholson what will be new in 2018. His answer:

“We’re going to further enhance the guest experience both for our year-round entertainment and our live race meet. We have the new porte cochère and are adding valet parking. We are staging a Grand Re-Opening on Friday, March 23 to publicly show off all our renovations, having completely redone in the interior and exterior of our main building, as well as landscaping. Our new lounge area and terrace is perfect for watching horse racing and sports, or enjoying our live music four nights a week. We also are very proud of our new Lucky 7s Diner, with its 1950s feel and comfort-food menu.

“For live racing, we’re replacing the Finish Line Tent in front of the officials stand with a permanent pavilion, which also will be open air but more substantial and more comfortable. We have resurfaced the parking area near the main building and improved our lighting. We also have paved all of the areas that previously were gravel where our guests watched the races.

“We’re going to have an additional area for group outings at the top of the stretch. Our reserved seating sells out for our biggest days, and we needed a venue where groups of all sizes can come out and enjoy an afternoon together at the races. It will be a point of emphasis this year, headed up by veteran racing executive Debbie Blair.

“I don’t want to jump the gun on stakes, but I know that we will be enhancing some selected stakes purse-wise. Our five-date meet now has four Grade 3 stakes and we will work hard to get them to Grade 2 status, as well as getting additional graded stakes. While we wish it could have all happened yesterday, we continue to move the ball forward and look forward to a huge 2018.” (Photos above and below: Kentucky Downs' renovations include the lounge area outside of the new first-floor bar.)
Celebrate our Grand Re-Opening March 23
We've been busy! Check out our renovations and help us celebrate our Grand Re-Opening Friday, March 23. Ten guests will win FREE PLAY FOR A YEAR from 1 p.m.-10 p.m. (must be a Players Club member to receive an entry). Free Kentucky Downs t-shirts to the first 100 guests, with other merchandise giveaways throughout the day, plus live music. More details to come.
Hey, we can dream: Could Daddys Lil Darling -- finally a Grade 1 winner - be back for KY Turf Cup?
(Photo: Mike Smith guides Daddys Lil Darling to victory in the Grade 1 American Oaks. Benoit Photo)

Trainer Kenny McPeek hasn’t plotted out the 4-year-old campaign for #KyDownsGrad Daddys Little Darling, other than the season-end target being the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf at Churchill Downs. But he doesn’t rule out that for Nancy Polk’s homebred filly — who in her last start earned her elusive Grade 1 triumph in taking Santa Anita’s Dec. 30 American Oaks — might return to Kentucky Downs, where she set a course record of 2:10.97 for 1 5/16 miles in her dominating victory in the $200,000 Dueling Grounds Oaks.

Now a Grade 1 winner after finishing a close second in four Grade 1 races on turf and dirt, including the Kentucky Oaks, Daddys Lil Darling figures to be pointed for only graded stakes. Kentucky Downs’ $350,000 Ramsey Farm for fillies and mares at 1 5/16 miles has produced the winner and runner-up of the last two runnings of Woodbine’s Grade 1 E.P. Taylor but remains on the cusp of earning graded status. However, McPeek says the longer the better for Daddys Lil Darling, and those races can be hard to find at a lot of tracks. But not at Kentucky Downs.

In response to an inquiry whether Kentucky Downs might see Daddys Lil Darling again, McPeek said, “Certainly if there was a graded race there, it would be a no-brainer.”

But then he continued, “I wouldn’t discount running her there at all. Who knows? Maybe run her against the colts if she’s doing good.”
 
Oooh! Bring it on: Daddys Lil Darling going up against defending champ Oscar Nominated at 1 1/2 miles in the 2018 edition of the $600,000, Grade 3 Calumet Farm Kentucky Turf Cup! Hey, we can dream! McPeek has made a career out of swinging for the fences, so don’t count it out. READ MORE (Below: Kenny McPeek took owner Nancy Polk on the express route to Santa Anita winner's circle (Benoit Photo). Daddys Lil Darling set a course record in the 2017 Dueling Grounds Oaks under Julien Leparoux (Grace Clark).
Join us for Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 27;
No better place to watch Patriots v. Eagles
Come out for our free weekly handicapping contest. Our Friday, Jan. 26 contest offers $500 in prizes -- with participants receiving a Pegasus program and 2018 Kentucky Downs calendar. Saturday we're staging a free "Pick the Pegasus" contest, where everyone picking the Pegasus winner earns a chance for a framed photo of 2017 winner Arrogate beating California Chrome in the 2016 Breeders' Cup, signed by jockey Mike Smith. Drawing will be after the Pegasus; must be present to win. Stay up to date on our handicapping contests and simulcasting info at kentuckydowns.com/racing/simulcasting.
(Gun Runner, with two-time Kentucky Downs riding champ Florent Geroux up, was the impressive winner of the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic. Breeders' Cup photo) Watch Gun Runner take on 11 rivals in his career finale: Gulfstream's $16 million Pegasus World Cup -- along with terrific betting on a great undercard.
With our 10 X 6 GoVision screen, we're your best bet for Super Bowl -- buckets of beer only $8; $5 domestic draft pitchers.
Shining Copper keys #KyDownsGrad exacta in G2
Once a rabbit, #KyDownsGrad Shining Copper now is big game.

Ken and Sarah Ramsey’s 8-year-old gelding, who has placed in multiple Grade 1 stakes, earned the biggest triumph of his career, fighting back in the shadow of the finish line to capture Gulfstream Park’s $200,000 Fort Lauderdale (G2) on Jan. 13. Shining Copper was headed by 30-1 longshot One Go All Go in deep stretch, only to fight back to prevail in the 1 1/16-mile turf stakes by a head.

The top two finishers raced at Kentucky Downs’ 2017 meet, with Shining Copper a good third in the $400,000 Tourist Mile off a 13-month layoff and One Go All Go eighth in the $600,000 Calumet Farm Kentucky Turf Cup (G3), beaten only a total of 4 1/4 lengths.

“You don’t get that old without having a heart and trying hard,” Mike Maker, Kentucky Downs’ three-time defending leading trainer, said after Shining Copper won for the ninth time. “He’s just a tough old dude. He loves to run. He’s an unbelievably smart horse.”

Shining Copper has won three straight since Kentucky Downs, including taking Churchill Downs’ Grade 3 River City.  READ MORE (Photos: Shining Copper, with Jose Ortiz aboard, edged One Go All Go to win Gulfstream's Grade 2 Fort Lauderdale. Coglianese Photography photos by Andie Biancone, Leslie Martin and Kenny Martin)
February drink special: $4 Chocolate Covered Cherry
Maybe this Tourist filly will visit us in 2020!
Tourist season has begun in Kentucky.

The first foal by 2016 Breeders' Cup Mile winner Tourist — the WinStar Farm stallion whose coming-out party as a champion racehorse was his triumph in the 2015 Kentucky Downs stakes now known as the $400,000 Tourist Mile — was born Jan. 11 with a bay filly arriving at Endeavor Farm in Versailles, Ky.

Fittingly, the filly is owned by CJ Thoroughbreds, whose principals are Kentucky Downs president Corey Johnsen and C.J. Johnsen, the track’s director of broadcasting and wagering. In a perfect world, she'll run in the 2020 Kentucky Downs Juvenile Fillies -- or at least one of our six-figure maiden or allowance races. READ MORE (WinStar photo)
Grace Clark's 10 favorite photos from 2017
Our Amazing Grace, the Western Kentucky University freshman who works with seemingly every department at Kentucky Downs, serves as track photographer in collaboration with Reed Palmer Photography. We asked Grace (creator of our #KyDownsGrad social-media campaign) to share some of her favorite images from 2017.
Top to bottom, left to right: Stonestreet Stables' Delphinia; Edgar Prado after winning Ladies Turf on Miss Temple City; Kentucky Downs outriders; We're at the post with another full field; HBPA College Day; Claiborne Farm and Adele Dilschneider's Lull winning the Ladies Sprint under Brian Hernandez; Miguel Mena on Brielle's Appeal; stretch run of Ladies Sprint; Ken and Sarah Ramsey's Daring Duchess before the Ramsey Farm Stakes, and jockey Victor Bailon after the final race of the 2017 meet.
Mardi Gras & more: Throwing good times in Feb.
Open Sunday, Feb. 18 until 4 the next morning in observance of Presidents' Day
Saturday, Feb. 3: Santa Anita stakes quartet, including Bob Lewis for 3-year-olds
Sunday, Feb. 4: Super Bowl Party with $8 beer buckets and $5 domestic draft pitchers
Tuesday, Feb. 13: Mardi Gras Party -- $4 Hurricanes and $2 Abita beer all day
Saturday, Feb. 17: Fair Grounds' Louisiana Derby Preview Day, headed by Risen Star
Monday, Feb. 19: Oaklawn Park's $500,000 Southwest (Kentucky Derby points race)
Wednesday, Feb. 28: Jackpot Party -- Players Club members who win a taxable jackpot from Jan. 31-Feb. 27 receive an invitation to the Jackpot Party 6-9 p.m. where attendees receive Kentucky Downs merchandise, complimentary refreshments and an entry into exclusive cash drawings. Invitation is non-transferable
Hoppy Hour every Monday-Friday from 5-7 p.m.: half-priced draft beer, well drinks, signature cocktails and select appetizers in the bar area
Wine Down Wednesdays: $2 house wine all day
Drink of the Month: $4 Chocolate Covered Cherry
KENTUCKY DOWNS
kentuckydowns.com/racing
270.586.7778
5629 Nashville Road, Franklin, Ky. 42134
Kentucky Downs' five-date meet is the most unique in America, offering record purse, the largest fields and low takeout to be ranked the No. 1 betting product by Horseplayers Association of North America. We are open year-round, seven days a week for simulcasting and historical horse racing, which we are proud to use as a means for bettering the entire Kentucky racing circuit.
Newsletter edited by publicity director Jennie Rees.