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Michael Hui's Zulu Alpha, winner of our first $1 million race in taking the 2019 Calumet Farm Kentucky Turf Cup, became a Grade 1 winner by capturing the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf on Jan. 25 at Gulfstream Park. Tyler Gaffalione rode for Mike Maker, our all-time career-leading trainer. It was Zulu Alpha's first start since finishing a good fourth in the 2019 Longines Breeders' Cup Turf at Santa Anita. Read more

The 3-year-old Finite continued her win streak that began with a Kentucky Downs maiden victory, taking the Fair Grounds' $150,000 Silverbulletday by a neck under Ricardo Santana Jr. on Jan. 18. The outcome made Steve Asmussen only the third trainer to win 1,000 stakes. Finite is co-owned by breeder Ron Winchell, the co-managing partner of The Mint Gaming Hall at Kentucky Downs, and Thomas Reiman, William Dickson and Deborah Easter. The filly came into the Silverbulletday off victories in Churchill Downs' Grade 2 Golden Rod and the Rags to Riches Stakes.

AJ Suited Racing Stable's $50,000 claim Dontblamerocket, winner of a 2019 Kentucky Downs starter-allowance race for trainer Norm Casse, captured the Fair Grounds' $125,000 Col. E.R. Bradley Stakes under Julien Leparoux in the horse's stakes debut. The field of eight included seven horses who had raced previously at Kentucky Downs.

Ron Winchell's 3-year-old filly Finite continued to stamp herself among the favorites for the Kentucky Oaks with a powerful victory over 2-year-old filly champ British Idiom and future Preakness winner Swiss Skydiver in the Fair Grounds' Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra on Feb. 15. Her five-race win streak that started in a Kentucky Downs maiden race ended with a fourth in the Grade 2 Fair Grounds Oaks, with Finite afterward having surgery to remove a bone chip. (Hodges Photography photo)

Another filly proving that Kentucky Downs produces good horses -- not just good grass horses -- was Jay Em ESS Stable's Go Google Yourself. That 5-year-old mare started her career three years ago at Kentucky Downs and went on to become a multiple graded-stakes winner, including Oaklawn Park's Grade 3 Bayakoa on Feb. 17.

(Photo: Kentucky Downs partnered with the Nashville Sounds Triple-A baseball team to distribute needed supplies after a series of deadly tornados ripped through Greater Nashville and Middle Tennessee on March 2-3. That's Chris Epley of our marketing department on the left.)

Hronis Racing's Combatant, second in an allowance race at Kentucky Downs' 2019 meet, won the Grade 1 Santa Anita Handicap by a neck over 33-1 Multiplier, who was sixth in the 2018 Calumet Farm Kentucky Turf Cup.

Zulu Alpha, winner of the first $1 million race ever at Kentucky Downs in the 2019 Calumet Farm Kentucky Turf Cup, repeated his 2019 triumph in Gulfstream Park's $200,000, Grade 2 MacDiarmida on Feb. 29.

Ed and Susie Orr’s Silver Prospector, who ran in the $500,000 Kentucky Downs Juvenile Turf Sprint in 2019, followed up on his victory in Churchill Downs' Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey the previous fall with a one-length victory over future Louisiana Derby winner Wells Bayou in Oaklawn Park's $750,000, Grade 3 Southwest Stakes on Feb. 17.

Gaining Ground Racing's Factor This, fourth after setting the pace in the Calumet Farm, won the Grade 3 Fair Grounds Stakes as he started on a tear to stamp himself as one of the Midwest's best turf horses at shorter distances. Read more

Bruce Lunsford’s 3-year-old colt Art Collector, who the previous September had earned his first victory over the Kentucky Downs turf, without fanfare won a first-level allowance race on dirt on May 17 at Churchill Downs —15 days after what would have been the Kentucky Derby. Art Collector, whose training had been taken over by Tommy Drury, would prove to be among the horses benefiting from the pandemic-related cancelations and reconfiguration of the racing calendar. Art Collector was making his first start in 5 1/2 months in the allowance race, which fell on the second day of the Churchill meet whose start had been delayed three weeks. It became the first of four straight victories capped by Keeneland's Grade 2 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes and $200,000 RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Derby.

Kentucky Downs said on June 2 that Larry Collmus -- the voice of NBC's Triple Crown and Breeders' Cup broadcasts -- would share race-calling responsibilities with Michael Wrona, giving the six-date race meet two of the world's most prominent announcers.

Said Ted Nicholson, Kentucky Downs' Vice President for Racing: “This is a great coup for Kentucky Downs to get two of the best announcers in the world.” Read more

The next day, Kentucky Downs released a 12-stakes schedule for the six-date 2020 meet, with a total of $12 million offered over the scheduled 63 races.

A lucky guest on June 18 hit a Jackpot for $741,849 -- second only to the $780,307 hit in April, 2019.

Factor This, fourth in the $1 million Calumet Farm Kentucky Turf Cup the previous September, continued his winning ways with another front-running victory in Churchill Downs' Grade 2 Wise Dan Stakes on June 20.

Kentucky Downs maiden winner Art Collector took another step toward the delayed Kentucky Derby by winning a second-level Churchill Downs allowance race on June 13.

Highlighted by Kentucky Downs maiden winner Art Collector taking the Grade 2 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes to catapult himself among the Kentucky Derby favorites, Kentucky Downs horses excelled at Keeneland's first summer race meet ever. COVID-19 spurred Keeneland to cancel its traditional April meet.

Zulu Alpha joined Art Collector among the four horses from Kentucky Downs' 2019 meet to take Grade 2 stakes on the final two days of Keeneland's historic five-date session, taking the $175,000 TVG Elkhorn. Leinster nipped Totally Boss in the Grade 2 Shakertown for a 1-2 finish for trainer Rusty Arnold. Totally Boss won Kentucky Downs' Grade 3 RUNHAPPY Turf Sprint in 2019, with Leinster third. In fact, the Shakertown provided a Kentucky Downs superfecta (the 10-cent super paid $410.86) with 2018 Tourist Mile victor Bound for Nowhere taking third and 2019 starter-allowance winner Fast Boat fourth.

In addition, Kentucky Downs 2019 maiden winner Enola Gay won the $150,000 Appalachian for 3-year-old fillies in a three-way photo. And Parlor, whose four prior Kentucky Downs starts included three stakes placings, lost the Grade 1 Maker's Mark Mile by a nose.

“There have been a lot of good horses run down there,” Arnold said. “I mean, just a whole lot of them. With the purses the way they are, there’s just going to be more and more of them. I forget which president said ‘It’s the economy, stupid.’ But people are going to run when there’s that kind of money. It’s tougher than it used to be. But when you win one, your payday is there for you.” Read more

A Clarksville, Tenn., woman hit for more than $105,000 playing one of our Historical Horse Racing gaming machines on Aug. 5. The Mint Gaming Hall pays out more than $4 million a month in Jackpots. (The Mint photo)

That came three days after Ellis Park staged its third Kentucky Downs Preview Day, featuring five $100,000 turf stakes whose purses are funded by money transferred from Kentucky Downs in an agreement with both tracks' horsemen's association, the Kentucky HBPA. Factor This led the way in winning the KD Preview Day Turf Cup for the second year for trainer Brad Cox.

Art Collector, Keeneland's Grade 2 Toyota Blue Grass winner whose first victory came at Kentucky Downs as a 2-year-old, headed into the $200,000 RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Derby on Aug. 9 as the heavy favorite.

In what likely was the most covered race in Ellis Park's long history, Brian Hernandez Jr. guides Bruce Lunsford's Art Collector to a front-running victory over Attachment Rate. Art Collector solidified himself as the likely second or third choice behind heavy favorite Tiz the Law for the Kentucky Derby. However, on Sept. 1, the morning entries were to be taken for the delayed Sept. 5 Kentucky Derby, Art Collector was declared out with a minor foot injury. Trainer Tommy Drury immediately started planning to run in the Oct. 4 Preakness Stakes in Baltimore, where Art Collector finished fourth.

On Aug. 18, Kentucky Downs made the tough decision to run its September meet without spectators. “With the surge in cases in Kentucky and Tennessee, we feel it’s in our guests’ best interest and the state’s best interest to not have spectators,” said Kentucky Downs Vice President for Racing Ted Nicholson. “No one is more disappointed than us to have to make this difficult call. The track is working with horsemen on an arrangement to allow owners and their connections to attend."

Kentucky Downs already had been planning to resume a handicapping tournament that served as a qualifier for the National Horseplayers Championship, but to make it online rather than onsite. On Aug. 25, the track announced the inaugural Kentucky Downs Turf Handicapping Challenge, a unique two-day format to crown the National Turf Handicapping Champion and produce qualifiers to both the NHC and the Breeders' Cup Betting Challenge.

Kentucky Downs for the first time utilized Equibase Co.’s Gmax timing and tracking system based on GPS technology, which along with additional high-definition cameras made the broadcast viewing of races much better. Previously, all of Kentucky Downs’ races were hand-timed. Because the new system had some different and more standard starting positions based on GPS measurements, race times varied significantly and generally were faster from past meets. While the hand-timing continued from the new starting positions as part of Kentucky Downs’ testing, the technology-generated times were the official clockings for the Equibase race charts. Read more

“We can’t thank the horsemen and the horseplayers enough for their support this meet,” Kentucky Downs Vice President for Racing Ted Nicholson said the day after the meet concluded. “The numbers speak for themselves. We appreciate the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission giving us an additional day this year, and the horsemen took full advantage of it. We had some mishaps and glitches, and each will be scrutinized whether they resulted from human error or were beyond our control. Through it all, our racing was spectacular, which is a credit to our owners, trainers and jockeys and to which bettors across the country enthusiastically responded.

World-renowned race-callers Michael Wrona and Larry Collmus shared the announcer's booth as Kentucky Downs opens on Labor Day for the first time. Wrona went on to call the second and third days, while Collmus completed the meet.

Future Hall of Fame trainer Chad Brown had only run one horse previously at Kentuckuy Downs until the 2020 meet. On opening day, the four-time reigning Eclipse Award trainer bagged his first win at the track when Fluffy Socks won a maiden race and his first stakes with Juddmonte Farms' Flavius in the $750,000 Tourist Mile. Flavius held off 2019 winner Snapper Sinclair to win one of the country's most lucrative mile turf races.

Ken and Sarah Ramsey’s 4-year-old Ramsey Solution won the $300,000 Tapit Stakes by a length over Midnight Tea Time in the gelding’s first attempt in a stakes. It capped a huge day for trainer Wesley Ward and jockey Gerardo Corrales, who combined to win three races.

Ward, who tied for the 2019 Kentucky Downs training title with four wins, was laughing but apparently not kidding. He went out to win two more races Thursday, putting him at five halfway through the meet. Read more

Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott took a shot and had Moon Over Miami ship from Churchill Downs to Kentucky Downs the morning of the $750,000 Gun Runner Dueling Grounds Derby, knowing it would be a wasted trip if there wasn't a late defection to allow the colt to get into the field. Moon Over Miami not only got in as No. 13, he wore down front-running Big Dreaming to win by a half-length. “They said we could stay in until 10 a.m. ," said Mott assistant Kenny McCarthy. "So we just sent him down with our fingers crossed. It doesn’t often work out like that. We got a little bit of racing luck in every which way.” Read more

A race earlier, Mott's barn had been on the other side of the narrow outcome. This time Godolphin's Micheline - who is housed in a covered but open-air outdoor stall because of claustrophobia - wore down the Mott-trained Harvey's Lil Goil to take the $500,000 Exacta Systems Dueling Grounds Oaks by a neck. “It’s been a journey with her, and it’s been well worth it,” trainer Michael Stidham said after Micheline's biggest stakes victory. Read more

Donegal Racing's Arklow had earned almost $2 million in 28 prior races, but trainer Brad Cox and jockey Florent Geroux felt the 6-year-old horse wasn't giving his best. So Cox added blinkers in Arklow's 29th start. The result? Arklow won the $1 million, Grade 3 Calumet Farm Kentucky Turf Cup for the second time in three years - and in the process avenged last year's runner-up finish to Zulu Alpha, who finished third behind Red Knight. Read more

One year after getting beat as the favorite in the Grade 3, $700,000 RUNHAPPY Turf Sprint, Imprimis rewarded those who kept the faith as the gelding got up by a neck over dead-heat runners-up Front Run the Fed and Bombard. The six-furlong Turf Sprint offered the winner a fees-paid spot in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint (G1) on Nov. 7 at Keeneland as part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series’ “Win and You’re In” program. Read more

Gary Barber's Multiple Grade 1 winner Got Stormy had never sprinted in 23 career races that stamped her among America's best turf milers -- male or female. Trainer Mark Casse's theory that the 5-year-old mare could handle soft turf if racing at a shorter distance proved correct as Got Stormy won the $500,000 Grade 3 Real Solution Ladies Turf. Read more

Trainer Chad Brown won his second stakes of the meet as Paul Pompa Jr.'s Regal Glory reeled in the front-running Mitchell Road to take the $500,000, Grade 3 English Channel Ladies Turf by a neck. Read more

Wesley Ward continued his distinction as the only trainer to win Kentucky Downs' sprint stakes for 2-year-olds as Breeze Easy LLC's Outadore beat stablemate Fauci in the $500,000 Bal a Bali Juvenile Turf Sprint. Read more

(Grace Clark photos below) Click on photos for stakes replays

The delay, combined with COVID-19 testing protocol, meant that Umberto Rispoli, a rising star on the Southern California circuit, had to stick around almost a week to ride LNJ Foxwoods’ Lighthouse in the Music City, the Italian-born jockey’s last of two mounts. She made it worth his time, winning the sprint stakes by 1 1/2 lengths over Miss J McKay.

Kueber Racing’s Emro showed her versatility to come from off the pace to win the Untapable after taking her debut on the lead.

Augustin Stable's Theodora B. held off a late charge by favored Mrs. Sippy to win the TVG Stakes by three-quarters of length while never seriously challenged over a course rated good. Read more on all three stakes

Tyler Gaffalione concluded his first Kentucky Downs riding title with a flourish, capturing the $500,000 Grade 3 Franklin-Simpson aboard Guildsman. Gaffalione joined five-time meet training leader Mike Maker and Three Diamonds Farm, winning its first owners title at the track. Read more

After starting out in England and Europe, Qatar Racing's 9-1 Guildsman found Kentucky Downs' undulating course and the Franklin-Simpson's 6 1/2-furlong distance to his liking in a narrow victory over Island Commish (21-1) and Souper Dormy (47-1) "It certainly made Sheikh Fahad a big fan of Kentucky Downs," said Sheikh Fahad's representative Fergus Galvin after Qatar Racing won the stakes for the second year in a row. "He’s already wanting to stock up the stable to point to the meeting next year.” Read more

Not many horses race twice during Kentucky Downs’ compact meets, and it’s a very rare horse that is able to actually win two races. Marc Detampel’s Born Great, however, won a $90,000 maiden race by 1 1/2 lengths on Sept. 9 and a $95,000 allowance race by 5 3/4 lengths a week later on the closing card. The 4-year-old gelding did a great job catching up for lost time. Born Great was making only his second career start when he ran for the first time at Kentucky Downs, having debuted at Churchill Downs in June. Trainer Brendan Walsh also won the final stakes with Guildsman, giving him three wins at the meet. Quipped Walsh: “I’m not just a one-horse trainer!”

Trainer Mike Maker won four races on the Sept. 12 showcase card, though to his disappointment none came in stakes. It was a great payday all the same as Maker won four straight: with Glynn County and Golden Voice in $90,000 maiden races and Bourbon in May and Tide of the Sea in $95,000 allowance races. All but Bourbon in May are campaigned by meet-leading owner Three Diamonds Farm. Maker sent out 13 starters overall on the card, including losing a maiden race by a nose with future Laurel Futurity winner Catman and finishing third with Zulu Alpha in defense of his 2019 victory in the $1 million Calumet Farm Kentucky Turf Cup.

Andy Muhlada calls himself a “weekend warrior” when it comes to horse-racing handicapping tournaments, working in contest play around his full-time job in Cincinnati. But the 53-year-old from Lawrenceburg, Ind., proved a weekday wonder when it came to the inaugural Kentucky Downs Turf Handicapping Challenge presented by Daily Racing Form on Sept. 15 and 16.

Muhlada, a self-employed manufacturers’ rep working with architects in high-end construction, earned the track’s title of National Turf Handicapping Champion with a final combined bankroll of $9,211 for the two, separate live-money tournaments. That included the $7,354 Muhlada finished with to top the Sept. 16 competition. Muhlada’s two-day score comfortably beat out runner-up Robert Swickard, a retired firefighter from Commerce Township, Mich., who accrued $7,965.60, including winning Tuesday’s tournament. Read more

With the Breeders' Cup just weeks away at Keeneland, Kentucky Downs stakes program produced its latest Grade 1 winners as Ivar, third in the $750,000 Tourist Mile in his prior start, captured Keeneland's $750,000 Shadwell Turf Mile and Harvey's Lil Goil turned the tables on Micheline to take Keeneland's $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup a week later. Micheline had nipped Harvey's Lil Goil in Kentucky Downs' $500,000 Exacta Systems Dueling Grounds Oaks.

“I think you’re just going to see better and better quality horses run there and come out of those races and do some big things,” said jockey Joe Talamo, who this year rode at Kentucky Downs for the first time and picked up the mount on Ivar. “I imagine quite a few more of those races are going to be graded or upgraded in a short period of time. Not only are the purses so big, but that’s drawing really high-quality horses that are eventually going to win Grade 1 and Grade 2 races.”

Others who went from Kentucky Downs to stakes victory in October: Got Stormy (G3 Buffalo Trace Franklin County), Bodenheimer ($150,000 Indian Summer), Blame Debbie (G3 Rood and Riddle Dowager), Stunning Sky (G3 Pin Oak Valley View) and Calumet Farm Kentucky Turf Cup runner-up Red Knight (G3 Sycamore), all at Keeneland; Plum Ali (G2 Miss Grillo) and Royal Approval (G3 Matron) at Belmont; Catman ($150,000 Laurel Futurity), Fluffy Socks ($150,000 Selima) and Evil Lyn ($100,000 Hilltop) at Pimlico. Read more

We didn’t get the Breeders’ Cup wins that we were hoping to land, but Kentucky Downs-raced horses who ran in the Breeders’ Cup World Championships Nov. 6-7 at Keeneland still offered up memorable performances:

The Steve Asmussen-trained Cowan, third in the $500,000 Bal a Bali Juvenile Turf Sprint, nearly pulled off the upset in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint, his late rally falling three-quarters of a length shy of favored Golden Pal. The winner is trained by Wesley Ward, Kentucky Downs’ No. 2 all-time win leader. BC race chart

Ward had to settle for third in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf as his Bal a Bali Juvenile Turf Sprint winner Outadore weakened late while stretching out to a mile. The winner, Fire At Will, is trained by Kentucky Downs’ all-time win leader Mike Maker. Outadore was nipped late for second by Irish invader and race favorite Battleground. BC race chart

An injury kept $400,000 Untapable Stakes winner Emro out of the $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf won by her stablemate Aunt Pearl, with both horses trained by Kentucky Downs regular Brad Cox.

Off at 20-1, Harvey’s Lil Goil came flying late in the $2 million Maker’s Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf but finished a neck shy of running down France’s victorious Audarya. The 3-year-old Harvey’s Lil Goil came in third, losing second on a head bob with favored Rushing Fall. The big performance validated Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott’s decision to take on older fillies and mares in the Breeders’ Cup off of two hard-fought races in a relatively short period of time: Harvey’s Lil Goil’s second in the $500,000 Exacta Systems Dueling Grounds Oaks and then victory in Keeneland’s Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth Challenge Cup. BC race chart

There was no beating Aidan O’Brien in the $2 million FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile on turf as the Irish kingpin finished 1-2-3. But Keeneland’s Grade 1 Shadwell Turf Mile winner Ivar, third in Kentucky Downs’ Tourist Mile, had the best finish of everyone else. The Paulo Lobo-trained Brazilian-bred Ivar checked in fourth in the Breeders’ Cup while beaten by a total of only two lengths. BC race chart

Wet Your Whistle, seventh in the 2019 RUNHAPPY Turf Sprint, rallied from last of 14 (still six lengths back at the eighth pole) but came up a half-length shy of Britain’s Grass Slipper to take second in the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. Finishing another half-length back in third was Leinster, third in the 2019 RUNHAPPY Turf Sprint won by stablemate Totally Boss. Got Stormy, the Grade 3 Real Solution Ladies Sprint winner, finished fifth against the boys in the Breeders’ Cup race. BC race chart

The Brad Cox-trained Arklow, owned by Donegal Racing, Joe Bulger and the Estate of Peter Coneway, shipped out to California to take Del Mar's Grade 2 Hollywood Turf Cup 20 days after the two-time Calumet Farm Kentucky Turf Cup winner finished sixth in the Longines Breeders' Cup Turf at Keeneland. Read more

The next day, Head of Plains Partners' 2-year-old filly Fluffy Socks won Del Mar's Grade 3 Jimmy Durante. Fluffy Socks' maiden victory at Kentucky Downs was the first for trainer Chad Brown at the track.

Winchell Thoroughbreds' 3-year-old Finite regained her winning ways in her fourth start after a 5 1/2-month layoff, prevailing in Churchill Downs' Grade 3 Chilukki on Nov. 21 in her first start taking on older fillies and mares. Read more

The project involved nearly half of the 1 5/16-mile kidney-shaped course. A swath five-eighths of a mile long and 63-feet wide around the spacious far turn and into the stretch was replaced with sod featuring a blend of 90 percent Kentucky 31 fescue and 10 percent Kentucky bluegrass. The project was overseen by track consultant Butch Lehr, whose 30 years as track superintendent at Churchill Downs included building the Louisville track’s turf course in 1985. Iron Bridge Sod Farms of nearby Bowling Green provided and installed the sod for the Kentucky Downs course.

“Safety is the No. 1 priority,” said Ted Nicholson, Kentucky Downs’ Vice President for Racing. “With Kentucky Downs now having six race dates compressed into eight calendar days, we want to ensure we have a course that is of high quality and safe for horses and riders throughout the meet. We’re thrilled with how it’s turned out.” Read more

The American Graded Stakes Committee, which applies a rating system to determine which stakes races are the best in the country, took a decidedly hard line on elevating races for 2021. But Kentucky Downs matched Saratoga as the the only tracks to receive three upgrades, with the $1 million Calumet Farm Kentucky Turf Cup and $500,000 Franklin-Simpson among only three stakes promoted from Grade 3 to Grade 2 and the $750,000 Tourist Mile one of only four to go from non-graded to Grade 3 for the 2021 season.

"We can’t thank our horse owners and trainers enough for their support, with a special shout-out to the two horses who have won the Calumet Farm’s past three runnings: Donegal Racing’s two-time winner Arklow and Michael Hui’s Zulu Alpha," said Ted Nicholson, Kentucky Downs' Vice President for Racing. "Both went on to become Grade 1 winners and are outstanding advertisements for our race. Both horses are being pointed for a fourth appearance in 2021, and we are beyond thrilled that they will now will be able to run in the Calumet Farm as a Grade 2 stakes.” Read more

A month after the Breeders' Cup, Gulfstream again was host to the Claiming Crown, created as a championship-style event for the blue-collar claiming horses that fill out so many cards across America. Kentucky Downs is proud to stage several Claiming Crown qualifiers as launching pads carrying $100,000 purses for horses who have raced for $25,000 or less. One was won by Jakarta, campaigned by 2020 leading owner Three Diamonds Farm and trained by 2020 meet-leader Mike Maker. The 5-year-old mare went on to take the Claiming Crown Distaff Dash under Luis Saez as one of the heaviest favorites on the card.

At the other end of the betting spectrum was GenStar Thoroughbreds' High Noon Rider, who was second and third racing twice in $10,000 starter races at Kentucky Downs' short meet. Off at 55-1, the Saffie Joseph-trained High Noon Rider out-finished dead-heat runners-up Temple and Muggsamatic to win the Claiming Crown Emerald by a half-length, paying $113. Temple had finished sixth in in Kentucky Downs' Tapit Stakes, while Muggsamatic was third in the Claiming Crown prep. With Artie's Rumor (second by a nose in a $40,000 claiming race at Kentucky Downs) finishing fourth, the Emerald's #KyDownsGrad superfecta paid $839 and $787 (because of the dead-heat) for 10 cents. Maker trainsTemple, Muggsamatic and Artie's Rumor.

Located near the Kentucky and Tennessee border, just off Interstate 65 and approximately 35 miles from Nashville, Tenn., Kentucky Downs features Historical Horse Racing gaming terminals and conducts live turf racing each September on America’s only “European-style” race course while offering among the highest purses in the world. Kentucky Downs is a pioneer in modern Historical Horse Racing, the electronic form of pari-mutuel betting on horses that has become one of the great financial success stories in the sport’s history. Racing has been conducted at the facility since 1990, when it was called Dueling Grounds.

Address: 5629 Nashville Road, P.O. Box 405, Franklin, KY 42135

Website: www.KentuckyDowns.com

Phone: 270.586.7778

2021 racing dates: Sept. 5, 6, 8, 9, 11 and 12