Night program launches meet

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The weeklong ritual that draws the attention of racing fans throughout the world will get off to another rocking start Saturday night when Churchill Downs opens Kentucky Derby week and its 38-day spring meet with an 11-race Downs After Dark card.

Heavy favorites in a pair of ungraded six-furlong stakes will be featured on a program that starts at 6 p.m. Eastern. Finley’s lucky charm will bring her Grade 1 form to the $65,000 Roxelana (race 4), while the talented Syndergaard will hone his fastball for more demanding future engagements in the $100,000 William Walker (race 9).

Thunderstorms and high temperatures in the mid-80s are in the Saturday forecast, although it remains to be seen whether those conditions will prevail as the evening wears on. Regardless, the locals will be out in force to celebrate their favorite week of the year. Opening night under the Churchill lights has evolved into a rite of spring for thousands of locals, with attendance having averaged 25,000 since the first one in 2011.

As always, anticipation will be high with the Kentucky Oaks and Derby just around the corner. Those Grade 1 classics are the cornerstones of a twoday weekend next Friday and Saturday that will include 13 stakes, all of them graded.

Both races are shaping up as wide-open affairs, with Paradise Woods, Miss Sky Warrior, and Farrell among the top choices for the Oaks, and Classic Empire, Always Dreaming, and McCraken expected to be the Derby favorites.

Three other Grade 1 events will be run Derby weekend: the La Troienne (Friday), Humana Distaff (Saturday), and Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (Saturday).

The longer post-Derby segment of the meet will peak the Saturday after the Triple Crown is concluded when the Grade 1 Stephen Foster anchors a five-stakes Downs After Dark card on June 17. Those other stakes are the Fleur de Lis, Wise Dan, Matt Winn, and Regret.

For the first time, two Grade 3 stakes traditionally held at Churchill’s sister track, Arlington Park, will be run here this spring. They are the Arlington Matron on May 20 and the Chicago Handicap on June 24. The shift was made as Arlington officials continue to battle a purse shortage caused primarily by slumping business.

Opening night will mark the 41st Downs After Dark card at Churchill, where lights were first used on June 19, 2009. Attendance for the previous 40 averaged 21,283, with all-sources handle averaging $5,770,368, according to Churchill figures.

This meet opens with yet another major renovation to the Churchill plant, as a $16 million upgrade to the second-floor clubhouse just inside of Gate 17 awaits racegoers. Churchill has spent some $210 million on capital projects since a massive overhaul of the grandstand and clubhouse was completed in 2005.

After a five-day week that begins Tuesday and ends Saturday night, Churchill will go dark Sunday and Monday. Following the Derby, a fourday week (Thursdays through Sundays) will be the norm through closing night, June 30, with daily post time of 12:45 p.m. in effect for most cards other than Thursdays (5 p.m.). First post for both Oaks and Derby Days is 10:30 a.m.

◗ General admission prices have been raised again this year for Churchill’s premier events, with Oaks admission set at $60 and Derby admission at $80. A $5 savings is available if admission is purchased before race day.

New filly for Racing Club

Buoyed by its successes of the past year, officials with Churchill Downs Inc. have announced the formation of another ownership group open to the public.

For a one-time fee of $500, new members can buy into a 2-yearold to be trained by Dallas Stewart. A Gio Ponti filly, the 2-yearold was recently purchased for $52,000 at an Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. auction. The Churchill Downs Racing Club will sell 200 shares in the filly, as has been done with other partnerships since the concept was implemented last spring.

The Racing Club already has partnerships in three 3-yearolds, all of whom had purchase prices in the $50,000 to $60,000 range. They are:

◗ Warrior’s Club, an earner of $214,424 from 11 starts for trainer D. Wayne Lukas. He runs next in the Grade 3 Pat Day Mile on Kentucky Derby Day.

◗ Dial Me, an earner of $52,257 from 10 starts for Lukas, runs next in a first-level allowance on Kentucky Oaks Day.

◗ Excitations, a winner of $80,730 from four starts for trainer Al Stall Jr., will make his stakes debut in the Pat Day Mile. He is owned by the Fair Grounds Racing Club, a 200-member partnership based at the Churchill-owned track in New Orleans.

The Warrior’s Club group recently reinvested some of its earnings in a 2-year-old by Awesome Again purchased privately by Lukas, said Gary Palmisano, a Churchill employee who is helping to manage all the partnerships.

“Our success has allowed us to further expand,” said Palmisano. “Our members are having such a great time with this.”

Churchill is billing membership as “a low-cost, low-risk glimpse into the life of Thoroughbred ownership.” There are no costs beyond the original $500 dues.

Interested parties in the Gio Ponti filly can register online at ChurchillDowns.com/RacingClub.