No turf racing during meeting

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – There will be no turf racing, which makes filling races more difficult, but the folks at Churchill Downs believe they’ll make it through the September meet just fine.

Churchill will not conduct racing on the turf during the 14-day meet, which starts Thursday, owing to continuing problems with a course that has been problematic since it first came into use in April. The $10 million Bermuda-hybrid course has not yet matured to anyone’s full satisfaction.

There was no turf racing last fall at Churchill while the course was being built.

“The situation certainly is not ideal,” said longtime Churchill racing secretary Ben Huffman, “but we got through September and November last year pretty well, all things considered. But this is the way we need to go, to allow the grass to grow and mature until we’ve got it the way it needs to be.”

The September meet gets under way with an eight-race card starting at 5 p.m. Eastern, meaning the last few races will be run under the lighting system first used in 2009. Sunny weather and a daytime high of 85 are in the Thursday forecast.

Churchill traditionally has run 11 or 12 days at this meet since taking over the dates from Turfway Park in 2013, but with the Kentucky racing circuit going full throttle these days with record-level purses, track officials felt comfortable adding a couple of nine-race Wednesday cards (Sept. 21 and 28) to the meet, which will run through Oct. 2.

“I feel very fortunate that our purse structure is as good as it is,” Huffman said. “It certainly helps attract horses you might not otherwise get. Entries for opening day were strong, but I suppose we will have a slow day here and there because we do have quite a few turf horses in our barn area that’ll be waiting to run at Keeneland,” which starts its fall meet Oct. 7.

Field-size averages during recent September meets at Churchill include 9.26 in 2019 and 7.86 in 2020 (both with turf); the averages during the 2021 meets (without turf) were 8.08 (September) and 7.79 (fall meet). The 2022 spring meet, which ran through July 4, had an average field size of 7.95, with turf racing suspended as of June 10.

Tyler Gaffalione, who dominated the 42-day spring meet winning 62 races, surely is a big favorite to lead the jockey standings at this meet, while the trainers’ race might well come down again to Steve Asmussen and Brad Cox, who were separated by just two wins (25-23) in the spring.

Opening-day entries were released late Monday. A stakes schedule of 11 races gets under way Saturday with the Grade 3 Iroquois and Grade 3 Pocahontas, twin 2-year-old events, topping a busy card that also will include the Grade 3 Locust Grove for fillies and mares as well as the Open Mind and the Louisville Thoroughbred Society, both sprints.

A firm decision regarding turf racing at the fall meet has yet to be made. The popular Claiming Crown series, which includes three turf races and will be held at Churchill for the first time, is set for Nov. 12, while four other turf stakes are tentatively scheduled for the meet, which runs Oct. 30 to Nov. 27.

Agent survives a shooting

Jockey agent Tim Hanisch escaped serious injury early Monday when he was shot in a Louisville parking lot.

Hanisch, 37, said it was before dawn when he had just walked out of the Clifton-area townhouse where he lives when he happened upon two men attempting to break into cars in the parking lot. One of the men shot Hanisch, with the bullet going in and out of his left side, just inches from his heart. Hanisch was treated and released after several hours in the hospital.

“There was a lot of blood,” he said. “It chewed up a bunch of stuff, but I didn’t need surgery or a blood transfusion and I’m going to be okay. A few inches over, and it would’ve been real bad.”

The perpetrator had not been apprehended by police as of midday Monday.

Hanisch, a graduate of Iowa State University, has worked mostly in Chicago, New Orleans, and Louisville for much of his nine years as an agent for Mitch Murrill and other riders, with Alex Achard being a new client.

Palmisano climbs the ladder

Gary Palmisano Jr. has been promoted to executive director of racing at Churchill Downs Inc., it was announced Monday. Palmisano, 34, has risen through the company ranks since working as a marketing intern in 2007. He replaces Hunter Rankin, who resigned the position over the summer.

Palmisano’s father died in December after a lengthy career as a trainer and racing official in the family’s native New Orleans. One of the 12 new stakes at the 2022-23 Fair Grounds meet is the Gary P. Palmisano Memorial Stakes on Jan. 7.

◗ Fans leaving the track Friday should be aware that the University of Louisville will be hosting Florida State in a college football game (7:30 p.m. kickoff) at nearby Cardinal Stadium.