The fields have been set for Saturday’s FanDuel TV U.S. Open Turf Championships: six graded stakes at Kentucky Downs worth up to $2 million each. Kentucky Downs is near Franklin, Ky.
Among the entries taken Monday for Saturday’s card are horses seeking repeats of their 2023 Kentucky Downs victories: Get Smokin (G2 FanDuel TV Kentucky Turf Cup), Gear Jockey (G2 Ainsworth Turf Sprint, a race he also won in 2022), British-based Ancient Rome (G3 Mint Millions) and Vergara (G3 Light & Wonder Ladies Marathon). Anglophile, winner of last year’s Dueling Grounds Derby (now the DK Horse Nashville Derby) returns in the Kentucky Turf Cup as well.
The other two stakes, both for 3-year-olds, each attracted the winner of one of last year’s stakes for 2-year-olds: Vote No (G1 Aristocrat Franklin-Simpson) and Crown Imperial (G2 AGS Music City).
The influx of Europeans continues, headed by Irish icon Aidan O’Brien bringing in Greenfinch (Ladies Marathon), Mountain Bear (Mint Millions) and Chief Little Rock (Kentucky turf Cup). Charlie Hills, trainer of Ancient Rome, also is sending Khaadem, winner the past two years of Royal Ascot’s Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee.
Kentucky-breds will compete for the full $2 million; others for a $1 million purse.
To show how popular the Kentucky Downs stakes have become, 32 three-year-old fillies were entered in the Music City at 6 1/2 furlongs. Only 12 can run.
The FanDuel TV U.S. Open Turf Championships card offers a total of $13 million, including purse enhancements for Kentucky-breds. That gives the day the potential to pay out the most purses in North America for one day behind only Breeders’ Cup Championship Saturday.
The winners of the 1 1/2-mile Kentucky Turf Cup and six-furlong Turf Sprint receive a fees-paid berth in the corresponding Breeders’ Cup race on Nov. 2 at Del Mar. In addition, Kentucky Downs will pay the entry fees for winners of the Mint Millions, Franklin-Simpson and Ladies Marathon if they make the corresponding Breeders’ Cup field.
Located near the Kentucky and Tennessee border, just off Interstate 65 and about about 26 miles south of Bowling Green, 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.
