Kentucky Derby Challenge Stakes created for overseas Derby hopefuls

Kentucky Derby Challenge Stakes created for overseas Derby

hopefuls

Kentucky Derby Challenge Stakes (Courtesy of Churchill Downs) Churchill Downs and Great Britain's Kempton Park Racecourse have announced a partnership to create a race for three-year-olds that will provide a clear path for the winner to a starting spot in the field for the 2009 running of the $2 million Kentucky Derby (G1). The $150,000 Kentucky Derby Challenge S. ("KDCS") is a 1 1/8-mile race that will be run clockwise over Kempton's Polytrack course on March 18, 2009. In addition to earning a guaranteed spot in the starting gate for the 135th running of the Kentucky Derby on May 2, the KDCS winner will also receive a $100,000 bonus if the horse competes in the Kentucky Derby. The Kentucky Derby Challenge S. is designed to encourage international participation in America's greatest race. There has not been an international competitor in the race since 2002, when there were three. Those horses included the Aidan O'Brien-trained Johannesburg (eighth) and Castle Gandolfo (12th) as well as Essence of Dubai (ninth), who competed for Dubai-based Godolphin.

Canonero II, based in Venezuela, shipped to Churchill Downs to score an upset

win in the Kentucky Derby in 1971 and remains the only horse based outside of

North America to win the race.

"The Kentucky Derby is naturally a compelling and exciting event, but the

presence of international contenders always adds to the anticipation and

intrigue surrounding America's greatest race," said Steve Sexton, president of

Churchill Downs and executive vice president of Churchill Downs Inc. "It has

been wonderful to work with Kempton Park and officials of its owning body,

Britain's Jockey Club Racecourses, in this innovative effort to encourage the

presence of an international competitor in the starting gate at Churchill Downs

on the first Saturday in May. A consistent international presence in the Derby

will strengthen worldwide interest in our race and, in the long term, boost

demand for the event as we work to expand distribution of Kentucky Derby

wagering opportunities into new international markets."

Churchill Downs will provide $90,000 of the purse while Kempton will

contribute $60,000. The $100,000 bonus, if awarded, will be provided by

Churchill Downs. The owner of the KDCS winner will still be responsible for all

fees associated with the race, along with shipping costs. The Triple Crown

nomination fee makes the horse eligible for all of the American classics: the

Kentucky Derby, the $1 million Preakness (G1) at Pimlico Race Course and the $1

million Belmont S. (G1) at Belmont Park.

The race will provide an additional incentive to owners and trainers who in

the past may have been hesitant to point toward the Kentucky Derby because of

uncertainty over whether their horse would have sufficient graded stakes

earnings to qualify for the field. European contenders, in particular, have been

at a disadvantage because their racing season generally gets underway later than

the North American schedule and offers few graded stakes opportunities early in

the year.

"The Kentucky Derby Challenge S. at Kempton is a great initiative created by

both Churchill Downs and Kempton Park," said Dermot Weld, who saddled

Irish-based Go and Go (Ire) to win the Belmont in 1990. "If I were to have the

right horse for the job, I would most definitely target the Kentucky Derby

Challenge S. at Kempton as a qualifying race ahead of the 'Run for the Roses.'"

"I think the Kentucky Derby Challenge S. is a great idea and hopefully we

will have runners in it," said Aidan O'Brien, the Irish-based trainer who has

saddled 20 Group 1 stakes winners in Europe thus far in 2008. O'Brien's success

in the United States includes three victories in the Breeders' Cup.

"There has long been significant international interest in participating in

the Kentucky Derby, but the current system that successfully uses earnings in

graded stakes races to determine eligibility to compete has discouraged some

international stables from pointing toward our race," Sexton said. "The unique

structure of the Kentucky Derby Challenge S. purse will provide the winning

owner and trainer with an opportunity to focus on a Derby bid well in advance of

the race.

"We've been gratified by the positive response to the concept from major

trainers overseas, and hope the interest generated by a regular international

presence in the Kentucky Derby will encourage other owners and trainers to look

more seriously at a trip to Churchill Downs for horses displaying the potential

to be serious candidates for the Derby and the Triple Crown races."

The Kentucky Derby Challenge S. will be run under lights at Kempton Park. The

race is an enhancement of a conditions race that was won this year by

Campanologist (Kingmambo), who has since won the King Edward VII S. (Eng-G2) at

Royal Ascot and finished second in the recent York S. (Eng-G2) at York.