Turfway drops four stakes from fall schedule

Turfway Park's 2009 fall meet stakes schedule will comprise four graded

events, three to be run as the Kentucky Cup Day of Champions on September 26 and

the remaining stakes, the Turfway Park Fall Championship (G3), to be run

September 12.

The Kentucky Cup Classic (G2), the Kentucky Cup Distaff (G3) and the Kentucky

Cup Sprint (G3) remain on the schedule, defining the 16th running of the

Kentucky Cup series. 

The Kentucky Cup Distaff and Kentucky Cup Sprint retain their $100,000

purses. The Kentucky Cup Classic drops from $350,000 to $200,000, with Kentucky

Thoroughbred Development Fund supplementation reduced from $150,000 to $50,000.

The Fall Championship is again a "Win and You're In" qualifying race for the

November 7 Breeders' Cup Marathon at Santa Anita Park. The Fall Championship

retains its $100,000 purse.

Dropped from Kentucky Cup Day this year are the Kentucky Cup Juvenile

(listed), which lost its Grade 3 ranking after last year's running, and the

Kentucky Cup Juvenile Fillies (listed).  Both offered $100,000 purses.

The track also has not scheduled the Weekend Delight S., first run in 1989,

or the Marfa S., first run in 1986. Both carried $75,000 purses, each augmented

by $15,000 from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund.

"The cuts allow us to redirect funds to daily purses," Turfway Park President

Robert N. Elliston said. "We considered different configurations; this option

lets us retain our graded races and keep Kentucky Cup Day relatively intact. 

"It is difficult to set aside decades of tradition, but the cuts were

inevitable given our inability to match the purses offered by surrounding states

that support their racing industries with gaming revenue. If the Kentucky

legislature allows us to level the playing field, we hope to return these races

to our schedule."

The oldest race on the schedule, the Juvenile Fillies, was formerly the

Clipsetta S., which ran at the original Latonia Race Course in what is now

Covington, Kentucky, from that track's opening day in 1883 until 1937. The

Clipsetta was revived on August 27, 1959, opening day at Turfway Park, then also

named Latonia. It was added to the regular Latonia/Turfway schedule in 1964 and

has been run without interruption since then until this year. 

The Kentucky Cup Juvenile, formerly the In Memoriam S. and then the Alysheba

S., was first run in 1986, the year the track was renamed Turfway Park. 

Both the Juvenile and the Juvenile Fillies were renamed and included in

Kentucky Cup Day when that series was inaugurated in 1994.

Turfway's fall meet begins September 9 and marks the track's 50th

anniversary.