Kentucky Downs will offer record purses again in 2022, including $10.7 million applied to 17 stakes races, when the track opens for racing in early September. New to the schedule is the $400,000 Gun Runner Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile on closing day, Sept. 14.
Additionally, the track announced that Kentucky-bred horses will compete in the richest maiden races in the world during the seven-date meet. Maiden races will be contested for $150,000 and allowance races will climb above that threshold, with second-level runners competing for $170,000 if bred in Kentucky.
Starters finishing sixth through last in Kentucky Downs' non-stakes races will receive $1,000 each in acknowledgment of owners' costs associated with running horses.
Fueled by historical horse racing gaming, purses have skyrocketed at Kentucky Downs over the past decade.
Picking up an extra date over 2021, Kentucky Downs' all-grass meet runs Sept. 1, 3, 4, 8, 10, 11, and 14 over the undulating, 1 5/16-mile kidney-shaped course.
In response to high demand and races that often overfill, Kentucky Downs is adding more maiden races for the 2022 meet. The condition book, which spells out the races for which entries will be taken for each race day, includes 26 maiden races (15 for 2-year-olds). That's up from the 16 maiden races staged last year, when the track averaged almost 11 starters per race.
"Given the immense popularity of our maiden races and with an extra day, we've expanded the opportunities to compete for the most lucrative purses in the world," said Ted Nicholson, Kentucky Downs' vice president for racing. "Winning a Kentucky Downs maiden race is like hitting a home run to start a ballgame. There's nothing better than having runs on the board right away. In some instances, an owner can be out on a horse very early on."
The meet features a trio of $1 million races, with the 1 1/2-mile, Kentucky Turf Cup (G2T) and the six-furlong, FanDuel Turf Sprint (G2T) part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series. The first-place finishers in those "Win and You're In" races gain a fees-paid entry into the corresponding Breeders' Cup race Nov. 5 at Keeneland.
The WinStar Mint Million (G3T) Sept. 3 will be worth $1 million for the second year.
Each of the $1 million stakes' purses includes $450,000 in Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund supplements.
The newly graded $750,000 Big Ass Fans Dueling Grounds Derby (G3T) Sept. 4 and the $550,000 AGS Kentucky Downs Ladies Marathon (G3T) Sept. 11, both awarded graded status for 2022, are among eight graded stakes at the track.
| Kentucky Downs Stakes Schedule | ||||||
| Date | Purse | Race | Grade | Conditions | Distance | Surface |
| 1-Sep | $400,000 | Tapit* | 3YO+ | 1M 70Y | Turf | |
| 3-Sep | $500,000 | Juvenile Fillies | 2YOF | 1M | Turf | |
| 3-Sep | $500,000 | Juvenile Mile | 2YO | 1M | Turf | |
| 3-Sep | $1,000,000 | Million | 3 | 3YO+ | 1M | Turf |
| 4-Sep | $750,000 | Dueling Grounds Derby | 3 | 3YO | 1 5/16M | Turf |
| 4-Sep | $500,000 | Dueling Grounds Oaks | 3YOF | 1 5/16M | Turf | |
| 8-Sep | $500,000 | Juvenile Sprint | 2YO | 6 1/2F | Turf | |
| 10-Sep | $1,000,000 | Turf Sprint | 2 | 3YO+ | 6F | Turf |
| 10-Sep | $600,000 | Franklin-Simpson | 2 | 3YO | 6 1/2F | Turf |
| 10-Sep | $1,000,000 | Ladies Turf | 3 | 3YO+ F&M | 1M | Turf |
| 10-Sep | $1,000,000 | Kentucky Downs Turf Cup | 2 | 3YO+ | 1 1/2M | Turf |
| 10-Sep | $600,000 | Ladies Sprint | 3 | 3YO+ F&M | 6 1/2F | Turf |
| 11-Sep | $550,000 | Ladies Marathon | 3 | 3YO+ F&M | 1 5/16M | Turf |
| 11-Sep | $500,000 | Untapable | 2YOF | 6 1/2F | Turf | |
| 11-Sep | $500,000 | Music City | 3YOF | 6 1/2F | Turf | |
| 14-Sep | $400,000 | Gun Runner | 3YO | 1M | Turf | |
| 14-Sep | $400,000 | One Dreamer* | 3YO+ F&M | 1M 70Y | Turf | |
* Restricted to nonwinners of a sweepstakes in 2022
