Where the 76 KY Downs winners last raced

Fun facts about Kentucky Downs’ meet, compiled by Dick Downey (photo above by Grace Clark-Sweet/Kentucky Downs)

Kentucky Downs continued a trend of last-race venues Ellis Park and Saratoga producing large numbers of winners, with overseas tracks and Kentucky Downs itself making inroads.

Horses that last raced at Ellis Park won 23 of 76 races, with Saratoga producing 22 winners. Ellis was down from last year’s total of 29 and Saratoga was up from 19 in 2023. Altogether, the 45 combined horses represented 59 percent of this year’s winners.

European shippers were well-represented with three victories, headlined by Bellum Justum (IRE), who won North America’s richest turf race outside the Breeders’ Cup: the $3.1 million, Grade 3 DK Horse Nashville Derby Invitational, off a race at Goodwood in Great Britain. Even without sharing in the $1.2 million Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund portion of the purse, Bellum Justum earned $1,054,310. Other winners came in from racing at Leopardstown in Ireland (allowance winner Special Wan (IRE)) and Lingfield in Great Britain (allowance winner Queen Regent (GB)). 

Several European shippers made an impact in stakes races: Khaadem (IRE) (last raced at Deauville) was second in the Grade 2 Ainsworth Turf Sprint Stakes; Three Priests (JPN) (Pontefract Racecourse) and Greenfinch (Killarney) were third and fourth, respectively, in the Grade 3 Light & Wonder Ladies Marathon Stakes; Evade (FR) (Chester) ran a close fourth in the Grade 1 Aristocrat Franklin-Simpson Stakes; and Black Forza (Goodwood) ran well after a slow start to finish fourth in the National Thoroughbred League Juvenile Sprint Stakes.

There were four winners that last raced right here at Kentucky Downs during a meet spread over only 14 days. Colonial Downs produced five last-race winners. There was one victorious runner from each of 13 other locations in Canada and tracks coast to coast: Churchill Downs, Del Mar, Delaware Park, Gulfstream Park, Indiana Grand, Keeneland, Lone Star Park, Monmouth Park, Oaklawn Park, Santa Anita, Tampa Bay Downs, Turfway Park and Woodbine. 

Favorites at the 2024 Kentucky Downs meet won at virtually the national average with 25 of 76, or 32.89 percent, hitting the finish line first. Thirteen favorites finished second and seven came in third, pushing the overall totals to 45 of 76 favorites — 59 percent — hitting the board.

Six odds-on favorites competed, with three of them victorious. 

Double-digit odds winners were led by Dunedin, who on the final day of the meet lit up the tote board at 45-1 odds. From 76 races there were 11 winners at odds of 10-1 or greater. Opening day was a wild one with four winners from 11 races at double-digit odds, topped by Bedazzle ’Em at 20-1.

Spreading the wealth

Horsemen and jockeys truly came from all over, and in vast numbers, at the recently completed Kentucky Downs meet. Here are some stats gleaned from Equibase:

Trainers: An even 100 trainers ran at least once at the meet. Of those, 45 won at least one race, 11 accrued purse earnings of at least $1 million and 52 had purse earnings of at least $100,000.

Jockeys: Eighty jockeys participated at the meet, with 26 winning at least once. Ten had mount earnings exceeding $1 million and 34 has their mounts run out more than $100,000.

Owners: Ninety-nine unique ownership entities ran at least one horse at the meet, with 67 winning at least once. Six ownership entities earned more than $1 million, while 73 earned more than $100,000. Some owners did even better because of being involved with various partnership combinations and they may have run horses as an individual and in partnerships.

Doubling up: A total of 13 horses ran twice at the meet, led by Goliad (winner of the NTL overnight handicap and Mint Millions six days later for a total of $1,482,800 in purses) and Tiztastic (winner of Keeneland sales allowance and Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile for $738,300 in purses).

— Jennie Rees, Ky HBPA