Venue thoughts for September 12

JolyB · #1 09-08-2020, 08:04 PM

I suspect that many of us are somewhat weary from last Saturday's activities, especially our scorers. I'm thinking of trying a bit of a change of pace by taking us to what I think is the 5th best known track in the state of Kentucky, namely Kentucky Downs in Franklin, KY. I think we visited last year also.

Every race will be on the turf, and an aerial view of the track looks a bit like someone's farm, with gentle rolling hills and a track that would fit perfectly in Europe. The revenue from the casino allows very generous purses, with maiden races offering $90,000. The feature on Saturday will be the $1,000,000 Kentucky Turf Cup and reads like a who's who of leading jockeys and trainers in the Eastern US.

Entries were released today, and I plan to consider all options before posting the final schedule tomorrow evening. Just wanted to provide a heads up of my probable choice.

Real Quiet · #2 09-09-2020, 07:32 AM

The only other venue I would consider is Woodbine with the Queens Plate but I like KD too.

DonGuido · #3 09-09-2020, 11:04 AM

Ga'luk to all. I'm taking a long nappy from horse racing. See ya all around Breeders Cup time. I'll be here but not in the gate.

cal828 · #4 09-09-2020, 11:28 AM

Not sure what the Queen's Plate will look like this year as I've not seen PPs, but it might be a nice add on, if you're of a mind to do that, if not Kentucky Downs always an interesting place to play in itself.

cal828 · #5 09-09-2020, 11:59 AM

Anyone playing in the Beat Byk finale? If so, we will likely be doing a mind crushing number of races before the coming weekend.

RUFFIAN · #6 09-09-2020, 01:11 PM

Actually in my own Forum Contest {Midweek Mayhem} today

We are playing Kentucky downs all turf day card

I like KD for Saturday + adding the Queen’s Plate Bonus 👌
.... if it’s a good size field with Quality contenders

JolyB · #7 09-09-2020, 08:03 PM

Thank you all for your thoughts and suggestions. I'm sure that the Queen's Plate is going to be an interesting race, but my goal for this Saturday is to give everyone [especially our scorers] a somewhat lighter work load after a very busy Derby Day.

Accordingly, we're just going to play races 3 through 11 at Kentucky Downs, which includes 5 stakes at the back end of the card, especially the Kentucky Turf Cup.

Please keep in mind that Franklin, Kentucky is located in the Central time zone. Post time for race 3 will be 1:19 PM.

JolyB · #8 09-10-2020, 10:30 AM

I was delighted to see that Wesley Ward has entered Fauci in the Juvenile Turf Sprint. Was also pleasantly surprised to see Red Knight, a New York bred that I've been closely following for the last couple of years, entered in the Turf Cup. While he hasn't run for over 6 months, the distance should suit him perfectly. Unfortunately for his connections at Trinity Farm, he is running against a couple of very tough customers in Zulu Alpha and Arklow.

RUFFIAN · #9 09-10-2020, 02:36 PM

I was just wondering why the big Million Dollar Race = Turf Cup
is not the last race on the card ..... but the sprint is?

JolyB · #10 09-10-2020, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RUFFIAN-333

I was just wondering why the big Million Dollar Race = Turf Cup
is not the last race on the card ..... but the sprint is?

No need to be confused. The answer varies.

Doesn't that generally depend upon the preferences of the track's Racing Secretary? He is the one who writes the condition book, takes the entries, and then assembles the card. It has been my experience that on many occasions the feature race is not the final one on the card, but the next to last one. That allows a lower quality race as the "getaway" race, perhaps harkening back to when people actually went to the races, and trying to ease the traffic flow at the end of the race day. Much of the need for that has changed, for better or worse, with the advent of simulcasting. Another possible reason for this is the desire to maximize the handle on wagers like the late pick 4, 5 and the pick 6. So many stakes races have smallish fields, and the track management would much rather have such wagers end with a race with a very full field in which the outcome is unpredictable - that leads to larger pick something tickets. So, the final race might be a maiden claimer or the like.

A major exception to that generality exists when TV coverage is involved. When that happens, it is usually the TV network that calls the shots and tells the host track when their races need to be run. That probably explains why you have expected the finale to be the feature [as it was in the Travers or on Derby Day].