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.
Categories: Kentucky, General