Churchill to request Wednesday cancellations
 

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Churchill Downs officials intend to ask the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission on Tuesday to allow the track to reduce the racing schedule at its current spring meet from five to four days per week as a result of chronic short fields resulting from an insufficient number of entries.

Churchill will ask the commission at its regularly scheduled meeting in Lexington for permission to cancel Wednesdays from the schedule, leaving a Thursday-through-Sunday race week through the end of the meet, July 5. The change could become effective as early as May 20.
http://drf.com/news/article/103663.html

They were whining about losing one race yet last Sat they ran 13 and they day after the 8 race card, they carded 10.
I think the racing office has some issues. They lost 1/2 a card on Fri and those races should "re-fill" if re-written.

Surely some of the KY horsemen here can shed some light on this issue. If I am wrong and the racing office is not making some errors please explain. Is the horse population down? Are shippers from (say) Ohio and Indiana going elsewhere (Presque Isle? Penn?) and if so, are they looking at overflow cards? Is Arlington opening a problem? They have not changed dates but maybe some of the horsemen want Poly?

I've been following this issue as I 'cap KY most days when CD or KEE are running. I am curious about the souse of the problem.

It's their own fault anyway.All they give a **** about is their twinspires site and getting their slots parlors up and running elsewhere.This will give them something to bitch to Breshear about now.

where are all the horses? cali having short fields...but the horses are out there, oaklawn had big fields all spring. what's going on?

Indiana Downs.

Unless it's a "boutique" meet....They are wherever the slots are. Better purses for cheaper horses.

It's also fallout from their battles with the horsemen and the subsequent purse cuts.

yup... 10-12 in every field

Presque Isle and Delaware

yeah and Presque Isle DownS isnt helping.

I agree with Coach and Vol Jack. The increased purses at those 2 tracks are hard for horsemen to ignore.

The last paragraph of the article is just setting up what we know is coming in July. Ellis has already cut it's meet in half. A total cancellation wouldn't be a shocker. Only 70 horses on the grounds?? It's a ghost town.

Kentucky Downs has even cut 2 dates from their 6 day meet in September. Things aren't looking too good.

6th (7:00)
Girls, Incorporated of Shelbyville, Shelby County S.

5 Furlongs (Turf) | Fillies and Mares | 3 Year Olds And Up Stakes | Purse: $60,000

Post # Horse Jockey Weight Claim Price Equip. Med.
1 Antepova Diego I 117 L
2 Taletobetold Houghton T D 119 L
3 Missing Sefa Goncalves L R 119 L
4 Insure Prescott R 117 L
5 Jazzy (ARG) Goncalves L R 119 L
6 Goldinthepocket Rodriguez F T 117 L
7 Miss A. Bomb Mojica O 119 L
8 Heart Tee Mojica O 119 L
9 Glitzen Glory Thorwarth J O 117 L
10 Mrs Petoski Felix J E 119 L
AE Rinterval (IRE) Castanon J L 117 L

Great example of where they're going- here is a race from Wednesday at Indiana Downs. How many of these horses would normally be running at CD in say a classified allowance for $45-50k? I'd dare say all of them. Jazzy, Miss A Bomb, Taletobetold, Mrs Petoski definitely.

Middle level racing, such as the starter allowance type races, are really struggling to fill at CD (normally a staple of weekday racing there).

However, the impression that lower end purses are actually higher elsewhere is factually incorrect. But I'm thinking the sentiment is they'd rather be 3/1 for $12k than 20-1 for $18k.

State gov has its collective heads in the sand. Horse racing and breeding is a major industry in the state, yet they are willing to see it wither on the vine rather than take any action. The governor wants to get in slots to counter the competition, but the legislature is afraid to offend the preachers out in the counties who condemn casino-style gambling. The legislature has been willing to forgive millions in taxes for Fruit-of-the-Loom to relocate in the state for a few years, only to see it move out to Mexico, yet it won't help a homegrown industry stay competitive, with tax relief or authorizing slots. Welcome to the Bluegrass State.:rolleyes:

I have seen many of these at CD on a regular basis. But I can see them shipping to ID on a Wednesday to run in a listed stakes race. This one looks to be an exception to me.

Your second paragraph is right on. I was noticing this myself during the first 2 weeks of the CD meet. Now that Derby and Oaks have come and gone, it's time for these races to come to prominence on the Wednesday and Thursday menus.

Now that I looked back about the purses, I can see I was wrong...and right. I knew purses at PID were bigger for the lower end of the claiming scale ($5k claiming = $13k purse), but ID's purses aren't what I thought they were.

All this being said, I haven't proved a point, but I have learned something. Thanks for the info Phil.

I thought the same thing, until I looked it up. Indiana Downs is putting on a good product, but the comparable conditions are still lower purses (for now...) PID hasn't been getting as many CD horses as I would have thought- the KEE shippers who clearly like poly are going there but a bulk of their races are Mountaineer or Penn or Ohio shippers. You're right though- their purse structure is much flatter, so $5k's are running for $13k, and $15k's are running for $16k.

I do think CD will have an uptick once 2YO racing starts in earnest. There isn't many places that do better for 2YO's.

As for Ellis. I think it's much ado about nothing about how many horses are on the grounds right now, 2 full months before their meet starts. I don't know how many trainers are based there year round, but to run anywhere is a long ship. It's 100 miles to CD and another 100 miles to ID.

...Also planning on cutting stakes purses for the rest of the spring meet.

http://www.courier-journal.com/artic...ut+racing+days

Reducing stakes purses

• Stephen Foster Handicap, from $750,000 to $600,000
• Early Times Mint Julep Handicap, from $150,000 to $100,000
• Jefferson Cup, from $200,000 to $150,000
• Northern Dancer, from $150,000 to $100,000
• Fleur de Lis Handicap, from $300,000 to $200,000
• Firecracker Handicap, from $175,000 to $150,000.

Heard a rumor that Kentucky Downs requested either "2 days or nothing" for their September meet. Anyone know if this is true?

They have already cut 2 days out (6 to 4 days). Cutting 2 more days seems really extreme; cutting it out altogether would be really, really bad.

they should really be cutting one day at hollywood park. 5 horse fileds is the norm there.

when is CD going to start night racing?

June 19th and the 26th and Thursday July 2nd