Rags to Riches

The 137th running of the Kentucky Oaks (Grade I) at Churchill Downs will be the richest in history as the purse for America’s most prestigious race for 3-year-old fillies has been raised to $1 million guaranteed, which doubles the purse offered in 2010.

The record-setting Kentucky Oaks, scheduled for Friday, May 6, and the $2 million guaranteed Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (GI), the nation’s greatest race and one of America’s top entertainment events, head a schedule of 25 stakes races with total purses of $7.325 million set for Churchill Downs 2011 Spring Meet.  The 39-day meet opens with the first Kentucky Derby Week night racing event on Saturday, April 30 and will conclude with an Independence Day racing program on Monday, July 4.

The record purse for the Kentucky Oaks will make the 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-old fillies the richest American race in that division. The increase will help boost the value of purses for six stakes races scheduled on the Oaks Day program to a record $2 million.  That total is second at Churchill Downs only to Kentucky Derby Day, which also features six graded stakes races – three of which are Grade I events – with total purses of $3.4 million.

“There is no weekend in American racing like Kentucky Oaks and Derby Weekend, and it is exciting to raise the purse for the Oaks to a level that reflects its status and importance as a sports and entertainment event,” said Kevin Flanery, president of Churchill Downs Racetrack.  “The Oaks has enjoyed spectacular growth in recent years and the 2010 running won by Blind Luck was one of its greatest renewals.  The 2010 attracted a record crowd of 116,046 and all sources wagering set records with $10.6 million bet on the Oaks race, and $30.6 million was wagered on the entire Oaks card, a jump of 20 percent from the previous record.  The Oaks ranked eighth in the U.S. in betting on a single race in 2010, and wagering on the entire Oaks card ranked sixth.  Along with its wagering success, the Oaks clearly stands on its own as a spectacular entertainment event, and the fundraising partnership with Susan G. Komen for the Cure® and national television coverage on Bravo have opened doors to new fans of America’s greatest race for 3-year-old fillies.

“While some stakes races have gone on hiatus and others have had slight adjustments in purse levels, our overall stakes schedule is strong and attractive, and our ‘big event days’ – the Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Oaks and Stephen Foster Handicap – head a roster of stakes races that offers wonderful opportunities for horsemen in nearly every division.”

he 2011 Churchill Downs Spring Meet kicks off with a spectacular racing and entertainment program under the track’s permanent lights that features the $200,000-added The Cliff’s Edge Derby Trial.  The Grade III Derby Trial is the final major prep for the Kentucky Derby, which will be run a week later.  The opening night celebration that kicks off the Spring Meet will be the first Derby Week racing session conducted under the lights in Churchill Downs history.

The last purse increase for the Kentucky Oaks came in 1996, when the purse was raised to $500,000-added for the race won by Pike Place Dancer.

Three straight Kentucky Oaks winners – Rachel Alexandra (2009), Proud Spell (2008) and Rags to Riches (2007) – went on earn Eclipse Awards as champion 3-year-old filly.  Two of those – Rachel Alexandra and Rags to Riches – defeated males in Triple Crown events in their next start as Rachel Alexandra won the Preakness (GI) on her way to Horse of the Year honors, and Rags to Riches defeated eventual Horse of the Year Curlin in the Belmont Stakes (GI).  Blind Luck, the 2010 winner, is a finalist to become the fourth consecutive filly to pull off that double when the 2010 Eclipse Award winners are revealed on Monday, Jan. 17, in Miami.

Other recent stars who won the Kentucky Oaks on their way to 3-year-old championship honors include Ashado (2004), Bird Town (’03), Farda Amiga (’02), Silverbulletday (’99), Open Mind (’89), and Tiffany Lass (’86).  Fillies that failed to win the Oaks but went on to earn Eclipse Award championship honors at the conclusion of their 3-year-old seasons include Wait A While (3rd in 2006), Banshee Breeze (2nd in ’98), and Go for Wand (2nd in 1990).

Along with the doubling of the Kentucky Oaks purse, other changes from last year in the 2011 Spring Meet stakes program include:

• Purses have been increased for the Churchill Downs Presented by Navistar (GII), which will grow by $50,000 to $300,000-added; the Alysheba Presented by Besilu Stables (GIII), which increases from $150,000-added to $300,000-added; and the American Turf (GII), which jumps by $25,000 to $200,000-added;
•  Purses will be lower for the Stephen Foster Handicap (GI), which carries a purse of $500,000-added, a reduction of $100,000; and the La Troienne (GII), which drops by $100,000 to $300,000-added.  The La Troienne decrease reflects a loss of $100,000 in Breeders’ Cup Stakes Program funding;
• The race previously known as the Northern Dancer is now named the Matt Winn, in honor of the legendary president of Churchill Downs who became known as “Mr. Derby” for his work in transforming the Kentucky Derby and its home track into international sports and entertainment icons during his 1902-1949 tenure at the track;
• Four races – the Fleur De Lis (GII), Kentucky Juvenile (GIII), the Locust Grove Handicap (GIII) and the race previously known as the Matt Winn – will go on hiatus for this year;
• The Edgewood Presented by Forcht Bank, a $100,000-added turf race for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles, returns after a one-year hiatus and will be run on Kentucky Oaks Day;
•  The $100,000-added Eight Belles Presented by ACS, A Xerox Company (GIII) will move from Kentucky Derby Day to Kentucky Oaks Day, and its distance has been changed to seven furlongs from its recent 7 ½ furlongs, and
• The five-furlong, Grade III Turf Sprint run in recent years on Kentucky Oaks Day has been moved to Kentucky Derby Day and is now named the Twin Spires Turf Sprint.

“It was difficult to place four quality stakes events on hiatus for this year, but our racing team
looked very closely at our events and stakes schedules at other tracks in our region and around the United States and that allowed us to put together the strongest possible stakes schedule for 2011,”  Flanery said.  “Of the 25 races on our 2011 stakes schedule, 16 are scheduled on those ‘big event days’ surrounding the Derby, Oaks and Stephen Foster.  These big days have proven extremely popular with fans and horsemen, as are our ‘Downs After Dark’ night racing programs.  The record $1 million purse should make the Kentucky Oaks even more attractive to fans, owners and trainers, and we are very excited about our Spring Meet kickoff under the lights and this year’s running of The Cliff’s Edge Derby Trial, an important prep that could have an impact on the field for the Kentucky Derby.”

The stakes schedule for Churchill Downs 21-day Fall Meet, which runs from Oct. 30-Nov. 2 and will include the two-day Breeders’ Cup World Championships on for the second consecutive year on Nov. 4-5, will be announced later this year.

L & M Racing’s Rachel Alexandra, a dominant winner of Churchill Downs’ Golden Rod (GII) and Oaklawn Park’s Martha Washington in her last two starts, will be the odds-on choice when she faces five rivals in Saturday’s $400,000 Fair Grounds Oaks (Grade II) at Fair Grounds.

If the Hal Wiggins-trained daughter of Medaglia d’Oro wins the 1 1/16-mile race, she will  to emulate 2008 Fair Grounds Oaks winner Proud Spell, who went on to win the $500,000 Kentucky Oaks (GI), America’s premier race for 3-year-old fillies, and earn the Eclipse Award that honored her as America’s finest 3-year-old filly.

Regular rider Calvin Borel will be in the irons aboard Rachel Alexandra, who is the odds-on favorite at odds of 4-5.

Heiligbrodt Stable’s Four Gifts, the Steve Asmussen-trained runner-up to injured stablemate War Echo in the Silverbulletday (GIII) at Fair Grounds, is the second choice at 5-2.  Others in the field include Our Dahlia, African Skies, Flying Spur and War Tigress.

WEST/STARDOM BOUND LIKELY TO STAY WITH FILLIES, TARGET KENTUCKY OAKS – Although she scored a fifth consecutive victory in Grade I stakes competition, last week’s narrow victory by 2008 2-year-old filly champion Stardom Bound in the Santa Anita Oaks (GI) was apparently not enough to keep her on course for a possible run against males in the Santa Anita Derby (GI) and, perhaps, a bid for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (GI).

Stardom Bound rallied to win the Santa Anita Oaks by a nose, but majority owner IEAH Stable had hoped to see more progress by the gray Tapit filly.  IEAH President Michael Iavarone said Monday the champion would now be pointed toward the Ashland (GI) at Keeneland, and a big run there would likely earn her a shot at the May 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs.

“We have to think of her welfare and do what’s in her best interest,” said Iavarone. “What we were looking for in the Santa Anita Oaks and what we didn’t see is a leap forward.” 

Third Dawn, the John Sadler-trained Santa Anita Oaks runner-up at odds of 35-1, is also being pointed toward the Ashland Stakes.

OAKS NOTES – Brereton Jones’ Proud Spell, winner of the 2008 Kentucky Oaks, was upset by Superior Storm in her debut as a 4-year-old on Thursday at Oaklawn Park.  The Larry Jones trainee finished second as she could not catch the pacesetting winner over a muddy track. … Rags to Riches, the winner of the 2007 Kentucky Oaks who would later beat eventual ‘Horse of the Year’ Curlin, Hard Spun and other males in the Belmont Stakes (GI), delivered her first foal – a filly by Giant’s Causeway – on Monday at Ashford Stud in Versailles, Ky.