Date Night

Let there be lights. Following the testing of temporary track lighting fixtures during early morning training hours on Monday and Tuesday, Churchill Downs officials declared the home of the Kentucky Derby ready for the first of three special dates of night racing billed as “Downs After Dark.”

Friday night’s premiere of “Downs After Dark” will mark the first time in the 135-year history of the racetrack that racing will be presented at night under the lights. Other “Downs After Dark” programs are scheduled for Friday, June 26 and Thursday, July 2.

A total of 104 horses have been entered to compete on Friday’s historic 11-race program. First post is scheduled for 6 p.m. (all times Eastern) and the final four races will be run under the stars. Sunset is scheduled for 9:09 p.m. with Race 8 to coincide with the end of civil twilight at 9:40 p.m. The final race of the night has an 11:11 p.m. post time.

Churchill Downs will present upscale evenings at the races and provide added entertainment and unique food offerings for on-track patrons as the historic Twin Spires is transformed into a nighttime entertainment hot spot for the three “Downs After Dark” programs.

“Racing is at the core of everything we do at Churchill Downs, and it remains as important to us today as when we first opened our gates in 1875,” said Kevin Flanery, senior vice president of Churchill Downs Incorporated.  “But one hundred and thirty-five years changes a lot of things, and as we seek to redefine the racetrack experience and keep our sport relevant for today’s customers, we are excited to offer the night racing experience under the Twin Spires for the very first time.  We hope our customers will enjoy the upscale evenings we have planned, which will offer our guests the perfect blend of a night on the town and the excitement of Thoroughbred racing.”

Admission gates will open two hours before first post at 4 p.m. and patrons immediately will notice a new-look Churchill Downs. There’ll be Red Carpet entrances at Gates 10 and 17 with the Voice-Tribune’s Angie Fenton and Kentucky Derby 2009 Chief Party Officer Nick “RiNickulous” Ferrara, and the facility will be decorated with colorful buntings, mood lighting and seasonal flowers.

Many areas, including the paddock area, will have the look and feel of an upscale nightclub transformed by celebrated designer Barry Wooley, complete with sleek and comfortable seating options, specialty bars and food stations. The usual racetrack menu favorites will be joined by tasty ala carte hors d’oeuvres such as grilled shrimp, beef and chicken skewers and vegetable kabobs.

A Budweiser Select Beer Garden will be positioned near Gate 17 and “Friday Happy Hours” will be extended an extra hour from 4-8 p.m., complete with $2 Budweiser Select, $2 hot dogs and $3 margaritas and daiquiris.

To set the tone for the party, high energy music will be provided between live races in the paddock area by regional favorite Endless Summer Band from 4-8:30 p.m. and will be followed by internationally renowned VJ 2ndNature, who’ll mix modern rock, pop and hip-hop tunes with accompanying video. Meanwhile, parties for VIP guests on the Clubhouse and Jockey Club Suites balconies will be treated to the jazz sounds of TA2 Latin Sounds and Swing 39.

To satisfy the appetite, customers can take advantage of scrumptious multi-course premium dining packages. A “Date Night” dinner and dancing package is available for $59.90 in Millionaires’ Row 4 and 6 ($95 with full bar) and showcases tasty appetizers (antipasto platters and an amuse bouche of shrimp tango), a main course (beef sirloin and chicken criolla accompanied by a selection of sides) and a flambé action station with classic desserts.

There are also a limited number of high-end, elegant “Dinner by Design” packages for $150 in the Stakes, Aristides and Directors Rooms. They feature a five-course dinner designed by Tony Mantuano, Levy Restaurant’s award-winning and critically acclaimed executive chef of Chicago’s only four-star Italian restaurant Spiaggia. The special dinner also includes wine pairings and a full bar package.

There’ll also be lounge areas and mood lighting positioned throughout the facility for after-dinner cocktails, conversation and, of course, handicapping.

A special $100,000 guaranteed pool for the Pick 4 on Races 4-7 highlights the wagering menu. The challenging wager that requires bettors to pick the winners of four consecutive races kicks off at 7:29 p.m. The series is comprised of a five-furlong turf sprint for 10 fillies and mares; a maiden special weight for 10 two-year-old fillies; a maiden special weight for 10 three-year-olds and up at 1 1/16 miles on the Matt Winn Turf Course; and a seven-furlong sprint for eight 3-year-olds who sport a $30,000 claiming price.

There also will be Pick 4s that cover the first and last four races. Churchill Downs’ 19% takeout rate for the Pick 4 – and all exotic wagers – is amongst the lowest in North America.

Also, a second Z-5/Super Hi-5 has been added that night. In addition to its usual spot on the 11th and final race, the popular wager that requires bettors to pick the top five finishers in order on a given race, has been added to Race 6 (8:32 p.m.).

Five allowance and maiden special weight races have been named in honor of horses whose names feature a nighttime theme. They include 1953 Kentucky Derby winner Dark Star, 1878 Kentucky Derby victor Day Star, 1991 Kentucky Oaks heroine Lite Light, 1997 Stephen Foster Handicap champ City by Night and 1958 Clark Handicap conqueror My Night Out.

The featured Dark Star, a $52,700 second level allowance for 3-year-olds and up (Race 10 at 10:42 p.m.), will showcase the much-anticipated return of a former top Kentucky Derby prospect. Flying Pegasus, who was runner-up to Charitable Man in last fall’s Futurity (Grade II) at Belmont Park and Friesan Fire in this spring’s Risen Star (GIII) at Fair Grounds, heads the seven-furlong sprint for owner James C. Spence, trainer Ralph Nicks and jockey Robby Albarado. The 3-year-old son of 2000 Kentucky Derby winner Fusaichi Pegasus hasn’t raced since a sixth-place finish in the March 14 Louisiana Derby (GII).

HRTV (DISH Network channel 404 and Insight Communications channel 564 in Louisville) will be onsite with reporters Peter Lurie and Caton Bredar to broadcast the historic occasion.

General admission for Friday’s historic debut of “Downs After Dark” is $10, although members of the track’s free customer rewards program, the Twin Spires Club, and seniors age 60 and up will continue to receive their bargain $1 admission price. Also, all season passes will be honored at admission gates.

General admission will drop to $6 for the next two nighttime cards on Friday, June 26 and Thursday, July 2 (the start of a long holiday weekend that doubles as closing weekend for the Spring Meet). A discounted general admission pass for entrance on all three nights is available for $15 (a $7 savings).

For Friday’s “Downs After Dark” premiere, customers also can purchase a special $15 package that includes general admission, a box seat in the third-floor clubhouse and an official program.

Fans can reserve seats or purchase dining packages by calling (502) 636-4400. For more information, log onto www.churchilldowns.com.

Parking for “Downs After Dark” is free in the Longfield Avenue lot, with on-site parking available on a first-come, first-served basis. Valet parking will be available. Churchill Downs also will offer free parking at Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium starting at 4 p.m. and will run free round-trip shuttle service throughout the evening (drop off will be at Gate 17 and pick up will be at Gate 1).

According to the National Weather Service, Friday’s Louisville forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies and a high near 93 degrees with a low around 69. There’s a 30-percent chance of showers and thunderstorms mainly after 2 p.m. (a tenth to a quarter of an inch possible) with an 8-11 mph south wind.

SPECIAL NIGHT RACING NOTES – The majority of Churchill Downs’ transformation for the night racing programs will take place after Thursday’s races and early Friday morning . . . Post times for the three “Downs After Dark” racing programs: Race 1 (6 p.m.), Race 2 (6:29 p.m.), Race 3 (6:59 p.m.), Race 4 (7:29 p.m.), Race 5 (8 p.m.), Race 6 (8:32 p.m.), Race 7 (9:05 p.m.), Race 8 (9:40 p.m.), Race 9 (10:12 p.m.), Race 10 (10:42 p.m.) and Race 11 (11:11 p.m.) . . . Scratch time for nighttime racing programs will be 11 a.m. on racedays.

LIGHTS … CAMERAS … ACTION, SORT OF – The temporary lights were aglow and the television cameras were ready to roll when the gates Churchill Downs’ historic one-mile main track were opened for the first-ever session of training under the lights at the home of the Kentucky Derby on Monday at 4:57 a.m. (all times EDT).

    Four minutes later, a set of three horses from the Bret Calhoun barn came on the track at the five-eighths gap led by Country Living. A little after that, the first worker of the day, Sok Sok from the Steve Asmussen barn, put in a five-furlong breeze in 1:04.60.

    That paved the way for Asmussen’s second worker, the brilliant Kentucky Oaks (Grade I) and Preakness (GI) winner Rachel Alexandra, who zipped through six furlongs in 1:12 under Dominic Terry.

    The lights remained on until the 8 o’clock renovation break and everything was business as usual.
    “It seems all right,” jockey Larry Sterling Jr. said. “They may have to tweak a few things and the shadow from the rail could be a problem.”

    Jockey Jamie Theriot, who also worked some horses under the lights, concurred.

    “It was good. They may have to make a couple of adjustments like maybe a different angle in spots,” Theriot said. “But the good thing is the majority of the riders here have ridden under the lights, so it is not new to them.”

    Churchill Downs is set to conduct the first of its “Downs After Dark” night racings sessions – the first racing under the lights in the 135-year history of the track – on Friday, June 19.  Other night race programs are scheduled for Friday, June 26 and Thursday, July 2.  Post time for each of those racing programs is set for 6 p.m.

    Kentucky Derby (GI) winner Mine That Bird was snoozing in his stall when the lights came on, unaffected by the illuminated barn area. At 7, he went to the track with regular morning partner Charlie Figueroa aboard and jogged once around the wrong way.

    “He’s doing great; I like what I see,” trainer Chip Woolley said. “He’ll continue to jog a day and walk a day until we begin to let him ‘lope’ on Monday.”

    Woolley got the track at 5:30 on Monday, a little earlier than usual, to check out the lights. Mine That Bird never has raced under the lights and Woolley said he called Mountaineer Casino Racetrack to be sure the Aug. 1 West Virginia Derby (Grade II) would be run during the day.

    “I have had limited experience running horses at night, but if I had one running, I’d like them to see the lights,” Woolley said. “I took a horse to Remington Park one time for trials and he never had seen lights. When he went to the gate, he was just looking up and when they sprang the latch he was not ready. The whole way down the lane he had his head up and never straightened it out to look ahead.”

    The morning’s training activity under the temporary lights supplied by Iowa-based Musco Lighting received a strong “thumbs up” from Churchill Downs’ Vice President of Operations David Sweazy.

    “We’re very pleased with the bleed over of lights on the racetrack and into the stands, the backside, the gaps and the infield. All early indications are positive. We’ve received feedback from horsemen and they’re pleased,” Sweazy said. “Late in the morning we had an issue with one of the trucks in the infield and a generator blew. That’s why we test these things and have plenty of backups.

    “(Musco Lighting) will do some tinkering of the lights on a couple of the turns where there were a few shadows. They’ll do that tonight (between 9-11 p.m.) and we’ll test them again tomorrow (during training between 4-8 a.m.) and be ready for Friday night.” 

John Veitch, Chief State Steward for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, also liked what he saw.
“From a safety standpoint, Churchill Downs has done a magnificent job in arranging and preparing the lighting,” Veitch said. “From the standpoint of the commission, our duty is basically safety. It appears to be well organized, well coordinated certainly meets all of our high standards.”

RACHEL ALEXANDRA SIZZLES IN SIX FURLONG WORK – Stonestreet Stables and Harold McCormick’s Rachel Alexandra helped usher in the era of night racing at Churchill Downs when the winner of the Kentucky Oaks and Preakness worked a sparkling six furlongs under temporary lights on Monday at Churchill Downs.

    The daughter of Medaglia d’Oro stepped on the track around 5:30 a.m. (EDT) with trainer Steve Asmussen’s second set of horses and worked a very strong six furlongs in 1:12 over a “fast” surface.  Exercise rider Dominic Terry was in the saddle as Rachel Alexandra covered the distance in splits of :12.40, :24.40, :36.40, :48.40 and 1:00 and galloped out seven furlongs in 1:24.80.

    The work was easily the fastest of four at the distance.

    “She went super – she’s doing great,” said Asmussen.  “She’s definitely been stronger every week and she looks great.”

    Asmussen’s filly has been unflappable throughout the spring and Asmussen said she handled training under the temporary lights just like she handles everything else.

    “She’s got a great presence about her,” Asmussen said.  “She always seems to take everything in stride so well.  She comes back so sure of herself.”

    Majority owner Jess Jackson of Stonestreet Stables had earlier mentioned the $300,000 Mother Goose (GI) at 1 1/8 miles on June 27 at Belmont Park as a possible first start for Rachel Alexandra since her historic win over males in the Preakness on May 16.  Asmussen said the choice of a race for the filly’s next start was still being assessed.

MUSCO LIGHTING HAS INTERNATIONAL, LOCAL RESUME – The Iowa-based company that is providing the temporary lights that illuminated Churchill Downs for Monday’s first-ever training session under the lights at the home of the Kentucky Derby has an impressive resume of both international and local projects.

    Chances are most of the people who will attend Friday’s first “Downs After Dark” night racing program under the historic Twin Spires have already been bathed in light generated by Iowa-based Musco Lighting.
    The company installed the permanent lighting at the University of Louisville’s Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium, located just a couple of blocks away from the track..  

    And Gary Gordon, Musco Lighting’s Director of Field Services who is overseeing the temporary lighting for the next three weeks at Churchill Downs, says the lights that are in place around the one-mile main track and its mile chute have been used on some other familiar projects.

    “The same lights we are using at historic Churchill Downs have been used for lighting at the World Trade Center and the Pentagon following the 9-11 tragedy, the presidential inauguration, sporting events such as the Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, NASCAR events Daytona International Speedway and Kentucky Speedway, college football games at Ohio State, Michigan, Michigan State and movies like ‘Lord of the Rings’, ‘Titanic” and “Seabiscuit.’”

    Most trainers, exercise riders and jockeys expressed satisfaction with both the brightness and quality of the lighting when training opened at 5 a.m.

    Gordon said the track lighting is equivalent to using 20,383 60-watt household light builds.  There are 394 halide fixtures in use for a total of 1,223 kilowatts of power.

    “The lighting is made up from three 120-foot poles, 11 rooftop structures, six eight-frames, 15 temporary light poles down the chute and in front of the Twin Spires and eight trucks in the infield to help light the backstretch and turns,” said Gordon.  “We’ve done lighting at other racetracks before: Calder Park in Australia, Woodbine Race Course in Toronto and The Meadowlands in New Jersey, to name a few.”

    Churchill Downs had included lighting for the track in its original plans for the track’s $121 million renovation that was launched in late 2001 and completed in April 2005.  But the lights were removed from the project as some $5 million was carved from the original package of $126 million in improvements because of uncertain economic conditions in the aftermath of the 9/1l terrorist attacks of 200l.  But power connections were installed atop the Jockey Club Suites and the track’s rebuilt clubhouse to allow for later installation of lighting, and those fixtures were utilized in Musco’s set-up of the temporary lights that will be use at the track over the next three weekends.

    “Our biggest challenges during set-up occurred with the large crane on the track; it took a lot of time to change positions to put the lighting on the rooftops of the grandstand,” said Gordon.  “Obviously, we worked around the schedule of live racing and training hours. Everyone at the track has been excellent to work with.”

    Tickets and reservations for dining and “Date Night” entertainment and dining packages for Friday’s “Downs After Dark” racing are available by calling (502) 636-4400.  That includes a specially priced pass for all three nights of racing for $15.  Friday’s admission will be $10 and admission is $6 on June 26 and July 2, so the three-night pass offers savings of $7 on admission to all three night racing