Turfway Park

Turfway Park Racing & Gaming has canceled its Friday and Saturday live racing programs due to severe winter weather expected in the Florence, Kentucky area, according to a Thursday press release from operator Churchill Downs Inc. Officials from the National Weather Service are calling for wind chill values to dip into the single digits early Friday morning and persist through Saturday, along with the potential for significant snow accumulation. The canceled races from Friday and Saturday will be offered as extras on subsequent race days, including the Wishing Well Stakes....

AMERICAN SUMMER (f, 3, Constitution--Speaktomeofsummer {GSW, $266,185}, by Summer Front) was bumped by her competition heading out of the gates, and had to settle near the rear of the field as they went into the bend behind an opening quarter in :22.46. On the move after a half in :46.34, she was rallying between runners at the head of affairs but had real estate to make up in the lane. Shifting inside and relentlessly closing the distance, American Summer struck the front with enough time to put 1 1/4 lengths...

Edited Press Release Apprentice jockey Xarel Forde has begun to make his presence felt at Turfway Park this winter, continuing his transition to the Kentucky circuit after building skills both in his native Barbados and last year at Woodbine. Forde, 21, learned his trade riding at Garrison Savannah, a small track that he said helped shape his race awareness and decision-making before his move to larger circuits. "Coming from a small track with tight turns teaches you to be sharp," Forde said. "You have to think quickly and stay aware....

When it was announced last week that former New York Post racing columnist Ray Kerrison had been selected to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame's Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor, New York horseplayers of a certain age had to be smiling. There have been plenty of gifted and talented men and women who have covered the sport over the years, but there's never been anyone like Ray Kerrison. He was fearless, a tremendous reporter, unafraid of whom he might alienate and was a fierce advocate for...

Turfway Park Racing & Gaming has moved Saturday's full Synthetic Championships program to Sunday, Dec. 21, due to extreme cold temperatures and accumulating snow forecasted for the Florence area, a press release from the track on Saturday morning said. The National Weather Service is calling for 3-7 inches of snow throughout the day and evening, with temperatures expected to fall into the single digits and wind chill values approaching minus 9 degrees overnight. The Sunday, Dec. 21 program will feature the complete $1-million Synthetic Championships, including the $250,000 Prairie Bayou,...

The sun had just barely emerged above the tree line at Turfway Park when Ethan West was given a leg up onto his next galloper that morning. It was the usual late August affair--hot, humid, and deviating from the direct line of the nearest fan made it feel like one was walking through soup...or drowning in it. And yet, the barn moved to the beat of its own drum as everyone went through their usual paces. Emerging from the shedrow on the back of an eye-catching grey, West allowed the...

Kentucky's Turfway Park will honor legendary jockey Perry Ouzts Saturday, Dec. 6, with a dedication ceremony officially renaming the facility's jockey quarters the Perry Wayne Ouzts Jockeys' Quarters. Ouzts, 71, has won 7,531 races in his career, ranking fifth all-time among North American jockeys behind Russell Baze (12,842), Laffit Pincay Jr. (9,530), Bill Shoemaker (8,833) and Pat Day (8,803). He also ranks seventh in the world in career victories and has ridden in a record 53,689 races. Ouzts is the all-time leading rider at Turfway Park and has won thousands...

In honor of veteran rider Perry Ouzts, Turfway Park will officially rename its jockey quarters Perry Wayne Ouzts Jockeys' Quarters during a dedication ceremony Dec. 6. Ouzts, 71, has won 7,531 races in his career, ranking fifth all-time among North American jockeys and he is the all-time leading rider at Turfway Park. "Perry is a terrific human and an unbelievable professional athlete," Turfway Park general manager Chip Bach said. "He's the ultimate iron man, and it's only fitting that the place where our riders prepare every day now carries his...

A total of 20 stakes worth $3.977-million will highlight Turfway's Winter/Spring meeting and is anchored by the 55th running of the GIII Jeff Ruby Stakes--with Kentucky Derby points on the line--Saturday, Mar. 21, the track announced Monday morning. Racing at the Northern Kentucky institution will be kicked off by the Holiday Meet Dec. 3-27 and will feature seven stakes led by Synthetic Championships Night Saturday, Dec. 13--which offers $1-million across four of those black-type contests. All stakes purses at both meets include contributions from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund. Combined,...

Turfway Park Racing & Gaming's Holiday Meet returns Wednesday, Dec. 3 through Saturday, Dec. 27, headlined by the second annual Synthetic Championships on Saturday, Dec. 13, with four stakes contests worth a combined $1 million, according to a Friday press release from Churchill Downs. The meet will also feature record $100,000 maiden special weight purses and allowances worth up to $106,000. Along with the four races on Synthetic Championship night, the Holiday Meet stakes schedule also includes three new stakes events. In addition to the $1.375 million stakes schedule, connections...

Robert Hunt, a respected veterinarian at Hagyard Equine Medical Institute, passed away Thursday after a bout with cancer. Dr. Hunt graduated from the University of Georgia College of Veterinary Medicine in 1984. From 1984 to 1987 he worked at the Alamo Pintado Equine Medical Center in Santa Ynez, California. He returned to the University of Georgia in 1987 to complete his surgical training and graduate degree in cardiovascular physiology. He paid his way through school by taking a job as a farrier. Dr. Hunt remained on faculty and became a...

Two months out from the Dec. 3 start to its 65-date winter/spring season, Turfway Park is projecting maiden special weight (MSW) purses to be $90,000. That's an increase of $10,000 per race from the $80,000 MSW purse level that Turfway paid at the 2024-25 meet. But that figure also falls $10,000 short of the work-in-progress goal stated earlier this year by Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), Turfway's parent company, of having MSW races of at least $100,000 at all five Thoroughbred tracks in Kentucky. Back in May, Gary Palmisano, Jr., the...