Turfway Park

Trainer Kelsey Danner has traditionally based her stable at Palm Meadows in Florida every winter, but this year she decided to shift her focus to Turfway Park and already, the decision is paying dividends. Following a career-best year in 2024 thanks in part to a lucrative Holiday meet at Turfway in December, Danner is now sitting at the top of the trainer ranks for Turfway's Winter/Spring meet. After going two-for-two on Thursday, Danner has 15 wins from 69 starts and just over $700,000 in earnings ahead of Friday's card, giving...

NBC Sports will present live coverage of the GII Louisiana Derby from Fair Grounds Saturday at 6 p.m. ET on CNBC and Peacock. The hour-long program will also feature coverage of the GII Fair Grounds Oaks and the GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks from Turfway Park. Ahmed Fareed will host Saturday's coverage alongside analysts Jerry Bailey and Randy Moss. The Louisiana Derby begins three consecutive Saturday afternoons with Kentucky Derby prep coverage live on CNBC and Peacock, continuing with the GI Florida Derby and GI Arkansas Derby Mar. 29 and the...

Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance will be present at Turfway Park for the GIII Jeff Ruby Steaks Saturday, March 22, the organization announced Wednesday. Turfway Park will highlight accredited aftercare throughout the event including Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, who will be honored with a named race. Following the conclusion of the race, a presentation will be made to the winning connections, which will include a Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance blanket and gift bag. "Turfway Park is excited to welcome back Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance for our Jeff Ruby Steaks Day," said Tyler B. Picklesimer, Director...

For all the incredible experiences Blane Servis remembers from when his father John campaigned champion Smarty Jones, there were a few less-than-comfortable memories too. Take, for instance, the time during Smarty Jones's run for the Triple Crown when Servis's school hosted a pep rally and made a teenaged Servis the guest of honor. As a self-described socially awkward kid, stepping into the spotlight felt a bit more like a nightmare than a celebration. In high school, Servis discovered that drinking was the easiest solution to overcoming his social anxiety. Later,...

Florence, KY--"Okay, I'm coming!" said Kaitlin Free. Bursting into a small room sandwiched between the announcer's booth and Free's broadcast studio at Turfway Park in Florence, Kentucky, the Churchill Downs Inc. (CDI) analyst was only halfway through applying her mascara and eyeliner, but that wasn't going to stop her from watching Flood Zone (Frosted) take the GII Gotham Stakes. With half her face on and the other 'au naturel,' Free's eyes were glued to the screen as she watched intently, offered an assessment as the field blazed for the far...

Godolphin's First Resort (Uncle Mo), winner of the GII Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes last November, has been forced off the Triple Crown trail by a hairline fracture in his left hock, according to trainer Eoin Harty. The news was first reported by Daily Racing Form's Dave Grening. First Resort was expected to make his sophomore debut in Saturday's John Battaglia Stakes, but was scratched out of that race when when Harty noticed stiffness in that left leg following a work at Turfway Feb. 18. The injury is not expected to...

California Burrito (Army Mule) is the newest player on the 'Road to the Kentucky Derby,' earning 20 points with a gate-to-wire win in Saturday night's John Battaglia Memorial Stakes at Turfway Park. Shaken up for the lead from mid-gate, the 7-2 shot, who came off a 7 1/4-length win going just a 1/16th shorter on the local Tapeta Jan. 24, showed the way along the inside through fractions of :24.50 and :49.41 with 37-1 longshot Maitre D (Game Winner) keeping him honest to the outside and 2-1 race favorite Baby...

Godolphin's First Resort (Uncle Mo) will scratch from Saturday's $175,000 John Battaglia Memorial at Turfway Park after exiting a workout earlier this week with stiffness in his left hind leg, according to trainer Eoin Harty. The 2-1 morning-line favorite was set to make his 3-year-old debut following a victory in the GII Kentucky Jockey Club last fall at Churchill Downs. He worked a half-mile in :51.20 (8/11) at Turfway Tuesday. "I worked him (Tuesday), and by Wednesday he was a little stiff behind," Harty said. "He hasn't really improved, so we're...

When Mo Quality (Mo Town) failed to meet his reserve as a 2-year-old, Gary Broad's Walmac Farm opted to race the colt in their own silks and send him on to trainer Chris Davis. Looking back now, Davis is just fine with how it all played out as the son of Mo Town is set to start in this weekend's Withers Stakes at Aqueduct on the road to the Kentucky Derby. A $50,000 Keeneland September purchase for Walmac, Mo Quality didn't get much action when he was offered at last...

Keeneland Race Course is projecting overall purses for the upcoming April meet to increase in the range of 10-12%, with maiden special weight (MSW) purses for 3-year-olds and up rising to $110,000 after that MSW figure had plateaued at $100,000 for the past three springs. Churchill Downs plans to card 3-and-up MSW races at $120,000 during its April-June meet, a level that hasn't changed since 2022. Executives from both tracks disclosed those spring 2025 purse projections during the Jan. 28 Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund (KTDF) advisory board meeting. Rick Hiles,...

Gerardo Corrales, who guided Nobals (Noble Mission {GB}) to a win in the 2023 GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, got the 1,000th win of his riding career Thursday night at Turfway Park aboard Michael Dubb's Unraptured (Uncaptured) in Race 7. The Panamanian native has won six leading rider titles at Turfway, while his mounts have earned more than $5.5 million overall. Agent Cliff Collier represents Corrales, who began riding in the U.S. in 2015.

Competing primarily on the difficult Kentucky circuit, Spuns Son had raced 32 times between the ages of 3 and 5 without ever once getting his picture taken in the winner's circle. But the Hard Spun gelding had managed to hit the board on eight occasions, and he had closed well enough in $16,000 and $12,500 maiden-claiming grass routes in Indiana and Virginia during the second half of 2024 to make trainer John F. Hill, Jr. think that dropping him in for a $5,000 tag going long over Turfway Park's Tapeta...