Kentucky Downs offers Richest Seven Days Of Racing In North America

Kentucky Downs has become the place to be for turf runners in late summer

Danny Brewer

If you were wondering where the greenest grass in North America resides, look no farther than the Tennessee-Kentucky state line. There is a little country horse track nestled just 30 minutes north of Nashville that has incorporated ingenuity and insightfulness while forming a fertilizer that now yields more green than anywhere on the continent. That place is known as Kentucky Downs and beginning August 28, folks from all over the world will hope to light up the lawn in Franklin, Kentucky.

As the only European style race course in these United States, Kentucky Downs has always had a uniqueness about it. Positioned on a tract of land located betwixt highway 31 and Interstate 65, this undulating course with three turns has become the late summer destination spot for turf runners. Why would horsemen from all over the globe choose to ship and run on this particular grass? It simply boils down to the greenery in more ways than one.

“Kentucky Downs puts up a lot of money for the horsemen”, says California-based hall of fame trainer Richard Mandella who shipped in Goliad last year and won two races and $1.4 million. “It also offers a different environment to race in that sometimes makes a difference for horses looking to succeed.”

The 2025 race meet at Kentucky Downs has seven race dates and will offer up 18 Stakes races with purse money exceeding $30 million. Of those Stakes races, 11 are worth at least $2 million and the overall paydays for horsemen are the highest in North America. Showing folks the money has attracted the best in the turf racing business in recent years. However, this place once known as the Dueling Grounds has not always made it rain Benjamins.

Struggling to make things work from the mid 1990’s until about 2010, the track positioned on the grounds where men had fought to defend their honor in the early 1800’s found a way to change the game of Thoroughbred racing. With clearance from the state of Kentucky, gaming machines were installed and used to supplement the race purses. With only four racing dates in 2011, Kentucky Downs was able to offer a total of $769,810 for their thirty races.

Since the trend-setting move to supplement racing purses with gaming machine money, the live racing meet has grown by leaps and bounds. The very next year, the total purse money tripled to over $2 million and since has moved like Secretariat up the charts. In 2024, a total of 76 races were run over a 7-day meet and offered up just over $34.6 million in payouts to the Thoroughbred teams.

Establishing this blueprint for success, others have followed suit and incorporated gaming money into their Thoroughbred racing program. Beginning in 2016, in an unprecedented move, Kentucky Downs began helping supplement other tracks in the state to keep more horses running year-round in the Bluegrass State. The purse increases help generate larger fields and more betting handle for those that have been wise enough to follow the trail emblazoned by the visionaries based in Franklin, Kentucky. The game has greatly benefitted from these innovations with Kentucky Downs enjoying the largest amount of growth and notoriety.

The green at Kentucky Downs has not just been limited to the horsemen. The speculating public has also enjoyed a heyday over the past decade or so as well. In 2024 over $90 million was wagered during the seven-day meet. The predictable unpredictability has been magnified on this turf because of the field sizes (76 races averaged 10.89 entrants) and nature of the course. In 2024 the average payoff for a $2 win wager was $14.86. The average 50 cent pick 4 yielded $2,237.19, the 50 cent pick 5 a whopping $22,825.78, and the 10 cent superfecta generated $292.85 as an average return.

“I love Kentucky Downs because the payouts are fantastic”, says Rick Broth, an 11-time National Handicapping Challenge participant and Kentucky Derby betting challenge champion. “We love to play there because the field sizes are always full and it’s a great place to make money if you are guessing right.”

The 2025 live racing meet kicks off on August 28 with races also run on August 30, 31, September 4, 6, 7, and 10. Major facility improvements by the current ownership group and the Louis Vutton-like purses and payouts make this the place to be. The biggest day of racing is Kentucky Turf Cup Day on September 6 which features six Stakes events headlined by the Breeders’ Cup win and you’re in Turf Cup. Will there be plenty of green during those seven days in the Bluegrass State? As they say at Kentucky Downs…”You bet”.