Nashville Derby Has Mercury Rising At Kentucky Downs

3/22/2025 – Tiztastic with Joel Rosario aboard wins the 112th running of the $1,000,000 Grade II Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds. Hodges Photography / Lou Hodges, Jr.

Hodges photography

So, what’s hotter than the streets of downtown Nashville on a Saturday night? Perhaps it is the competition running in the Nashville Derby at Kentucky Downs on August 30.

Nashville, Tennessee has become one of those destination spots for those looking for a hot time in the town tonight. Lower Broad is the place to be in the Music City and folks from everywhere are flocking to enjoy a little honkytonk heaven. A quick perusal of the entrants for the Nashville Derby tells us this race for three-year-old Thoroughbreds is spiking the thermometer same as if Willie Nelson were back in Tootsie’s Wild Orchid Lounge.

In recent times, Kentucky Downs has gone through a renaissance of epic proportion. The infusion of gaming money has resulted in massive facility improvements and the creation of a seven-day race meet that offers the highest per race payouts to horsemen in North America. A big piece of that pie is the $3.5 million Nashville Derby.

“When we took over Kentucky Downs six years ago we had vision of enhancing the facilities in a big way and promoting our racing product”, says co-managing partner Ron Winchell. “The three-year-old runners are a big focus in the sport and the Kentucky Derby is something everyone points to. Creating a destination race for people to point their horses towards is our goal. We understand we can never compete with a race as historic as the Kentucky Derby, but raising the purse to $3.5 million garners attention for sure.”

The hefty prize money makes the Nashville Derby the richest turf race in these United States outside the Breeders’ Cup. It looks to be mission accomplished for Winchell and the Kentucky Downs team as the potential field for this mile and five sixteenths run over the Franklin, Kentucky grass is loaded with top talent. Arkansas Derby winner Sandman, Louisiana Derby winner Tiztastic, Jeff Ruby Steaks champ Final Gambit, and Bluegrass Stakes winner Burnham Square are all expected to toe the turf on August 30. All four ran in the 2025 Kentucky Derby.

“He’s training great and we are really excited to give him a try on turf”, says trainer Mark Casse of Sandman, who finished a troubled seventh in the Kentucky Derby and will be making his first start on grass. “The great thing is there are 3.5 million reasons to try turf at Kentucky Downs.”

Kentucky Downs is the only European style course in the country and the undulating track surface can provide challenges. Some runners take to it while others do not. Tiztastic is one that has proven he loves the surface as two wins in a ten-day span during the 2024 meet at Kentucky Downs made this a logical landing spot.

“Having previous success here meant we were pointing to this race”, says Winchell, who has enjoyed major success as a Thoroughbred owner over the years. “After the Kentucky Derby (10^th place finish) we tried him on grass again and he didn’t run as well as we wanted. Hopefully getting him back here will be exactly what he needs”.

The Nashville Derby will be the centerpiece of an August 30 card that will feature five Stakes races. This grade 3 event is slated to be televised by NBC sports and is scheduled as race 10 on the card with an expected post time of 4:46 pm central.