Labor Day Loaded: Kentucky Downs Goes Big While Saratoga Says Goodbye
If you only have one screen this Labor Day weekend, point it at a hillside in southern Kentucky. Saturday's card at Kentucky Downs is twelve races deep with five graded stakes stacked inside it, and the money is absurd. The Nashville Derby carries a $3 million purse, making it Kentucky Downs' richest race and the second richest for three-year-olds in the country behind the Kentucky Derby's $5 million. Ireland's champion trainer Aidan O'Brien sends out Causeway as the 5-2 morning line favorite, and here is the detail that should make you sit up: Ryan Moore makes his first ever appearance at Kentucky Downs on Saturday, with Causeway his best chance at a winner. The Wootton Bassett colt reeled off four straight for Coolmore before finishing a distant seventh in the Group 1 Grand Prix de Paris on soft ground. European trainers have won each of the last two editions. It goes as race eight at roughly 4:36 p.m. Central.
Moore does not fly the Atlantic for one mount, of course. He is also up on Ethical Diamond in the $2 million Kentucky Turf Cup, and that is where this card gets truly juicy. They go a mile and a half for a Breeders' Cup Turf berth, with Burnham Square the 2-1 morning line choice off his Arlington Million score, Ethical Diamond at 3-1 as the reigning Breeders' Cup Turf winner, and the German import Tiffany at 9-2 after taking the Grosser Preis von Berlin against males. Defending champion Ole Crazy Bone comes back for Mike Maker, who leads all trainers with six wins in the race. My lean is Burnham Square, who stretches back out after a pair of wins going shorter, because Kentucky Downs punishes horses who try to run long on the lead. Just check the going before you fire. Ethical Diamond has never proven himself on rain-affected ground on the flat, and forecasts this week have been all over the place.
The rest of Saturday at Franklin is not filler. The Music City goes as race ten at 5:49 Central, and last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint winner Cy Fair is the 6-5 favorite, stretching past five and a half furlongs for the first time and trying this course for the first time. Vulnerable? Possibly. That is what makes it fun.
Meanwhile, upstate New York is packing up. Saratoga's meet ends Labor Day Monday, and the Spa saves two of its best babies races for last. Saturday's feature is the Grade 1 Spinaway, seven furlongs on the main track as race eleven at 5:45 Eastern. Summer Starlet is the 2-1 morning line favorite for Steve Asmussen, with Life Changing at 5-2 for Todd Pletcher and Angel of Kirk at 9-2 for Brad Cox. Pletcher has won this race seven times, a record he can push to eight. Life Changing won her debut by seven lengths under Luis Saez, and Repole Stable does not hide its enthusiasm quietly.
Sunday belongs to the colts. The Grade 1 Hopeful is race ten at 5:19 Eastern, an eight-horse field with Booked the narrow 3-1 favorite as the only stakes winner in the group. History says pay attention: all but one Hopeful winner since 2020 has gone on to win at least one more Grade 1. Add The Good Life, a dominant July 18 debut winner who earned an impressive speed figure, and you have a genuine puzzle.
Out west, Del Mar closes with its own juvenile championships, both Grade 1s at seven furlongs for $300,000. Miss Monica is the 8-5 favorite in Saturday's Debutante for Bob Baffert, who has won that race twelve times, and the Futurity follows Sunday. North of the border, Sunday's Wonder Where Stakes at Woodbine settles the Canadian Triple Tiara for Canadian-foaled three-year-old fillies.
Do not put the cards away Sunday night, either. Kentucky Downs saves a five-stakes program for Labor Day Monday, the final day of the U.S. Open of Turf Championships, headlined by the $2 million Mint Millions Invitational at a mile. A loaded field of ten goes in that one, eight of them with graded or group wins on the resume, including Breeders' Cup Mile runner-up Formidable Man for Michael McCarthy and Steve Asmussen's Lagynos, who is looking to avenge a two-length defeat in last year's running. Facteur Cheval makes his North American debut off a career bankroll north of $5.6 million. The $1.5 million Franklin-Simpson goes as race eleven with twelve three-year-olds expected over six and a half furlongs, and John Murtagh ships Take Charge Star across for it after a game fourth in the Prix Maurice de Gheest. Saratoga and Del Mar both close their meets that afternoon as well, so the summer goes out loud.
Summer is ending. The racing is not. Three days, three tracks worth watching, and a lot of money changing hands. Pick your spots, hit some Big 'Uns, and enjoy it.
