With Boosts Projected at Ellis and Turfway, Kentucky Nearing Year-Round, Six-Figure MSW Purses

[Wandering Eyes]

Ellis Park is projecting a significant boost for maiden special weight (MSW) purses at its upcoming 25-date summer meet, up from $71,000 last year to “in the $100,000 range” according to Gary Palmisano, Jr., the vice president of racing for Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), the gaming company that is the corporate owner of the Western Kentucky track.

Palmisano also projected that planned transfers of Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund (KTDF) money from Kentucky Downs and the allocation of funding from other sources within CDI's in-state gaming operations would bridge a gap that has existed between MSW purses at Kentucky's top-paying Thoroughbred venues (Kentucky Downs, Churchill Downs and Keeneland Race Course) and the more blue-collar tracks (Ellis and Turfway Park).

“The goal is to have $100,000 [MSW] races across Kentucky all year, and we're getting awfully close. And I think this summer at Ellis Park will be another step in that direction,” Palmisano said.

Although MSW purse levels do not tell the entire story about how healthy a track or a circuit's racing is, they are often cited within the Thoroughbred industry as a useful barometer that indicates the class of horses a track can expect to attract.

Palmisano's disclosures were made at Wednesday's meeting of the KTDF advisory committee.

Last year's MSW races at Ellis were $71,000. In 2023, when Ellis ran its first meet under the ownership of CDI, MSW races were $70,000. In 2022, under different management, that value was $60,000.

For comparison, Kentucky Downs MSW purses for this year's seven-day meet in August and September are projected to be $170,000, the same as last season. MSW races at the all-turf boutique meet were $150,000 in 2023 and 2022. They were $135,000 in 2021.

CDI's flagship track, Churchill Downs, is currently carding 3-and-up MSW races at $120,000 during its April-June meet, a level that hasn't changed since 2022 at both the spring/summer and the two autumn meets.

This April, Keeneland raised spring MSW purses for 3-year-olds and up to $110,000 after being plateaued at $100,000 for the past three years at both the April and October meets.

At Turfway, which is also owned by CDI, MSW races were $80,000 at the 2024-25 winter/spring meet. The previous two seasons they were $70,000. Turfway paid out $62,000 in MSW purses in 2021-22.

Bill Landes III, who represents the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association as the KTDF advisory committee's vice-chair, articulated a concern during Wednesday's meeting about lower-level racing at Ellis this summer.

“The only comment I've gotten this past week is the demise of the little guy and the claiming horses and whatnot,” Landes said. “So I hope when you write your condition book that you keep that in mind. Because you are competing against Hawthorne, and you'll be competing against Horseshoe Indianapolis.”

Baley Hare, the racing secretary at Ellis, replied by giving a food analogy.

“We always need the big steak. Or the big lobster tails are nice,” Hare said, referring to the high-value races. “But you still need the potatoes [meaning the lower-level races]. So you can't forget about the sides.”

Palmisano gave an update on how Ellis is coping in the aftermath of mid-April rainstorms that flooded the track property, which is close to the Ohio River.

“As you all know, Ellis Park was in the flood zone there for a while,” Palmisano said. “We did take on water on the backside. We did have some electrical poles that are down that are being replaced. So horsemen were supposed to move in there this week. That's been backed up to, tentatively, the first of June.

“But all of us are actively working to get the horsemen into the backside as quickly as possible,” Palmisano said. “There's some roof work that needs to be done. I don't know if you all are aware, but two or three days before the flood waters were rising up, there was significant wind damage throughout Ellis Park on a number of barn roofs. So that was only further complicated by the rising flood waters, which prevented us from doing a lot of work back there.”

Palmisano also said that, “They're working to patch a portion of the turf course, which had standing water on it for a while.”

The KTDF is funded by three-quarters of 1% of all money wagered in the state on both live Thoroughbred races and historical horse race gaming, plus 1% of all money wagered on Thoroughbred races via inter-track wagering and whole-card simulcasting. That money, along with funding from each track, goes to pay purses in the state.

At the May 7 meeting, the KTDF advisory board approved the recommendation of allotment requests that the Ellis purse projections were based on. The Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation still has to vote on final approval of the funding at a subsequent meeting.

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