MSW Purses At Keeneland And Churchill To Remain Level This Spring Compared To ’25

[Wandering Eyes]

Purses for 3-year-old and upward maiden special weight (MSW) races at Keeneland Race Course ($110,000) and Churchill Downs ($120,000) are projected to remain level this spring compared to the same seasonal race meets in 2025.

Executives from both tracks disclosed those spring 2026 figures during the Feb. 3 Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund (KTDF) advisory board meeting.

Keeneland's non-juvenile MSW purses had been $100,000 each April between 2022 and 2024 before getting bumped up to $110,000 last year.

Churchill Downs has carded non-juvenile MSW races for $120,000 during its April-June meet since 2022.

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.

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 Tuesday's meeting, the KTDF advisory board approved the recommendation of allotment requests that the Keeneland and Churchill purse estimates 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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