Another year’s gone by, and the transformation of Kentucky Downs from a quaint countryside turf-only track straddling the Kentucky-Tennessee state line into a regional gaming mecca is complete. This time 12 months ago, a state-of-the-art Vegas-style sports book had just opened, along with a brand-new, plush simulcasting area in the Mint Gaming Hall main building. Those major additions, coupled with ongoing enhancements of the finish-line area and other amenities including an on-site hotel, mean visitors to small-town Franklin, Ky., can now enjoy spending time and money at a multi-faceted, completely modern gambling and entertainment venue.

Down the homestretch. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Nothing about this place is “as it used to be” – except the unique and exciting turf-only racing. While Kentucky Downs still holds a very brief boutique meet in late August and early September as it did going all the way back to the 1990s, when the track was called Dueling Grounds, the amount of money wagered on races and offered in purses during this meet has skyrocketed over the past decade-plus.

This fall, Kentucky Downs is preparing for another lucrative and competitive meet, one that offers $37 million in purses over a seven-day period and featuring 20 stakes races worth $25.75 million in purses. The action starts Saturday, Aug. 29, with subsequent dates set for Aug. 30 as well as Sept. 3, 5, 6, 7, and 9. The Sept. 5-7 dates over Labor Day weekend are touted as the U.S. Open of Turf Championships by track officials, and feature 12 stakes in total.

As in 2025, the purse structure for this year’s slate of races includes substantial increases marked for Kentucky-bred race winners from the state’s Thoroughbred development fund. The richest race offered in 2026, the Nashville Derby Invitational Stakes set for Saturday, Sept. 5, has a potential purse of $3 million if a Kentucky-bred runner wins ($1.75 million otherwise).

The catalyst behind Kentucky Downs’ expansion is easy to spot once you walk into the Mint Gaming Hall. Slot-like historical horse racing (HHR) machines first appeared at Kentucky Downs during fall 2011, and since then they’ve been installed at every racetrack across the commonwealth, with a percentage of their handle helping to bolster the horse industry at all levels. The Kentucky General Assembly codified HHR machines as a legal form of pari-mutuel gaming in 2021, stabilizing the revenue source for the future.

Given the amount of money up for grabs, it’s not surprising that what was once a brief stopover for mainly Kentucky-based stables ahead of the prestigious Keeneland fall meet has become a magnet for top turf owners, trainers, and jockeys from across the U.S. and even from overseas. That’s made racing at Kentucky Downs incredibly exciting for fans and potentially lucrative for sharp bettors. Here’s an overview of what to expect this year at the highly anticipated meet.

A Unique Watching and Wagering Experience

A pastoral horse racing vibe on the state line. (Eclipse Sportswire)

The old Kentucky Downs had its charms, no doubt, first among them the novelty of wagering on all-turf racing each race day. Well, that thrill persists, because Kentucky Downs’ turf course itself has remained the same over time – an undulating 1 5/16-mile grass expanse, shaped somewhat like a kidney, that is truly unique in North American racing.

Horses navigating a mile and a half at Kentucky Downs must maneuver through a sharp first turn, travel down and then up a dip in the course on the backstretch (where they might briefly disappear depending on where you’re watching the race from), and then sweep around a bulging round far turn before hitting the long homestretch. Attending live racing therefore offers American racing fans their only chance to get a first-hand sense of what many European turf courses are like.

Watching Kentucky Downs on TV does not come close to giving you the full picture, so to speak, of the course’s challenges – but for those who are tuning in, the track has made significant improvements in their simulcast video, including usage of a drone camera and cable-cam running through the stretch. All of the track’s races will air on FanDuel TV and stream live both on NBC’s Peacock channel and on Kentucky Downs’ YouTube channel. DRF En Espanol also will provide live coverage every day of the meet.

NBC Sports will be at the track to produce two live shows – on opening Saturday, Aug. 29, and on the following Saturday, Sept. 5. The Aug. 29 show runs from 3-5 p.m. ET on NBCSN and streams on Peacock, and on Sept. 5, Kentucky Downs racing will be broadcast nationwide on NBC from 3-5 p.m. ET and stream on Peacock. The Sept. 5 program will feature two Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” qualifiers: the $2 million Kentucky Cup Turf Invitational Stakes (a prep for the Longines Turf) and the $1.75 million Kentucky Downs Turf Sprint Stakes (Prevagen Turf Sprint), along with the $3 million Nashville Derby.

The huge purses offered at Kentucky Downs have unsurprisingly resulted in field sizes averaging more than 10 horses per race in every year save one since 2014 (and that was 9.98 in the COVID year of 2020). That makes for a very intriguing and difficult handicapping challenge for horseplayers, but the payoffs make it one worth tackling; the average win payout on a $2 bet in 2025 was $17.

Speaking of the $2 bettor … in 2026, Kentucky Downs will raise the minimum wager amount for win, place, and show bets from $2 to $5. This decision has generated a lot of discussion within the industry, praise and criticism alike – but taking a dispassionate point of view, a brief, boutique meet such as the one at Kentucky Downs is the perfect site to conduct such an experiment.

2025 "King of the Turf" Matt Miller. (Kentucky Downs photo)

Ken Kirchner, director of wagering development at Kentucky Downs, said in an interview with Paulick Report that track officials will closely examine the betting handle for the 2026 meet when it’s completed and determine whether raising the minimum is worth making permanent moving forward. He also said that wagering officials at other tracks have expressed interest in raising minimum bets for win-place-show and are eager to see whether Kentucky Downs’ move is a success.

Other changes to Kentucky Downs’ wagering menu for 2026 include changing the minimum bet for the late Pick 3 from 50 cents to $3 (a move that has worked at other tracks), changing the late Daily Double minimum from $1 to $5, and also changing the minimum exacta wager for the last race of each day from $1 to $5. As reported by Horse Racing Nation, the track will reduce takeout on Pick 3, Pick 4, and Pick 5 bets to 15%.

For tournament players, this year’s King of the Turf Handicapping Challenge will be held Saturday, Sept. 5. The one-day online tournament via ADW platforms has a buy-in of $2,500 ($1,500 for bankroll, $1,000 to prize pool) with an estimated first-place payout of more than $23,000 in addition to the winning bankroll earnings. At least five packages to the 2027 National Horseplayers Championship in Las Vegas will also be awarded Sept. 5 as well as two berths to this year’s Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge. Last but certainly not least, the King of the Turf winner receives a world championship wrestling-worthy belt to hoist and wear proudly.

Two Kentucky Downs buy-in contests will be held leading into the Sept. 5 tournament – first on Sunday, Aug. 30 with a $400 buy-in (six Sept. 5 seats offered), and then on Thursday, Sept. 3, with a $300 buy-in (three Sept. 5 seats offered).

1/ST BET is the official ADW partner and presenting sponsor for Kentucky Downs’ seven-day meet.

Turf Trends (courtesy of Noel Michaels)

Elite turf racing on a unique course. (Eclipse Sportswire)

There were 79 total races run at the 2025 Kentucky Downs all-turf meet, including 36 sprints and 43 routes. In sprints, Kentucky Downs favored speed horses that raced on or near the pace within a length of the lead. Those front-runners won 18 of the 36 sprints to account for 50% of the races.

The other track trend in Kentucky Downs turf sprints last year was a negative bias against inside post positions. Horses from inside posts 1-3 won only nine of the 36 turf sprints in 2025 (25%). The inside fared even more poorly in 2024 with only six wins in 34 sprints (18%). Horses breaking from middle posts 4-6 won 11 of the sprints (31%) in 2025, and horses from posts 7 and outward did best with 16 turf sprint wins (44% of the races).

The Kentucky Downs course played differently in routes than in sprints in terms of preferred running styles at the 2024 and 2025 meets. Unlike in sprints, speed horses had no advantage in route races. The most effective running style in routes in 2024 belonged to the closers coming from four or more lengths off the pace, who won 18 of the 42 Kentucky Downs routes to account for 43%. Last year from 43 routes, speed horses won 30%, stalkers won 35%, and closers won 35%.

The best posts in Kentucky Downs routes based on last year’s results were the outside posts (49% wins), followed by middle posts (30%), with the inside posts being the worst (21%). Two years ago, middle posts were good and inside posts were bad as posts 1-3 struggled in routes producing just 11 wins in the 42 races to account for 26%. The best place to be in routes in 2024 were the middle posts 4-6 which accounted for 16 of the 42 wins (38%).

Jockeys and Trainers: Longstanding Locals Plus Invaders

"Riders Up!" at Kentucky Downs. (Eclipse Sportswire)

In 2025, Tyler Gaffalione became the all-time leading jockey at Kentucky Downs, surpassing Brian Hernandez Jr., as he tallied six wins during the meet to boost his all-time total to 69. Overall, Gaffalione finished fifth in wins last year as the now-retired international legend Frankie Dettori led the Kentucky Downs meet with nine. Gaffalione and Hernandez will be active during the seven-day meet this year, and overall the jockey colony will be in a state of flux as Kentucky Downs overlaps with the end of Saratoga Race Course’s summer meet more so than usual.

In fact, six of seven race dates at Kentucky Downs in 2026 coincide with Saratoga dates – every one except for Kentucky Downs’ closing day of Wednesday, Sept. 9. That means top Saratoga riders such as Jose Ortiz and Flavien Prat will rack up the frequent flier miles in the coming days as they travel back and forth for big-race mounts between the two tracks. Five-time Eclipse Award-winning jockey Irad Ortiz Jr., currently sidelined by injury, announced tentative plans to return to riding Thursday, Sept. 3 at Kentucky Downs.

The two all-time winningest trainers at Kentucky Downs, Mike Maker and Wesley Ward, are known year-in and year-out to prepare many of their best horses to run on this course in August/September. They’ll be at it again in 2026 and their entrants should play to each trainer’s specialty – Maker’s going long-distance and Ward’s sprinting. 2025 meet leader Brad Cox, Steve Asmussen, Brendan Walsh, Mark Casse, and Joe Sharp have each enjoyed success during recent years and should have a big presence once again. Other trainers known for their horses’ turf achievements, such as Chad Brown and Graham Motion, will bring a handful of runners to Kentucky Downs, and the track’s international profile means that we should see several European trainers on the grounds, especially competing in lucrative stakes.

Planning to Visit Kentucky Downs? What You Need to Know

Vegas-style action Circa Sports Kentucky. (Kentucky Downs photo)

Attending live racing at Kentucky Downs used to be a drive up, park, and roam freely experience, but no longer. It’s still free to park and also to attend the races in the far turn area near the Mint Gaming Hall, where tailgating is permitted, food trucks are set up, and patrons can enter and leave the casino/simulcast/sports book inside the big building throughout the day.

Tickets are required for areas located in front of the homestretch and down by the finish line, with several options available ranging from the open-air Finish Line Pavilion and enclosed, air-conditioned Chalet (both offering inclusive buffet, snacks, and open bar) to the Stretch Run section near the eighth pole where seating is on a first-come, first-served basis under a tent and more food trucks are located. Advance purchase is encouraged, with tickets to the higher-end Finish Line Pavilion and Chalet going fast. Click here to purchase and for more information.

As noted above, Kentucky Downs opened Circa Sports Kentucky last summer, giving the southern wing of Mint Gaming Hall a Vegas-strip ambience. The sportsbook features an 80-foot-wide LED screen, 31-foot-wide odds board, and more than 5,100 square feet of space with premium seating available, plus a live broadcast studio where episodes of the popular VSIN gambling show are taped. Circa Sports Kentucky will be humming particularly on the live Saturday dates of Aug. 29 and Sept. 5, as college football kicks off. Upstairs at the Mint Gaming Hall, Kentucky Downs’ much-improved simulcasting area features a bar and lounge, racecourse views, and a VIP section.

Nashville Day (or Night) Trip

The Ryman, "mother church of country music." (Wikimedia Commons)

When I wrote a preview of Kentucky Downs in 2019, I mentioned that “the Music City, which is only a 45-minute drive south of the track on I-65, is in the midst of a dizzying economic development, construction, and tourism boom.”

That doesn’t even begin to describe Nashville now. Since the COVID-era lockdowns ended, Music City has exploded in population, adding more than 150,000 residents, and generating a thrum of never-ceasing entrepreneurial activity. Back in the 2000s and into the early 2010s, the downtown blocks south of Broadway used to be populated mainly by warehouses, rundown or vacant lots, and the occasional dive bar. Now, they’re packed with high-rise hotels and office/residential buildings, turning the entire downtown area into a construction-fest, the most expensive project being a gargantuan NFL football complex being built right next to the existing home of the Tennessee Titans, Nissan Stadium.

Broadway remains the center of downtown activity, and while it has more than its share of honky-tonk tourist traps and becomes overrun by roving and rowdy young ’uns after sundown, a new development on the block adjacent to both the Ryman Auditorium (original site of the Grand Old Opry) and Bridgestone Arena (where the NHL’s Predators play) offers more adult-centric alternatives. These include a good food hall, a couple of upscale restaurants/bars, and the National Museum of African American Music, which opened in 2021 and enhances its artifact collection with superb audio-visual elements.

As for the rest of Broadway, the iconic Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge is still worth a quick visit just to soak in the ambience of the hundreds of country music legends that used to hang out there, including our just-departed national treasure, Dolly Parton. After that, head out into Nashville’s perimeter for neighborhoods such as Five Points (hipster haven), West End/Vanderbilt (collegians plus the famous Parthenon), and 12 South (a walkable section near Belmont University populated with many shops and eateries).

Nashville’s art-house movie theater, the Belcourt, is located near Vanderbilt, and there are so many famous music venues and stores contained in the metro area checking them out could easily take up an entire day/evening excursion. Some of them are City Winery (south downtown area), Jack White’s Third Man Records/Blue Room Bar (ditto), the Bluebird Café (southwest suburbs), the Basement East (Five Points), Grimey’s Record and Book Shop (northeast of downtown), and Exit In (near Vandy).

Regarding food, the hot fried chicken craze started in Music City, and Hattie B’s and Prince’s are two of the most popular spots. Barbecue restaurants are plentiful, from local joints like Peg Leg Porker and HoneyFire to top-notch chains such as Edley’s and Martin’s. Puckett’s downtown has been an area institution providing the famous Nashville “meat and three” since the 1950s. And the vegan Sunflower Café serves up delicious, fresh meals from its location in the buzzing Berry Hill neighborhood a few miles south of downtown and close to I-65.