Kentucky Downs opening day: Overflow field for Tapit Stakes

The $500,000 Tapit Stakes kicks off Kentucky Downs’s seven-day all-turf meet Thursday with a field of 14 entered, plus two additional horses who need defections to run.

The Tapit purse includes $250,000 from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund for horses foaled in the commonwealth and sired by a Kentucky stallion. Thirteen of the 16 entries are Kentucky-bred and run for the full purse.

Click here for Kentucky Downs entries and results.

Kentucky Downs’s new starting gate makes it possible to run up to 14 starters, though the extra two stalls will be used only a handful of times in stakes at certain distances because of the course’s unusual configuration.

Ted Nicholson, Kentucky Downs’s vice president for racing, said the value comes from giving trainers and horse owners two more opportunities to run for a huge purse.

“We have to be really cognizant of being too tight to a turn,” Nicholson said. “So for sprint races we won’t use the 13 and 14 stalls, because then you immediately go down a hill. We’re trying to be really conscientious of safety.”

The Tapit is restricted to horses who have not won a stakes in 2025, but that does not mean the field isn’t populated with accomplished runners. California-based Hall of Fame trainer Neil Drysdale entered 2024 Tapit runner-up Nineeleventurbo, who was second in a Grade 2 stakes in both 2024 and 2023. In his only start this year, Nineeleventurbo was third in Del Mar’s restricted Wickerr Stakes on July 19.

Record-setting trainer Steve Asmussen, who tied with Brendan Walsh and Joe Sharp as the leading trainers at the 2024 meet with six wins apiece, is sending out possible Tapit favorite Lagynos and the accomplished dirt horse Track Phantom. Lagynos won his 2023 racing debut at Kentucky Downs and has been a solid performer in turf stakes since, including winning last fall’s Commonwealth (G3) at Churchill Downs. Track Phantom, a graded-stakes winner on dirt and fourth as the beaten favorite for last year’s Louisiana Derby (G2), makes his turf debut in the Tapit.

New York-based Hall of Famer Shug McGaughey, who has been an increasing presence at Kentucky Downs, entered the duo of Grade 1-placed Ohana Honor and Sherlock’s Jewel. 

The formerly Ireland-based 4-year-old gelding Mountain Bear was second in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (G1) and third in Keeneland’s Coolmore Turf Mile (G1) last year before being sold and joining Wesley Ward’s barn. In his last start, Mountain Bear had a rough trip when fifth in Saratoga’s Kelso (G3). 

Cameo Performance, trained by Walsh, was eighth in last year’s 1 5/16-mile Nashville Derby (G3) and has subsequently been racing at shorter distances, including a fourth in Saratoga’s mile Poker (G3). 

Multitask, making his stakes debut off two turf allowance victories, has a strong Godolphin pedigree, although on dirt, being from the family of champions Essential Quality and Folklore. Florida-based Steal Sunshine is an accomplished dirt horse who last time out was second by a neck in his first turf start in 28 races.

All-time Kentucky Downs-leading trainer Mike Maker can never be discounted and has a chance to turn $40,000 claim Paros into his latest claimer-to-stakes-winner. 

Among the others, Quatrocento makes his stakes debut after an allowance win and a second at Ellis Park. California-based Astronomer seeks his first win in two years but has multiple graded-stakes placings.