Highlighted by the prestigious FallStars Weekend, which includes 10 Breeders' Cup Challenge races, Keeneland will offer a record $5.675 million in stakes purses for its fall meet scheduled for Oct. 4 through Oct. 26 at the historic Lexington oval.
Five of the track's fall Grade I races take place on opening weekend, with a Breeders' Cup Mile berth on the line in the $1-million GI Shadwell Turf Mile Oct. 5. Top-level racing kicks off on opening day with the running of the $400,000 GI Darley Alcibiades S. for sophomore fillies, while the male counterpart, the $500,000 GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity, is scheduled for Oct. 5. Turf distaffers feature in the $400,000 GI First Lady S. the same afternoon, while the GI Juddmonte Spinster S. Other Breeders' Cup 'Win and You're In' heats include the GII Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix S. Oct. 4 (Sprint); the GII Thoroughbred Club of America S. Oct. 5 (F/M Sprint); and the GIII Dixiana Bourbon S. (Juvenile Turf) and Indian Summer S. (Juvenile Turf Sprint) Oct. 6. The GII JP Morgan Chase Jessamine S. (Juvenile Fillies Turf) is the final Breeders' Cup Challenge race and is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 9.
Three-year-old turf fillies will be in focus for the sixth of the track's Grade I affairs, the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup, a nine-furlong race scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 12.
The Buffalo Trace Oct. 11 Franklin County S. and the GIII Sycamore S. Oct. 17 will see their purses hiked by $50,000 to $150,000.
The GII Lexus Raven Run S., which last year was won by subsequent GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Sprint winner Shamrock Rose (First Dude), highlights the live racing program Saturday, Oct. 19.
NBC will cover four Breeders' Cup Challenge races on Fall Stars Weekend at Keeneland as part of its 2019 “Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In, presented by America's Best Racing.”
On Saturday, Oct. 5, from 5:30-6:30 p.m. ET, the Shadwell Turf Mile and Breeders' Futurity will air. On Sunday, Oct. 6, NBC will broadcast the Spinster S. and Bourbon S. from 4:30-6 p.m.
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