Rees | Money not there for Churchill trainers

Trainer Lynn Whiting has been stabled at Churchill Downs for more than 30 years, winning the 1992 Kentucky Derby for the home team with Lil E. Tee. He has one of his best 2-year-olds in years in Hebbronville, who is 2 for 2 after another impressive performance in an allowance race Monday.

For which Hebbronville traveled 680 miles each way — for the second time. Whiting also sent the colt to Parx Racing in suburban Philadelphia to win a maiden race.

Churchill Downs opens its second September meet Friday night, and it’s good for Kentucky racing that the Louisville track took over dates previously run at struggling Turfway Park. But Hebbronville is the poster child for what has happened to the Kentucky racing circuit once you get past Keeneland (and, now, Kentucky Downs).

It is beyond sad when a local guy can’t afford to run a young horse at home. In Kentucky, thoroughbred capital of the world. Hebbronville ran at Parx the first time because its slots-fattened purse was $45,000 vs. $29,000 at Ellis Park.

The Parx allowance purse was $67,000. A similar race at Churchill offers a $39,000 purse for Kentucky-breds, which Hebbronville is. There was Saturday’s $100,000 Iroquois at Churchill, but Whiting did not want to jump from 4-1/2 furlongs to 1 1/16 miles. Keeneland has a $58,000 allowance race, but it’s more than a month away. Kentucky Downs has a race worth $100,000, but Hebbronville is a dirt horse.

“The owners didn’t flunk math,” Whiting said. “… The horse was sitting on go; you need to run. The game is to develop the horse.”

Purses will be a bit lower this year than the inaugural September meet, but that’s because Churchill management had overly optimistic projections last year. That (along with an additional four days because of a calendar quirk) led to a purse cut for the normally showcase November meet, which also was ravaged by rain.

Purses are set to average $335,800 a day, including stakes, for this 12-date meet, down from $372,805 a year ago. Some of that difference is being absorbed with a $50,000 reduction in stakes, though the Grade II Pocahontas was raised $50,000 to $200,000 in deference to its tradition of producing Kentucky Oaks winners.

But keep in mind that Turfway’s last September meet, which spanned 15 days, had average daily purses of $98,000.

Down I-65, Kentucky Downs will be giving away $1 million a day during its five-date all-turf meet that starts Saturday thanks to its lucrative returns from Instant Racing that mimics slot machines, its abbreviated dates, and lack of casino competition. America’s only European-style course has no problem attracting full fields. But Churchill’s purses have been stagnant for years now.

“The worm turned,” Whiting said, asked if 20 years ago he’d have thought he’d be running at the old Philadelphia Park rather than Churchill. “Years ago, Churchill had the ball.”

Still, I’m looking forward to this September meet. Friday’s card has some grim races, but fields perk up for Saturday and Sunday. It will be interesting to see if betting picks up with the bigger fields compared to the spring, or if Churchill’s increased takeout (the tax on betting) discourages gamblers. (Churchill has said the takeout hike has staved off more significant purse cuts.)

I’m curious to see what future stars come out of Saturday’s Iroquois and Pocahontas, which last year produced four-time graded stakes-winner Tapiture and his Kentucky Oaks-winning stablemate, Untapable.

• Churchill is trying some new things in marketing. Friday’s opening Downs After Dark theme again is college rivalry. But this year the event is positioned as a cancer-research fundraiser, with $1 of each $10 admission going to the V Foundation. Attending will be local sports celebrities as commentator Bob Valvano, Bellarmine basketball coach Scotty Davenport, University of Kentucky basketball great Mike Pratt, University of Louisville football great Chris Redman and members of the Cardinals’ College World Series team.

(I do wish that Churchill would do more to get the young crowd it attracts at night to come back on other days, preferably learning how to bet.)

• I applaud that Saturday’s four stakes are during the afternoon, and the quality won’t be lost on a night crowd more interested in partying than high-level racing. It also should attract tailgaters to Louisville’s nearby night game with Murray State.

Kudos to Churchill’s racing office for admirably strong stakes fields running for not a lot of money. The non-graded, $100,000 Locust Grove attracted Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Ria Antonia, double Grade I winner On Fire Baby and Fleur de Lis winner Molly Morgan. The $100,000, Grade III Ack Ack attracted only five entrants, but they’re all solid stakes winners.

• Great idea for Churchill to show the U of L at Virginia game Sept. 13, with its 12:30 p.m. kickoff, on its mega video screen during the races, along with offering $2 Bud and Budlight.

• Catch ‘em while you can: Larry Collmus will call the races this meet and the fall session before leaving to become New York’s track announcer. Apprentice jockey Juan Saez, who began riding in the U.S. in the final days of Churchill’s spring meet and won the Ellis Park riding title with 51 victories, will ride this meet and perhaps the rest of the fall in Kentucky before relocating to New York.

Contact Jennie Rees at 502-582-4042. Follow her on Twitter @CJ_Jennie, Facebook.com/cjjennie and courier-journal.com/racingblog.