Keeneland’s 2021 Fall Meet features record purses, expanded stakes schedule
Keeneland has been unable to provide its patrons a full, traditional race-day experience since the fall of 2019 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. In anticipation of a complete return to normal by this autumn, the Lexington racetrack announced an expanded schedule and a Fall Meet record $6 million in stakes purses for 2021.
The Fall Meet, which covers 17 days of racing from Oct. 8-30, will open with the signature Fall Stars Weekend, feature 10 Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” races, offer two new $150,000 stakes for 2-year-olds and reposition several stakes to create a total of six race cards with multiple stakes.
The Fall Meet, which features 22 stakes races, including 17 graded events, will also celebrate Keeneland’s 85th anniversary. The racetrack opened Oct. 15, 1936.
“The Keeneland Fall Meet is incredibly important, and 85 years of racing at Keeneland is a testament to the uncommon vision of our founders, who tirelessly worked to create an entity that would take a leadership role in the global Thoroughbred industry and in the Central Kentucky community,” Keeneland President and CEO Shannon Arvin said in a news release. “This summer, as we look forward to welcoming back fans and the superstars who will compete here, we feel the anticipation building for the Fall Meet and we look forward to celebrating the anniversary.”
Keeneland said it will announce ticket information for the Fall Meet in early July.
In 2020, Keeneland canceled its Spring Meet, ran an abbreviated Summer Meet with no spectators in attendance, then hosted a Fall Meet and the Breeders’ Cup World Championships without the general public on hand. (As a result, Keeneland was awarded the opportunity to host the Breeders’ Cup again in 2022.)
The 2021 Spring Meet was opened to a limited amount of spectators to maintain social distancing as pandemic conditions began to improve.
All existing stakes for the 2021 Fall Meet have been restored to 2019 purse levels except for the Rood & Riddle Dowager, which received a boost from $125,000 to $150,000, and the Keeneland Turf Mile and Bourbon, which remain at 2020 levels of $750,000 and $200,000, respectively.
Fall Stars Weekend includes nine graded stakes races that are part of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series, meaning winners automatically earn berths in the World Championships at Del Mar in November.
Five of those races are Grade 1 events: the $400,000 Darley Alcibiades on Friday, Oct. 8; the $750,000 Keeneland Turf Mile, the $500,000 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity and the $400,000 First Lady on Saturday, Oct. 9; and the $500,000 Juddmonte Spinster on Sunday, Oct. 10.
The Fall Meet’s sixth Grade 1 stakes is the $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup, to be run Saturday, Oct. 16.
To enhance the final days of the Fall Meet, Keeneland has introduced two new $150,000 juvenile stakes, the Myrtlewood and Bowman Mill; revived the Perryville and Bryan Station, both fixtures for 3-year-olds; and scheduled the Valley View and Hagyard Fayette to create multiple stakes cards.
2021 Keeneland Fall Meet stakes schedule
Oct. 8: $400,000, Grade 1 Darley Alcibiades for 2-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles.
Oct. 8: $250,000, Grade 2 Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix for 3-year-olds and up at 6 furlongs.
Oct. 9: $750,000, Grade 1 Keeneland Turf Mile for 3-year-olds and up at 1 mile (turf).
Oct. 9: $500,000, Grade 1 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity for 2-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles.
Oct. 9: $400,000, Grade 1 First Lady Presented by UK Healthcare for fillies and mares 3 years old and up at 1 mile (turf).
Oct. 9: $250,000, Grade 2 Thoroughbred Club of America for fillies and mares 3 years old and up at 6 furlongs.
Oct. 9: $200,000, Grade 2 Woodford Presented by TVG for 3-year-olds and up at 5 ½ furlongs (turf).
Oct. 10: $500,000, Grade 1 Juddmonte Spinster for fillies and mares 3 years old and up at 1 1/8 miles.
Oct. 10: $200,000, Grade 2 Bourbon for 2-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles (turf).
Oct. 10: $200,000 Indian Summer for 2-year-olds at 5 1/12 furlongs (turf).
Oct. 13: $200,000, Grade 2 JPMorgan Chase Jessamine for 2-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles (turf).
Oct. 15: $150,000, Grade 3 Buffalo Trace Franklin County for fillies and mares 3 years old and up at 5 ½ furlongs (turf).
Oct. 16: $500,000, Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Presented by Dixiana for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/8 miles (turf).
Oct. 22: $150,000, Grade 3 Sycamore for 3-year-olds and up at 1 ½ miles (turf).
Oct. 23: $250,000, Grade 2 Lexus Raven Run for 3-year-old fillies at 7 furlongs.
Oct. 23: $150,000 Perryville for 3-year-olds at 7 furlongs.
Oct. 24: $150,000, Grade 3 Rood & Riddle Dowager for fillies and mares 3 years old and up at 1 ½ miles (turf).
Oct. 29: $150,000, Grade 3 Valley View for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/16 miles (turf).
Oct. 29: $150,000 Myrtlewood for 2-year-old fillies at 6 furlongs.
Oct. 30: $200,000, Grade 2 Hagyard Fayette for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/8 miles.
Oct. 30: $150,000 Bryan Station for 3-year-olds at 1 mile (turf).
Oct. 30: $150,000 Bowman Mill for 2-year-olds at 6 furlongs.
