Five things to know about the 2024 Keeneland Spring Meet, including Derby, Oaks prep races

High-profile horse racing action returns to Central Kentucky this week.

The 2024 Keeneland Spring Meet — which will feature 16 days of racing from April 5-26 (no racing on Mondays and Tuesdays) — will again serve as an important run-in to a historic 150th edition of the Kentucky Derby on May 4 at Churchill Downs in Louisville.

This year’s Spring Meet will award a record purse across nearly 20 stakes races, and it will also celebrate the 100th running of the $1 million Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, a key Kentucky Derby prep race.

Several changes will take effect at Keeneland for this year’s Spring Meet, including changes to wagering offerings and a new parking setup due to ongoing construction.

With the Spring Meet set to begin Friday afternoon, here are five things to know as horse racing season returns to Lexington.

Keeneland Spring Meet to offer a season-record purse for stakes races

This year’s Spring Meet will award a season-record amount of money across 19 stakes races.

A total of $8.1 million will be dished out to participants. Leading the way is the Grade 1, $1 million Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (Saturday). The Grade 1 Central Bank Ashland (Friday), Grade 1 Madison (Saturday), Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile (April 12) and Grade 1 Jenny Wiley (April 13) are each worth $600,000.

The Grade 3 Transylvania (Friday), Lafayette (Friday), Grade 2 Appalachian presented by Japan Racing Association (Saturday), Grade 2 Beaumont presented by Keeneland Select (Sunday) and Grade 3 Stonestreet Lexington (April 13) are all worth $400,000.

The Toyota Blue Grass Stakes is a Kentucky Derby prep race that will award Derby qualifying points to the top five finishers on a 100-50-25-15-10 scale. The Stonestreet Lexington is also a Derby prep race (the final one) and will award qualifying points to the top five finishers on a 20-10-6-4-2 scale.

The Central Bank Ashland is a Kentucky Oaks prep race that will award Oaks qualifying points to the top five finishers on a 100-50-25-15-10 scale.

Both the Derby and the Oaks will celebrate their 150th editions next month at Churchill Downs.

Blue Grass Stakes celebrates its 100th running

The opening weekend of each Keeneland Spring Meet is always highlighted by the Blue Grass Stakes, a key Kentucky Derby prep race that features a field of 3-year-olds looking to secure their spots in the 20-horse Derby starting gate.

This year is no different, as a field of 11 horses were assigned post positions Tuesday for Saturday’s race (5:52 p.m. post time).

But, the 2024 running of the Blue Grass Stakes also has a historic meaning to it: It will be the 100th edition of the race.

The Blue Grass Stakes (1 1/8 miles on the main track) has been held at Keeneland since the track’s first Spring Meet in April 1937, and the 1 1/8-mile race was inaugurated in 1911 at the Kentucky Association track in Lexington. The Blue Grass Stakes was run at the Kentucky Association track from 1911 through 1914, and again from 1919 to 1926.

The full list of starters (in post position order, with trainer, jockey and morning-line odds) for the 2024 Blue Grass Stakes is below.

▪ 1. Top Conor (Chad Brown, Jose Ortiz), 15-1.

▪ 2. Be You (Todd Pletcher, Irad Ortiz Jr.), 8-1.

▪ 3. Seize the Grey (D. Wayne Lukas, Nik Juarez), 20-1.

▪ 4. Dornoch (Danny Gargan, Luis Saez), 3-1.

▪ 5. Good Money (Chad Brown, Javier Castellano), 20-1.

▪ 6. Just a Touch (Brad Cox, Florent Geroux), 7-2.

▪ 7. Lat Long (Kenny McPeek, Brian Hernandez Jr.), 30-1.

▪ 8. Epic Ride (John Ennis, Adam Beschizza), 20-1.

▪ 9. Mugatu (Jeff Engler, Joe Talamo), 30-1.

▪ 10. Sierra Leone (Chad Brown, Tyler Gaffalione), 2-1.

▪ 11. Encino (Brad Cox, Flavien Prat), 12-1.

Morning-line second choice Dornoch ranks highest on the Kentucky Derby qualifying leaderboard with 60 points — good for 10th place.

Favorite Sierra Leone is 12th with 55 qualifying points.

Seize the Grey has 27 points (22nd place), followed by Just a Touch (25 points, 27th), Encino (20 points, 29th), Epic Ride (10 points, 43rd), Good Money (10 points, 48th), Lat Long (6 points, 53rd) and Be You (3 points, 66th).

11 horses set to run in 100th Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland. See the full field with odds.

Top Kentucky Oaks contenders to make 2024 debuts in Ashland

The Central Bank Ashland is still a few years away from celebrating its centennial — this will be the 87th running of the race — but there is still significant fanfare surrounding Friday’s edition of the 1 1/16-mile event on Keeneland’s main track.

That’s largely because a pair of highly regarded 3-year-old fillies will be making their 2024 debuts in the race.

This includes the undefeated Just F Y I, trained by Bill Mott and to be ridden by Junior Alvarado. Just F Y I is a perfect 3-for-3 in her racing career, and has won two graded stakes: The Grade 1 Frizette Stakes in October and the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in November.

Also making her 2024 debut in Friday’s race is Candied, who is trained by two-time Ashland winner Todd Pletcher. Candied finished third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, and previously won the Grade 1 Darley Alcibiades last fall at Keeneland.

All of Pletcher’s Ashland wins have come in recent memory: He won the 2021 race with Malathaat and the 2022 race with Nest.

The full list of starters (in post position order, with trainer, jockey and morning-line odds) for the Ashland is below. Of these horses, the following are on the points leaderboard to qualify for the Kentucky Oaks: Jody’s Pride (fifth with 65 points), Just F Y I (16th with 40 points,) Candied (27th with 19 points), Leslie’s Rose (32nd with 15 points) and Shimmering Allure (34th with 13 points).

The Ashland will award Oaks qualifying points to the top five finishers on a 100-50-25-15-10 scale.

The 150th edition of the Grade 1, $1.5 million Kentucky Oaks (14 starters) will be run May 3 at Churchill Downs in Louisville.

▪ 1. Candied (Todd Pletcher, Luis Saez), 6-1.

▪ 2. Standoutsensation (Thomas M. Amoss, Edgar Morales), 30-1.

▪ 3. Leslie’s Rose (Todd Pletcher, Irad Ortiz Jr.), 4-1.

▪ 4. Halina’s Forte (Phil Bauer, Tyler Gaffalione), 8-1.

▪ 5. Shimmering Allure (Kenny McPeek, Brian Hernandez Jr.), 10-1.

▪ 6. Just F Y I (Bill Mott, Junior Alvarado), 3-1.

▪ 7. Impel (Brad Cox, Florent Geroux), 2-1.

▪ 8. Jody’s Pride (Jorge Abreu, Flavien Prat), 8-1.

Changes to Keeneland’s parking setup due to construction project

A big change for this year’s Spring Meet comes in the process that precedes entering the venue. Because of a $93 million renovation project that’s underway and won’t be finished until the 2025 Fall Meet, parking will be impacted for those going to the track.

One of the parking changes that will go into effect this Spring Meet is that parking in paved rows will be by paid permit only.

According to the Keeneland website, a limited number of paved lot/row parking spaces are available each day. These spaces must be purchased online in advance.

The cost? Permits are $10 for Wednesdays or Thursdays and $20 for Fridays, Saturday or Sundays.

Handicapped parking, which also is in the paved rows, will remain free, but there are no reservations for those spaces. Complimentary shuttles from the parking lot to the South Grandstand Entrance will be available.

Free parking still exists for those who don’t want to pay.

Parking in The Meadow and The Hill grass lots will still be free. Shuttles will run from those locations to bring patrons to the shuttle depot on Keeneland Boulevard. Once there, patrons will walk around the construction zone or sales pavilion to the grandstand entrances.

There is a separate spot for ride share pickups and drop-offs.

Keeneland has wagering change for Spring Meet

Starting with the Spring Meet, Keeneland will be reducing the takeout on a Daily Double wager from 22% to 15%.

This wager — which requires a handicapper to pick the winning horses in two consecutive races — is offered on all but the final race each meet day.

This type of wager is horse racing’s equivalent to a two-game parlay, according to Keeneland’s director of wagering development, Jim Goodman.

“This pricing is advantageous to our core horseplayers but also is a great opportunity for emerging bettors to try horse racing’s equivalent of a ‘two-game parlay,’” Goodman said in a news release.

The 2023 Spring Meet at Keeneland generated a record all-sources wagering handle of $224,348,745, which surpassed the previous record of $219,284,979 set during the 2022 Spring Meet.

All-sources betting on Keeneland racing during the 2023 Fall Meet totaled $201.7 million, the second-highest Fall Meet handle and fourth-highest handle in track history.

Three horses died as the result of racing incidents during the 2023 Spring Meet, but just one horse died as the result of racing incidents during the 2023 Fall Meet.

The four total horse deaths at Keeneland in 2023 were the most at the Lexington track since nine died following racing incidents in 2019.

11 horses set to run in 100th Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland. See the full field with odds.

Expert picks for the 100th Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, a key Kentucky Derby prep race