CHURCHILL DOWNS ONE TURN DIRT MILE

In Return to Churchill, a Return to One-Turn Dirt Mile
A look at distances and quirks for this year's Breeders' Cup.


Churchill Downs hosting the Breeders' Cup for the ninth time will provide the world championship races with some quirks and distance changes of which horsemen, handicappers, and fans will want to be mindful.

Churchill's one-mile dirt track, with its backstretch chute, allows a one-turn Dirt Mile (G1) with horses running a full half mile before the bend. But other races—the TwinSpires Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1), the Tito's Handmade Vodka Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1), and the Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf (G1T)—have relatively short runs to the first turn. And there's a new wrinkle implemented only recently at the Louisville track: 5 1/2-furlong turf races, up from five furlongs, which will be in place for the Turf Sprint (G1T) and Juvenile Turf Sprint.

Klimt
Opinions about the quirks differ among Churchill regulars, but all interviewed say the ability to deal with them depends mostly on the horse.

The most significant of these quirks may be at the 1 1/16-mile on dirt distance, where Churchill's mile dirt oval gives those horses a little less than an eighth of a mile to the start of the clubhouse turn. It's the distance of the Juvenile, which has the maximum 14 horses, and Juvenile Fillies, which has 10.

In the 16 editions of those two Breeders' Cup races at Churchill, only two horses have won from post position 10 or farther out: Arazi from the 14 in the Juvenile and Pleasant Stage from the 14 in the Juvenile Fillies, both in 1991. The next farthest out from the rail was My Miss Aurelia from post 9 in the 2011 Juvenile Fillies.

Sure that's a small sample, but according to Brisnet.com, those numbers mesh with overall numbers for all 862 Churchill 1 1/16-mile dirt races since 2011 (as of the end of the September meet). Posts 1 to 6 all have double-digit win percentages.

Trainer Joe Sharp said the outside at the distance "would be the most challenging post position to overcome," but not insurmountable—a view shared by fellow Churchill regulars trainer Dale Romans and jockey Florent Geroux.

"If the horse is quick from the gate, I think you can overcome that," Geroux said. "... It can be a disadvantage, but anything can be done when you have the right horse."

Sky Kingdom
Romans said the outside post at that distance basically leaves connections with two choices.

"Out there you're either going to go and drop over or you're going to settle for coming from behind," Romans said. "And if you're fast enough, it really doesn't seem to make a whole lot of difference to me."

Inside Key in Filly & Mare Turf 
The other race with a short run to the turn is the 1 3/8-mile Filly & Mare Turf. In the four Churchill runnings, all winners have been from post 8 or inside.

For the connections of 2018 race entrant Mom's On Strike, the distance was a plus, trainer Sharp said before the post position draw where his mare got the 11 in a 14-horse field.

"For us, the mile and three-eighths presents opportunity more than challenges," Sharp said. "She's won on Churchill's lawn and won the mile and a half Bewitch Stakes (G3) at Keeneland. 

"We're very grateful for the extra distance and having a win over the track," he said.

Commissioner
The distance gives more time to overcome being outside, said Geroux, who is not riding in the race.

One-Turn Dirt Mile 'a Funny Spot'
While the Dirt Mile, which debuted in 2007, isn't a change in distance from last year, it will be only the third time around one turn—all at Churchill.

"This one-turn mile's a funny spot," Romans said. "That's a race you want to be on the outside. ... This is just my betting angles—the outside's a better spot to be, because it's not a straight one-turn if you look down the chute. It's angled. So they're coming around and those horses can get trapped down on the fence a little bit."

Turf Sprint, Juvenile Turf Sprint Gain Extra Sixteenth
Churchill's Matt Winn Turf Course saw its first 5 1/2-furlong races this year, which will allow the Breeders' Cup turf sprints to have an extra 16th of a mile. That includes the Turf Sprint, which was five furlongs at Churchill in 2010 and 2011, and also will allow the new Juvenile Turf Sprint to be run at 5 1/2.

The additional half-furlong is "a huge difference for closing sprinters," Sharp said. "It makes a huge difference, especially with a long stretch like Churchill."

Prior to the draw, Geroux, who will break from post 1 aboard Ruby Nation in Saturday's Turf Sprint, said the placement of the gate could be a bigger factor than the added distance.

"Actually where we break from the gate, I would say the first two horses inside maybe would have a little bit of a disadvantage because they come out a little bit on the gap," he said, comparing it with the pinch that inside post position starters can see in the 20-horse Kentucky Derby (G1) where, for horses starting inside, "if you go straight, you go straight in the fence."

Starting on the hedge, as opposed to having a temporary rail, would mitigate that some, Geroux said.

Significant Run-Up in TwinSpires Sprint
Romans offered one more quirk: The run-up in a six-furlong race at Churchill makes the race nearly 6 1/2 furlongs in distance. The run-up is because the starting gate isn't positioned in the gap where the chute and the clubhouse turn meet.

"At six furlongs when they start timing them, they're at a dead run already," he said, noting the extra distance can lead to some eye-popping quarter-mile fractions. "This has to be one of the longest run-ups on any three-quarters-of-a-mile race."