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Press Release

Keeneland’s 2017 Fall Meet, which covers 17 days from Oct. 6-28, will present six Grade 1 races among 17 graded stakes worth $5.325 million and will showcase many of the nation’s top contenders aiming for the Breeders’ Cup World Championships during its signature Fall Stars Weekend on the first three days of the season.

Among the most prestigious race meets in the country, Keeneland’s Fall Meet offers one of the richest purse structures in North America and attracts Thoroughbred racing’s equine and human stars.

Fall Stars Weekend will feature nine graded stakes, including five Grade 1 events anchored by the $1 million Shadwell Turf Mile (G1) that are worth a total of $3.75 million. Eight of those stakes, including the $400,000 First Lady (G1) for the first time, are Breeders’ Cup Challenge “Win and You’re In” races that award the winners automatic berths in the Breeders’ Cup, to be held at Del Mar on Nov. 3-4.

“Keeneland is proud to once again offer an elite schedule of races that are key targets for the sport’s most accomplished horses and budding superstars,” Keeneland Vice President of Racing and Sales Bob Elliston said. “The level of competition between the nation’s leading owners, trainers and jockeys is unparalleled and is sure to thrill racing fans and handicappers alike.”

A total of nine Keeneland Fall Meet stakes are Breeders’ Cup Challenge events. The eight Breeders’ Cup Challenge stakes held over Fall Stars Weekend are the $400,000 Darley Alcibiades (G1) (which awards the winner a berth in the Juvenile Fillies-G1) and $250,000 Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix (G2) (TwinSpires Sprint-G1) on Friday, Oct. 6; Shadwell Turf Mile (Mile-G1), $500,000 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity (G1) (Sentient Jet Juvenile-G1), First Lady (Filly and Mare Turf-G1) and $250,000 Thoroughbred Club of America (G2) (Filly and Mare Sprint-G1) on Saturday, Oct. 7; and $500,000 Juddmonte Spinster (G1) (Distaff-G1) and $250,000 Dixiana Bourbon (G3) (Juvenile Turf-G1) on Sunday, Oct. 8.

The other graded stakes during Fall Stars Weekend, also being run Oct. 7, is the $200,000 Woodford (G2) Presented by Keeneland Select, upgraded for 2017 by the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association. Keeneland added $50,000 to the purse of the Woodford, formerly a Grade 3 race.

The ninth Breeders’ Cup Challenge race at Keeneland is the $150,000 JPMorgan Chase Jessamine (G3) on Wednesday, Oct. 11. The race awards the winner a spot in the starting gate for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1).

The Fall Meet’s sixth Grade 1 stakes, scheduled for Oct. 14, the second Saturday of the season, is the internationally prestigious $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Presented by Lane’s End for 3-year-old fillies at 1 1/8 miles on the turf.