Ascot and the Jockey Club link up with Churchill Downs to provide wildcard entries for runners at Kentucky Derby meeting

Ascot, the Jockey Club and Churchill Downs have joined forces to provide increased opportunities for horses who run at next year’s Kentucky Derby meeting to participate in the Derby, Oaks and Royal Ascot.

A runner from each of the two turf contests at the Kentucky Derby meeting will receive a wildcard entry and a travel incentive for the Epsom Classics four weeks after running at Churchill Downs in May.

The winner of the Edgewood Stakes on May 3 will automatically be entered for the Oaks, while the winner of the American Turf Stakes a day later will receive a wildcard entry for the Derby.

Wildcard entries for three Royal Ascot Group 1s will also be up for grabs at Churchill Downs with the Twin Spires Turf Sprint Stakes providing an increased chance of the first US winner of the King’s Stand Stakes, which has been renamed the King Charles III Stakes, since Lady Aurelia in 2017.

The winner of the Group 1 Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic Stakes, run over a mile and one furlong, will also gain automatic entry for either the Queen Anne Stakes or Prince of Wales’s Stakes. The Bill Mott-trained Yoshida was fifth in the 2018 Queen Anne when attempting to follow up his Turf Classic success.

It was revealed last week that a record £10 million of prize-money would be on offer at Royal Ascot and on the royal meeting’s latest incentive Nick Smith, director of racing and public affairs at Ascot, said: “We are very excited to be working with Churchill Downs and the Jockey Club on this exciting new initiative.

“We have a rich modern history of American runners at Royal Ascot and their success always adds hugely to the meeting – with NBC covering the event all week, the Saturday on the main network channel, hopefully this innovative link-up of races will add a new dimension to their and ITV’s coverage.”

Winners of the Queen Anne and Prince of Wales’s Stakes will gain entry for the Arlington Million at Colonial Downs in August, while a wildcard for the Beverly D Stakes on the same card is also available for the Falmouth Stakes at Newmarket’s July meeting as part of the reciprocal nature of the agreement. If any winners are not able to take up the invite, the racecourses can invite placed horses.

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