Casino Expected to Sponsor Spiral Stakes

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Turfway Park is expected to soon announce this year's Spiral Stakes will be sponsored by Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati, the under-construction gaming facility owned by its parent company.

The $550,000 Spiral (gr. III), for 3-year-olds looking to earn points toward the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), is scheduled for March 23 at the Kentucky racetrack. Other stakes on that card are the $100,000 Bourbonette Oaks (gr. III) for 3-year-old fillies and the $75,000 Team Valor Rushaway Stakes for 3-year-olds.

An earlier stakes schedule had the Spiral purse at $500,000.

In another change, the $50,000 Valdale Stakes for 3-year-olds fillies has been replaced by a $30,000 allowance prep for the Bourbonette on Turfway's March 2 program, which features the $75,000 John Battaglia Memorial Stakes, the final local prep for the Spiral.

Horseshoe Casino Cincinnati is owed by Rock Ohio Caesars, a partnership of Caesars Entertainment and Rock Gaming. The casino, located just across the Ohio River from Turfway Park, is expected to open this spring, the company has said.

Rock Ohio Caesars also operates Horseshoe Casino Cleveland. The Caesars-Rock Ohio partnership now owns 90% of Turfway, with Keeneland owning the other 10%.

Caesars and Rock Gaming also are partners in Thistledown, the Thoroughbred racetrack near Cleveland. The partners this winter have been redeveloping the track's grandstand to accommodate more than 1,100 video lottery terminals expected to begin operating this spring.

The $88 million project will include restaurants and bars as well as racing-related renovations in the clubhouse.

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