Eight of the nine races lost June 23 due to the tornado that hit Churchill Downs’ barn area the previous night will be made up on closing week.
Instead of a make-up date, Churchill Downs will add three races to the Thursday, June 30 program, two to the Friday, July 1 and Saturday, July 2 cards, and one race to the Sunday, July 3 program. No additional races will be added to the closing day card on Monday, July 4.
Because two races were added to Friday night’s card, Churchill Downs has changed its first race post time to 5 p.m. EDT, one hour earlier than its typical “Downs After Dark” 6 p.m. start time. However, the final nighttime racing program of the spring meet will conclude as scheduled at 11:10 p.m.