TVG will present live coverage of Saturday's inaugural $500,000 Colonial Turf Cup from Colonial Downs in New Kent, Va. The telecast, which will air from 5-6 p.m. ET, will be simulcast on Fox Sports Net 2, Fox Sports Mid Atlantic, Fox Sports Ohio, and Sun Sports and will be available in 31 million homes. Jill Byrne will be live at Colonial Downs to bring viewers all the action.The Colonial Turf Cup, a 1 3/16-mile race for 3-year-olds which has drawn a field of 11, is the first leg of the new $5 million "Jacobs Investments Grand Slam of Grass," a four-race series that also includes the grade III Virginia Derby (10 furlongs, 3-year-olds, Colonial Downs, July 16), the grade I Secretariat Stakes (10 furlongs, 3-year-olds, Arlington Park, Aug.13) and the grade I John Deere Breeders' Cup Turf (3-and-up, 12 furlongs, Belmont Park, Oct. 29). Purses for these races total $3.65 million and any horse sweeping all four events will earn a $3 million bonus. Saturday's race features six stakes winners, led by Interpatation, winner of the grade III Palm Beach Stakes at Gulfstream Park last March. His main challengers will be two-time stakes winner Exceptional Ride, who is trained by Ken McPeek, as well as the Todd Pletcher-trained English Channel, winner of the Woodlawn Stakes at Pimlico; Touched by Madness, winner of the Jersey Derby at Monmouth Park; Mad Adam, winner of the Pin Oak Stud USA Stakes at Lone Star Park; and Spring House, who was second in the Jersey Derby.
Rounding out the field are the Bill Mott-trained and George Steinbrenner-owned Classic Campaign, El Viaje, Wall Street Scandal, Criminal Mind, and Crown Point.