Thorpedo Anna Claims the Lilies for the 150th Running of the Longines Kentucky Oaks

LOUISVILLE, KY., May 03, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Churchill Downs Incorporated (Nasdaq: CHDN) (the "Company", "CDI", "we") announced a new Kentucky Oaks Day handle record at Churchill Downs Racetrack as Thorpedo Anna captured the Lilies in the 150^th running of the Longines Kentucky Oaks. Even under cloudy skies, 107,236 enthusiastic race goers gathered to watch America’s premier race for 3-year-old fillies.

Wagering from all sources on the full Kentucky Oaks race day card set a new record of $75.3 million, eclipsing last year’s record of $74.9 million despite inclement weather and a persistently sloppy track. All-sources wagering on the Kentucky Oaks race was $21.7 million, down 3% from last year.

Thorpedo Anna, owned by Brookdale Racing, Mark Edwards, breeder Judy Hicks and Magdalena Racing, trained by Kenny McPeek and ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr., sped to the finish line to win the Longines Kentucky Oaks by 4 ¾ lengths at odds of 4-1 and with a final time of 1:50.83. It is the first Oaks victory for the owners, trainer and jockey. The Kentucky-bred filly, sired by Fast Anna, now has lifetime earnings of $1.4 million bolstered by the newly increased Longines Kentucky Oaks purse. 

“Congratulations to the connections of Thorpedo Anna on today’s win,” said Churchill Downs President Mike Anderson. “The 150^th Kentucky Oaks will be remembered as a historic day as we celebrate our deep-rooted traditions with our fans, sponsors, horsemen and horseplayers.”

CDI continued using Kentucky Oaks as a platform to raise money for women’s health initiatives and welcomed 150 breast and ovarian cancer survivors to walk the historic racetrack prior to the running of Longines Kentucky Oaks for the 16^th annual Survivors Parade. This year’s moving tradition was emphasized by a live performance during the Kentucky Oaks Survivors Parade as emerging country star Lana Scott thrilled the crowd with two original songs, sending a message of hope, courage, and strength to 150 fighters and survivors.

Churchill Downs’ Oaks charitable beneficiaries were Derby Divas representing the Norton Cancer Institute and Horses and Hope representing the Kentucky Cancer Program. Since its inception, the Oaks Survivors Parade charitable initiative has raised over $1.5 million for women’s health advocacy providing preventative access to underserved women throughout Kentucky, including those who work in the equine industry.

About Churchill Downs Incorporated

Churchill Downs Incorporated (“CDI”) (Nasdaq: CHDN) has been creating extraordinary entertainment experiences for nearly 150 years, beginning with the company’s most iconic and enduring asset, the Kentucky Derby. Headquartered in Louisville, Kentucky, CDI has expanded through the development of live and historical racing entertainment venues, the growth of the TwinSpires horse racing online wagering business and the operation and development of regional casino gaming properties. www.churchilldownsincorporated.com

This news release contains various “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are typically identified by the use of terms such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “predict,” “project,” “seek,” “should,” “will,” “scheduled,” and similar words or similar expressions (or negative versions of such words or expressions), although some forward-looking statements are expressed differently.

Although we believe that the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are reasonable, we can give no assurance that such expectations will prove to be correct. Important factors, that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations include the following: the occurrence of extraordinary events, such as terrorist attacks, public health threats, civil unrest, and inclement weather, including as a result of climate change; the effect of economic conditions on our consumers' confidence and discretionary spending or our access to credit, including the impact of inflation; additional or increased taxes and fees; the impact of any pandemics, epidemics, or outbreaks of infectious diseases, including possible new variants of COVID-19, and related economic matters on our results of operations, financial conditions and prospects; lack of confidence in the integrity of our core businesses or any deterioration in our reputation; loss of key or highly skilled personnel, as well as general disruptions in the general labor market; the impact of significant competition, and the expectation that competition levels will increase; changes in consumer preferences, attendance, wagering, and sponsorships; risks associated with equity investments, strategic alliances and other third-party agreements; inability to respond to rapid technological changes in a timely manner; concentration and evolution of slot machine and historical racing machine (HRM) manufacturing and other technology conditions that could impose additional costs; failure to enter into or maintain agreements with industry constituents, including horsemen and other racetracks; inability to successfully focus on market access and retail operations for our TwinSpires sports betting business and effectively compete; online security risk, including cyber-security breaches, or loss or misuse of our stored information as a result of a breach including customers’ personal information could lead to government enforcement actions or other litigation; reliance on our technology services and catastrophic events and system failures disrupting our operations; inability to identify, complete, or fully realize the benefits of our proposed acquisitions, divestitures, development of new venues or the expansion of existing facilities on time, on budget, or as planned; difficulty in integrating recent or future acquisitions into our operations; cost overruns and other uncertainties associated with the development of new venues and the expansion of existing facilities; general risks related to real estate ownership and significant expenditures, including risks related to environmental liabilities; personal injury litigation related to injuries occurring at our racetracks; compliance with the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act or other similar laws and regulations, or applicable anti-money laundering regulations; payment-related risks, such as risk associated with fraudulent credit card or debit card use; work stoppages and labor problems; risks related to pending or future legal proceedings and other actions; highly regulated operations and changes in the regulatory environment could adversely affect our business; restrictions in our debt facilities limiting our flexibility to operate our business; failure to comply with the financial ratios and other covenants in our debt facilities and other indebtedness; increases to interest rates (due to inflation or otherwise), disruption in the credit markets or changes to our credit ratings may adversely affect our business; increase in our insurance costs, or inability to obtain similar insurance coverage in the future, and any inability to recover under our insurance policies for damages sustained at our properties in the event of inclement weather and casualty events; and other factors described under the heading “Risk Factors” in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in other filings we make with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

We do not undertake any obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.