Churchill Downs has a deeper Saturday stakes card than the Derby and Oaks points races alone. The $400,000 Locust Grove Stakes brings together a compact field of six fillies and mares on September 12, led by champion Splendora and three time Grade 1 winner Immersive.
The Grade 2 Locust Grove is scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on dirt as Race 9, with a listed post time of 4:58 p.m. Eastern. It is one of five stakes on an 11 race program that also includes the Iroquois, Pocahontas, Louisville Thoroughbred Society and Open Mind.
Splendora brings championship form
Splendora enters with nine wins from 15 starts and more than $1.6 million in earnings. Her resume includes Grade 1 victories in the Beholder Mile and Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint. She has also won her last two starts, the Shawnee Stakes at Churchill Downs and the Molly Pitcher at Monmouth Park.
Bob Baffert trains Splendora, and Flavien Prat has the mount from post 1.
Immersive offers a major challenge
Immersive gives the race another proven champion level runner. The Brad Cox trainee was the champion 2 year old filly of 2024 after victories in the Spinaway, Alcibiades and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. She comes into the Locust Grove after a gate to wire victory in the Fleur de Lis at Churchill Downs.
Luis Saez rides Immersive from post 4.
Locust Grove field
The official field, from the rail outward, is Splendora, Simply Joking, Yes It Tiz, Immersive, Miss Authentic and Chilled.
Nitrogen was not entered. Churchill Downs reported that trainer Mark Casse plans to wait for a later opportunity at either Belmont Park or Keeneland.
Why the race matters
The Locust Grove gives Churchill Downs a high quality older female dirt race on the same program that launches the Road to the Kentucky Derby and Road to the Kentucky Oaks. The presence of two accomplished Grade 1 winners also gives the race relevance as the season moves toward the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland.
For the juvenile races on the same card, see OTB Bet’s Iroquois Stakes preview and Pocahontas Stakes preview. More permanent race coverage is available in the Major Races center.
Source: Churchill Downs, official September 8 stakes advances and September Meet schedule.
