In The Money Telegraph
Wednesday, September 9, 2026 · By ITM Staff
Closing Day at Kentucky Downs
The boutique meet at Kentucky Downs signs off today, and thanks to last week’s heat cancellation, the closing card is stuffed with extra stakes. The rescheduled $750,000 Bowling Green Gold Cup Invitational headlines at two and a sixteenth miles, with Tawny Port the one to beat in the marathon; the $750,000 Kentucky Downs Juvenile Mile brings a pair of Joseph O’Brien shippers; and the $2 million Dueling Grounds Oaks adds a third O’Brien brother to the meet, with Donnacha sending over La Fogata to join runners raced by Aidan and Joseph. It’s a fittingly international send-off for the most European-flavored week on the American calendar.
PTF and JK went through the whole closing card — the shippers, the pace angles, and the guessing games in the maiden heats — and Ray Cotolo has written spot plays across the day. Watch below, and read Cotolo’s card here.
The New Belmont Opens — and a Showdown Beckons
Look ahead nine days and the sport gets a landmark: the renovated Belmont Park, three years and $455 million in the making, reopens on Friday, September 18, and it does so with a heavyweight. The $1 million Jockey Club Gold Cup — a “Win and You’re In’’ to the Breeders’ Cup Classic — is built around a first-ever meeting between reigning Horse of the Year Sovereignty and Japan’s 2025 Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Forever Young. The whole card airs on FOX; opening day is already sold out.
There is a catch, though. Forever Young has landed in New York and is on course, but Sovereignty’s status is genuinely up in the air: trainer Bill Mott said this week the colt developed a hind-foot abscess, called him “at best 50-50” to make the race, and indicated he needs to be back on the track within a couple of days or he won’t run — with Baeza a possible substitute. Entries are drawn Saturday. Both PTF and JK will be on television for the opening; we’ll have it covered from every angle.
Wednesday’s Card
Presque Isle Downs. Chance Rains has a competitive eight-race Wednesday card, first post 3:30 p.m. ET. Rains’ card →
ITM Plus
From Kentucky Downs to a New Belmont
The summer’s boutique meet closes today, the Keeneland September Sale rolls on, and a rebuilt Belmont Park opens next week with the Jockey Club Gold Cup — all of it pointing toward the Breeders’ Cup. ITM Plus members get daily written selections, the members’ bet share, exclusive shows, and full coverage the rest of the way.
More all week at inthemoneypodcast.com and on the ITM YouTube channel, with premium coverage on ITM Plus.
