In The Money Telegraph
Sunday, August 30, 2026 · By ITM Staff
The Road to the Belt Begins: King of the Turf Kicks Off
One of the sport’s most distinctive contests gets underway today. The King of the Turf Handicapping Challenge at Kentucky Downs — presented by Race Lens — runs across three live-money events, and the opener is this afternoon on the all-turf Sunday card. It’s a $400 buy-in ($200 entry, $200 bankroll), win/place/show, exacta and daily double only, a minimum of five races at $40 a race. Based on 140 entries the pool comes to roughly $28,000, with the top two earning an NHC seat plus a seat into the rich September 5 final, and finishers three through six punching through to that finale as well.
The series builds to a $2,500 finale on Saturday, September 5, whose winner is crowned King of the Turf: National Turf Handicapping Champion — and takes home the championship belt. Defending champion Matt Miller is back to defend it. Today’s contest, and the Thursday, September 3 feeder, are the discounted ways in. Registration runs through the tournament ADWs; for details and to enter, contact tournament director Brian Skirka at Monmouth Park. And you can play with our preferred contest partner for this event, TwinSpires.
Leading Change Shocks the Travers as the Favorites Fall
The rubber match everyone came for never got its ending. In a Travers built around Golden Tempo and Renegade, it was a colt in only his third career start who stole the Midsummer Derby — Leading Change ran down Preakness winner Napoleon Solo in the final strides to win by a half-length in 2:02.98, paying $22.76. Manny Franco rode the Brad Cox trainee, who came in off nothing more than a maiden win and a score in the Indiana Derby.
Both classic winners came up empty. Napoleon Solo, the Preakness hero, held second; Golden Tempo, unbeaten in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont and sent off the heavy favorite, could manage only third, and Renegade — the other half of the anticipated duel — never landed a blow. It was a reminder of why the Travers is so notoriously hard to win, and of how thin the line is between a coronation and an upset. Leading Change, a son of Gun Runner and a half-brother to the Grade 1 winner Shedaresthedevil, now has a very different set of questions to answer on the road to the Breeders’ Cup.
Chad Brown Owns His Home Track
If the Travers belonged to a longshot, the day belonged to Brad Cox’s fellow conditioner. Trainer Chad Brown turned Travers Day into a personal showcase at his hometown track, taking three of the afternoon’s five Grade 1s — and he trains the Travers winner too. With the Klaravich Stables and Flavien Prat team, Brown swept the Grade 1 Personal Ensign with Fully Subscribed and the Grade 1 Ballerina with Ways and Means, who romped by five and a half lengths to lock up a “Win and You’re In’’ berth to the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint.
Elsewhere on the card, Hymn took the Grade 1 Forego and the French-bred Naomis rocketed home in her North American debut to win the Grade 2 Lake Placid. And a footnote worth noting: for the second straight Saturday, a son of Gun Runner won a Saratoga Grade 1 under Manny Franco — My Gun’s Loaded in last week’s Alabama, and now Leading Change in the Travers.
Willy D’s Turns the Tables at Charles Town
Friday night’s $1 million Charles Town Classic went to the one who’d come up just short a year ago. In what became nearly a match race, Mike Maker’s Willy D’s pulled clear of defending winner Banishing to score by a length and three-quarters under Ricardo Santana Jr., with the two geldings well clear of the other eight. Sent off at 7-1, Willy D’s avenged his runner-up finish in the 2025 renewal; the favored two-time winner Skippylongstocking never factored.
Sunday’s Cards
Del Mar. Dean Keppler makes Liberation his best bet in Race 4, and flags a two-day Pick Six carryover of $192,077 that begins in Race 5 — a live target to close the weekend. Keppler’s card →
Kentucky Downs. Day two of America’s richest meet features a pair of $500,000-plus stakes in the Tapit and the Untapable. PTF and JK preview the card, and Ray Cotolo is back with written spot plays.
Woodbine. Five stakes worth more than $1 million anchor a strong Sunday in Toronto. Mikee P and BCBC champ Drew Coatney go through them. Watch the Woodbine preview →
Monmouth. A competitive eight-race card closes the weekend, first post 12:50 p.m. ET. Eric Solomon has it. Solomon’s card →
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On to the Breeders’ Cup
Travers Day is in the books, the three-year-old picture just got more interesting, and the road now runs to Keeneland. ITM Plus members get the members’ bet share, daily analysis, exclusive shows, and full coverage all the way through the Breeders’ Cup.
More all week at inthemoneypodcast.com and on the ITM YouTube channel, with premium coverage on ITM Plus.
