Churchill Downs Opens Spring Meet with Roxelana Stakes Spotlight on Zeitlos

Churchill Downs will take the Kentucky spotlight next as Keeneland closes its spring stand and the sport’s center of gravity shifts west to Louisville. The track’s 152nd spring meet will open with 44 race dates from April 25 through June 28, and the first card will set the tone immediately with the Roxelana Stakes anchoring the day.

The Roxelana, a 6-furlong dash for fillies and mares and the 16th running of the race, will carry a $200,000 purse and go as race 9 on a 10-race opening card. First post is set for 12:45 p.m. Eastern, with the featured stakes scheduled for 5:46 p.m. Eastern. That kind of placement matters: Churchill is not easing into spring, it is opening with a race that has enough class, speed, and history to give bettors a real read on the local dirt sprint division from the jump.

Zeitlos will headline the field. Trained by Steve Asmussen, she won the 2024 Roxelana and has won four of seven starts at Churchill Downs. She also returned from nearly five months on the shelf to finish fourth in the Matron at Oaklawn Park on March 27 in her 6-year-old debut, a comeback run that should leave her sharper for this test. Jose Ortiz will ride from post 6.

Mink’s Palace makes the race even more compelling. Eddie Kenneally’s mare won last year’s Roxelana and will return in her 2026 debut from post 3 with Luis Saez aboard. If she repeats, she would become the first two-time winner in the race’s history. Lotsandlotsofcandy adds another local angle after winning two of three starts at Churchill Downs for trainer Paul McGee. Brian Hernandez Jr. will ride her from post 4, and her form at the track makes her a dangerous player in a field that already carries enough depth to punish any soft start.

Churchill’s spring launch also lands against a bigger backdrop. The meet will offer 50 stakes races worth a record $27.8 million, with purse increases announced for 16 spring stakes. Derby Week will bring 22 stakes worth a record $19.1 million, the Kentucky Oaks will be run under the lights in primetime on NBC for the first time, and the Turf Classic has been lifted to $1.5 million. The stable area reopened March 17, with main-track training resuming the next day, a sign that the track’s spring reset is already in motion before the first gate opens.