The day after Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI) announced an expansion of the new Thoroughbred Championship Series (TCS) to include separate divisions for sophomore males and females for its 2027 launch, Bill Carstanjen, the firm's chief executive officer, said Thursday during an earnings call that, while the immediate focus is to get the concept up and running, the idea could be broadened in the future to include different divisions, stakes and racetracks.“While we do not have any current plans to do so, we will consider adding new venues, races, and even new series over time,” Carstanjen said.“I'm excited to kick this off, and I think it'll be big from the very beginning,” Carstanjen predicted.“But remember, we're just starting this, so we've got to ramp it up and we've got to prove it, and we've got to answer a thousand little questions as we deliver a new product to the consumer,” Carstanjen said.When the TCS was announced nearly three months ago–at the time, only as a standalone series for sophomore males–many industry stakeholders challenged the logic of CDI and its partner in the venture, the New York Racing Association (NYRA), for excluding the second jewel of the Triple Crown, the GI Preakness Stakes.While some proponents did support the new idea, detractors were more vocal. They sounded off with concerns about the TCS hurting the long-term viability of the Triple Crown and the potentially detrimental effects that a competing series could have on other well-established, Grade I sophomore stakes, like the Haskell at Monmouth Park and the Pennsylvania Derby at Parx.Of 83 comments written by TDN readers in response to the first two published articles about the TCS in early August, only four were supportive or advocated for the series to be given a chance. The remaining 79 were critical.During the Oct. 29 earnings call with investment banking analysts to discuss business trends in the just-completed third quarter (Q3) of the year, Carstanjen underscored how important the TCS is for CDI moving forward.His remarks came against the backdrop of CDI reporting record net revenue of $696 million for Q3.Yet at the same time, the gaming company's stock entered Thursday's trading down nearly 27% in 2026.Earlier this year, CDI announced a sweeping portfolio review and a corporate refocusing centered on emphasizing the firm's core asset, the GI Kentucky Derby, its flagship property, Churchill Downs Racetrack, the TwinSpires advance-deposit wagering platform and its network of historical horse-race gaming machines.Simultaneously, CDI is moving forward with its announced intention to sell nine gaming venues across the country. Only one of its six Thoroughbred racetracks, the Presque Isle Downs racino in Pennsylvania, is known to be among the properties up for sale.On Thursday, Carstanjen used the word “flywheel” eight times during his prepared remarks and in answers to analysts' questions.The term references the potential momentum-building effects of a business model whose components get easier to operate and compound revenue as they grow.As Carstanjen put it in the context of the TCS, “A season-long championship series leverages the economic flywheel we have established with the Kentucky Derby to create long-term economic value from expanded media rights, new hospitality experiences, sponsorship activation, licensing opportunities and new wagering possibilities across the series.”Carstanjen told analysts that the response from owners and trainers regarding the TCS has been “exceptional” so far.“I think the industry wants leadership. I think they want a league. I think they want something to shoot for and to build towards. So I think they're very excited to have more opportunity and for there to be a heightened significance on these races,” Carstanjen said.“What you can find in horse racing sometimes is the big horses duck each other. There's enough opportunity out there that these horses sometimes don't want to keep racing. Here, the prestige and the purse money, the attention, the telecast, it's all going to be focused on these races. And all of that's going to drive these horse owners to take their horses and enter them into these races to compete for this,” Carstanjen said.“They all show up for the Derby. Why do they do that? It's the prestige of the Derby. That's what matters. That's what people outside of the industry talk about. Well, this is designed to pull that prestige, to amplify that prestige, so that these owners feel that about these other races, and take the risk to go after the reward of continuing to compete against each other to see who's truly the best over a five-month series,” Carstanjen said.The idea, Carstanjen explained, “was to take some days that already existed, around which there was at least a lot of internal, within-the-industry excitement, and also add some new days, particularly at Churchill Downs around the Fourth of July and then in the September championship, to create entirely new big days.”Asked by one analyst to outline what he expects initially from the series, Carstanjen said:Bill Carstanjen | Courtesy Churchill Downs“I think you'll see significant wagering contributions quickly and right away. These are going to be great races with well-known horses, and what the fans–both casual and serious hardcore fans–like is the very best racing against each other.“So forcing or encouraging these horses to back-to-back race against each other is going to be great for wagering,” Carstanjen said.“And we think also [the TCS] will immediately start that portion of a flywheel around admissions revenue, ticketing. That's a big part of it. And then as we demonstrate that success, we'll be able to accelerate sponsorship and certainly licensing.“Media rights, we're working on that,” Carstanjen said. “That'll be a work in progress as we figure it out.”Carstanjen explained that the TCS concept is “focused on reaching beyond that hardcore industry fan to get to those casual fans that we know are out there, because they all show up to watch the Derby–last year, 24 million of them.”Carstanjen said that “As we look forward now, a big key for us as we push to the next level of sponsorships is really focusing on the TCS.“The fact is, we need more content. Our sponsors, our fans, our viewers, they all like what we have with Derby and Derby week. So for us, it's pushing beyond that to develop more content, to develop more events around which we can build everything, every element of our flywheel, including sponsorships,” Carstanjen said.Carstanjen said that as CDI proceeds with paring back the operation to a more racing-focused portfolio, the anticipated growth of the TCS will play a larger role in the company's overall strategy.“As we sell regional gaming assets, the percentage of our company that's the Kentucky Derby and Churchill Downs Racetrack grows as a percentage, [and] I think the TCS, that's a part of that,” Carstanjen said.“You know, we've made these investments in this asset called Churchill Downs Racetrack, and we want more opportunities to show that asset off, to show that property off, to utilize that property.“And so part of the 'secret sauce,' I think, that we're developing for and that we're using, that we've learned from the Derby, is how do we use that asset, how do we use our site for other big events, other big things?” Carstanjen said.The post Carstanjen On TCS: “I Think They Want a League” appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.