Kentucky's five-track Thoroughbred circuit has largely operated on the same annual racing template for the past few seasons. But quirks in the calendar next year–specifically, a later Labor Day on Sept. 6 and an earlier Breeders' Cup on Oct. 29 and 30–are presenting conflicts that need to be worked out before the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation (KHRGC) assigns 2027 race dates at the board's October meeting.Although they have each asked for the same number of September racing dates as this season, one potential 2027 issue involves Churchill Downs (14 dates) and Kentucky Downs (seven dates) applying for four overlapped dates on Sept. 9, 11, 12 and 15.Those two tracks traditionally dovetail their September race meets, with Kentucky Downs ending on the second Wednesday of the month and Churchill starting the next day.Additionally, based on the applied-for 2027 dates, there would be a 10-day gap with no Thoroughbred racing in Kentucky between when Ellis Park runs its final program on Sunday, Aug. 22, and when Kentucky Downs wants to begin on Thursday, Sept. 2.This year, Ellis concluded its meet on Sunday, Aug. 23, and Kentucky Downs started on Saturday, Aug. 29, a five-day interim.Both of those concerns were discussed Tuesday during the KHRGC's race dates committee meeting that preceded the full monthly meeting of that board.“End of August throughout September is where our real issues start presenting themselves for various reasons,” said chairman Jonathan Rabinowitz, who chairs both the race dates committee and the KHRGC board.“Breeders' Cup, for those of you that don't know, next year is a week earlier because it's up in New York, and the New York [City] Marathon is going on [Nov. 7], so they can't conflict,” Rabinowitz explained. “So it's moving everything back. So as you'll see, the dates in September are different than this year.”Rabinowitz said that in addition, it is imperative for Keeneland Race Course to begin its autumn meet on Friday, Oct. 1, next year because it has a tradition of hosting a big weekend of “Win and You're In” qualifying stakes for the Breeders' Cup.“The Fall Stars weekend is super-important to us. So we wanted to make sure that was four weeks out [from the Breeders' Cup]. So that's what we're trying to balance to when we're backing up the dates,” Rabinowitz said.Although it was not discussed during the committee meeting, next year's September time window is also crucial for Churchill Downs, which still has not disclosed the date, name and distance of the series-culminating stakes of the new “Thoroughbred Championship Series” for 3-year-olds that Churchill and the New York Racing Association (NYRA) are planning to unveil in 2027.Jamie Eads, the KHRGC's president and chief executive officer, noted that “The reason why the squeeze is on Kentucky Downs and Churchill is the late Labor Day, which we had this year as well, which puts the [GI] Travers [Stakes at Saratoga Race Course] on Aug. 28.”The Travers Stakes is the penultimate race in that six-race series that will, to some degree, compete with the traditional Triple Crown. If four-week spacing is provided after the Travers, that pencils in Sept. 25 as the date for Churchill's championship stakes, meaning a five-week gap to the Breeders' Cup Classic, which also annually attracts top sophomores.The most coveted of the potentially conflicting 2027 Kentucky race dates is Saturday, Sept. 11.Both Churchill and Kentucky Downs want that Saturday because NYRA has been taking a break between its Saratoga and downstate race meets in recent seasons. With no racing in New York on the weekend after Labor Day, conditions are ripe for increased betting handle in Kentucky.“One of the days that they're looking at, in particular, Sept. 11, is usually a dark day for New York,” Rabinowitz said. “But we don't know that that's going to exist next year. So we don't know, if, in fact, it will be as much of a difference. We're presuming it may be, but we don't know. I think that's the main day that we're looking at.”Rabinowitz continued: “If you go back and look at usage and custom [since 2017], both tracks have had it in the past.”Ted Nicholson, the vice president of racing at Kentucky Downs, was quick to correct Rabinowitz on that last point.“Just to clarify, chairman, prior to this year, we've always had that [dark NYRA Saturday] date. For the last 10 years, we've always had that day. Last year we bet $25 million that day, and this year [Churchill] bet $11 million.”Regarding the possible late-August break of 10 days, Rabinowitz said, “I don't like the gap in time. We've had a strong circuit running pretty consistently.”As one stakeholder (who did not identify himself when speaking) said during the meeting, it's also important from a handle perspective which track might fill those open August dates, because handle revenue generates purse money. If it's Ellis, the average daily handle is about $3 million. If it's Kentucky Downs or Churchill, the betting revenue would be “substantially” higher.And although it was presented as a lesser conflict, Rabinowitz noted that on one instance–Sunday, Sept. 12–two Thoroughbred tracks and one Standardbred track (Churchill, Kentucky Downs and Red Mile) all proposed having racing, which might be a stretch for the KHRGC's regulatory personnel and veterinary staff to handle.“I know there's discussions about, potentially, each of the tracks giving up dates and compromising, and I know that behind the scenes [that's] going on,” Rabinowitz said.“But what I wanted us to be aware of is some of these dates, where you see three tracks running, that's just not a sustainable thing for our team. There's been some discussions about back and forth with, like, maybe a day for Churchill and the next day at Kentucky Downs. It's not great for our team. It's something we would like to avoid if possible. But we understand that that's definitely something that's being discussed,” Rabinowitz said.At various points during Tuesday's meeting, several committee members expressed a desire for the tracks to work out these issues themselves so the regulators don't have to impose a solution.Frank Shoop, who sits on both the full KHRGC board and the dates committee, gave his perspective:“I'd like to approach trying to get the tracks to work this out before the next meeting. But I will say-I'd have to look at it a little more-but I've always been a proponent of the days that you had the previous year, [those would be] the days that you were sort of in line for the next year, unless there were some different circumstances…“I think if you take days away from a track that had them last year, you've got to have a real great reason to do that [because] that way it doesn't look like you're favoring. Our role, I think, is not to favor one track over another, but try to be fair to everybody,” Shoop said.With a month to go before the 2027 dates are assigned, Rabinowitz summed up the situation:“By the next meeting [in late October], we will have a calendar that we'll vote on. So really, I wanted to give the tracks ample notice and us ample time to reach a resolution on this issue.“Again, this does not appear to be an issue once we get past next year, [and] it might be that all the tracks have to give a little to get a resolution,” Rabinowitz said.The post Quirks In 2027 Calendar Present Potential Kentucky Race-Meet Conflicts appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.