Louisville, Ky. — Churchill Downs simplified the path leading to the Kentucky Derby on Thursday, announcing a new points system pegged to three dozen races that will set the field for the country’s most famous thoroughbred race.
The track scrapped a more complicated system in place since 1986 based on graded stakes earnings that determined which horses reached the Derby starting gate. The discarded system was tied to 185 stakes races worldwide that confounded many casual fans, track officials said. The Derby is limited to 20 horses.
“Our goal is to create a compelling story … that all culminates on the first Saturday in May,” Churchill Downs President Kevin Flanery said. “It’s easy to understand for the horsemen, for the hardcore fan and for the casual fan.”
The points system will set the fields for the 2013 Derby and Kentucky Oaks, a race for 3-year-old fillies run the day before the Derby at Churchill. The Oaks field of up to 14 starters will be based on points earned from 35 designated races.
Derby hopefuls can start accumulating points as 2-year-olds, but the greatest number of points will be awarded for the traditional Derby prep races in the weeks leading up to the Run for the Roses.
Those races include the Florida Derby, Louisiana Derby, Wood Memorial, Santa Anita Derby, Arkansas Derby and Blue Grass Stakes.
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