The hand-decorated Bourbon of the Day bottles and guitar decanter on display at Kentucky Downs. (Courtesy Ignition Studio)
Every Kentucky Downs winner gets commemorative Bourbon of the Day bottle
Kentucky Downs Release
FRANKLIN, Ky. — While only nine racehorse owners will receive one of Kentucky Downs’ oh-so-distinctive graded stakes trophies – guitars signed by Nashville country music celebrity Lorrie Morgan – the owners of every victorius horse at the seven-day meet will be presented with an exceptional keepsake prize: a hand-decorated Bourbon of the Day “winner” bottle.
Four years ago, Kentucky Downs established an instant tradition of celebrating each day of the meet with a different bourbon. A bottle for every race is hand-decorated by Traci McPherson’s Ignition Studio in Hemet, Calif.
Kentucky Downs’ seven-day all-turf meet continues today, Saturday, Sunday and closing-day Wednesday.
“Kentucky Downs is a unique meet, and we want our trophies to reflect that,” said Ted Nicholson, Vice President of Racing for Kentucky Downs. “It’s a natural to combine Kentucky’s two biggest tourism attractions: bourbon and horses. It’s hard to win a race at Kentucky Downs, and we believe every owner should have something — in addition to a big paycheck — as a lasting reminder of their horse’s big effort.”
This year’s Bourbons of the Day:
Thursday Aug. 29: Angel’s Envy, aged in hand-selected port-wine barrels by three generations of Louisville’s Henderson family. Angel’s Envy’s sister liquor is Grey Goose, the vodka used in Kentucky Downs’ signature drink, The Mint Millions.
Saturday Aug. 31: Produced at Buffalo Trace’s distillery in Frankfort, Ky. Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon created a genre after being launched in 1984 by legendary Master Distiller Elmer T. Lee, who started his career in the 1940s under Col. Albert B. Blanton. Blanton’s Single Barrel Bourbon also is distinguished by its eight trademarked versions of a horse and jockey atop their bottle stoppers.
Sunday Sept. 1: Louisville-based Jefferson’s Ocean is a very small-batch bourbon aged at sea. Trey Zoeller co-founded the Jefferson’s brands in 1997 with his father Chet, a famed bourbon historian. The family whiskey tradition goes back to Trey’s eighth-generation grandmother who was arrested in 1799 for the “production and sales of spiritous liquors.”
Thursday Sept. 5: Heaven’s Door, a collaboration with music icon Bob Dylan, has been crafting award-winning whiskeys since 2017. The new distillery, located in Pleasureville, Ky., on 160 historic acres once owned by Squire Boone, opens to the public this fall. On Sept. 5, the distillery will be showcasing its Revival Tennessee straight bourbon whiskey.
Saturday Sept. 7: Heaven’s Door’s Ascension Kentuckystraight bourbon whiskey.
“As the only brand to offer both a Kentucky Straight Bourbon and a Tennessee Straight Bourbon, we couldn’t imagine a more fitting venue for our Great State Bourbon Debate,” said Eric Hundelt, Executive Vice President for Heaven’s Door, which will conduct tastings and encourage taster feedback this Thursday (Tennessee’s Revival) and Saturday (Kentucky’s Ascension). “Kentucky Downs, straddling the state line and merging two rich bourbon traditions, embodies the spirit of friendly competition we aim to celebrate. We’re excited to see which bourbon captures your palate and how this debate unfolds in such a distinctive setting.”
Sunday Sept. 8: The Kentucky Senator brand was first distilled by Crigler & Crigler in Covington and revived in 2019 by Kentucky Senate Majority Floor Leader Damon Thayer and equine lawyer Andre Regard. The fifth and most current release is the John Brown bourbon, named for Kentucky’s first U.S. Senator. John Brown was a Virginian who settled in Franklin County, Ky., and as a Congressman representing the District of Kentucky sponsored legislation making the Commonwealth the United States’ 15th state.
Wednesday Sept. 11: Three years after he won the 2019 Kentucky Derby as a partner in Country House, Woodford County horseman Guinness McFadden launched Blackwood Toasted Bourbon, named after his Blackwood Stables and Blackwood Training Center.
The meet’s other trophies: non-graded stakes-winners receive a guitar-shaped decanter and two glasses; allowance winners receive a bourbon barrel head with a place to insert the win photo; maiden winners earn a high-tech Fenwick Equestrian cooler horse blanket with the Kentucky Downs and Kentucky-bred logos as well as the phrase “It pays to be Kentucky-bred.” Graded-stakes winners also receive a blanket with the stakes’ name and the sponsor logo.
Kentucky Downs’ boutique meet has more than 30 other sponsors, including sports-betting and historical horse racing (HHR) vendors, famed horse farms and long-time suppliers such as Clark Distributing and Wright Implements.
DraftKings became the title sponsor of the $3.1 million (for Kentucky-breds) DK Horse Nashville Derby (G3) on Aug. 31, named for the global digital sports entertainment and gaming company’s horse-racing betting app. DK Horse also sponsors the pre-race simulcasting preview show.
Along with The Mint Gaming Hall, the names of HHR gaming terminals used at Kentucky Downs and its sister properties will be featured on Sept. 7. The meet’s showcase card is packaged as the FanDuel TV U.S. Open Turf Championships, with six $2 million races (including Kentucky-bred money).
Five winners may have their entry fees paid to the corresponding Breeders’ Cup race: The FanDuel TV Kentucky Turf Cup (G2) and Ainsworth Turf Sprint (G2) are Breeders’ Cup Challenge Series races, whose winners are guaranteed a spot in the corresponding race. In addition, Kentucky Downs will pay the entry fees for the winners of the Aristocrat Franklin-Simpson (G1), The Mint Millions (G3) and Light & Wonder Ladies Marathon (G3) if they make the Breeders’ Cup either on the point system or via the selection committee. The AGS Music City (G2) for 3-year-old filly sprinters rounds out the stakes that day.
In addition to DraftKings (Aug. 31) and FanDuel TV (Sept. 7), the other day sponsors are Big Ass Fans (Aug. 29), National Thoroughbred League (Sept. 1), Jeff Ruby’s (Sept. 5), Global Tote/BetMakers (Sept. 8) and Pepsi-Cola (Sept. 11).
Other sponsors: breeding operations Claiborne, Coolmore, Darby Dan, Gainesway and Three Chimneys and Hunter Valley Farm’s consignor’s operation; Keeneland, which sponsors a pair of $250,000 open allowance races on opening day for 2-year-olds offered for sale at last year’s Keeneland September Yearling Sale; the Breeders’ Cup; Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund; Kentucky HBPA; RedTag digital marketing, J&M Digital Print and Ignition Studio.
About Lorrie Morgan
Described as a “living, breathing country song” and “one of the most eloquently emotive vocalists of modern times,” Lorrie Morgan is the celebrity country music artist who signed the guitar trophies given this year to Kentucky Downs’ nine graded-stakes winners. Three guitars were given out last Saturday, with six more this Saturday.
Morgan is the first woman in her genre to begin her career with three consecutive Platinum albums. She recently completed a new album, “Dead Girl Walking,” set for release this year on Cleopatra Records.
The Nashville native, the daughter of Country Music Hall of Fame member George Morgan, made her debut on the Grand Ole Opry stage at age 13, singing “Paper Roses.” She was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry 11 years later.
Morgan’s first three albums — Leave the Light On (1989), Something in Red (1991) and Watch Me (1992 — earned Platinum Record awards. Her Greatest Hits collection (1999) is also Platinum. War Paint (1994), Greater Need (1996) and Shakin’ Things Up (1997) are Gold Record winners.
She has recorded with her father, her late husband Keith Whitley, Frank Sinatra, Johnny Mathis, Tammy Wynette, The Beach Boys, Dolly Parton, Andy Williams, Pam Tillis and the New World Philharmonic. She has toured with George Jones.
Morgan married Whitley in 1986, with the country music star’s death three years later leaving her a widowed working mother. Their duet “Til a Tear Becomes a Rose” earned Morgan a 1990 CMA award, with Whitley posthumously inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
