Turfway Park at a glance
The track opened in 1959 as Latonia Race Course, borrowing the name of an older Covington track, and took the Turfway Park name in 1986. In 2005 it became the first North American track to install Polytrack. In 2020 it switched to Tapeta, a synthetic blend of sand, wax and fibre that keeps the one-mile oval raceable in winter.
Ownership changed several times before Churchill Downs Incorporated took over in October 2019. The company razed the old grandstand in 2020 and built the current facility, which opened its gaming floor on September 1, 2022 with 840 machines. Live racing resumed in the new building that winter, making Turfway a full racino under Kentucky’s historical racing model.
Turfway Park racing schedule for the winter season
Turfway races when most northern tracks are closed. The 2026-27 season starts on Wednesday, December 2, with racing every Wednesday through Saturday and a 5:55 p.m. first post. Three Sundays in December are added: the 6th, 13th and 20th. With an evening post time, most cards run after dark, so racing is lit by the track’s lights.
The Holiday meet runs through December, and the Winter/Spring meet follows from January into late March or early April. Stabling for about 1,000 horses on the grounds supports the long winter program. Entries, scratches, results and the stakes schedule are posted on the track’s racing pages, and the national horse racing schedule shows which other tracks are live.
The Jeff Ruby Steaks and other stakes
The signature race is the Grade III Jeff Ruby Steaks, founded in 1972 as the Spiral Stakes and meant as a step toward the Kentucky Derby. Serena’s Song won it in 1995 and later ran in the Derby. The Holiday meet adds smaller stakes, among them the Holiday Inaugural and the Prairie Bayou, for horses wintering in the region.
Turfway Park gaming floor
The non-smoking floor holds nearly 800 historical racing machines and 12 electronic table games, plus a climate-controlled smoking and gaming patio. Each play on an HHR terminal is a pari-mutuel wager on a previously run race, so Kentucky law treats it as horse betting. State figures for August 2026 put the count at 776 machines.
Video poker and electronic roulette sit alongside reel titles such as Ultimate Fire Link, Huff n’ More Puff, Wheel of Fortune and Devil’s Lock. The FastTrack Rewards card works across Churchill Downs properties, including the sister hall in Newport. As at any gaming venue, players are encouraged to set limits on time and spending before they start.
Simulcasting and sports betting
When the gaming floor opened in 2022, the track’s simulcast room was billed as the largest in Kentucky, and it shows racing from across the country every day of the year. Bettors can wager there on tracks from coast to coast, which keeps the property useful for horseplayers during the months when there is no live card in Florence.
The Race & Sports Book has 15 sports betting kiosks spread around the building, taking straight bets, parlays, teasers and futures on football, basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer and golf. A Bet Builder app lets guests build a slip on a phone, generate a code and print it at a kiosk, which cuts waiting time on busy game days.
Concerts, events and dining at Turfway Park
The Event Center brings in national touring artists; the autumn 2026 lineup includes Daughtry on October 24 and Sara Evans on November 21. Seasonal concerts also run outdoors in the paddock. The Event Center and other rooms can be booked for meetings, weddings and private events, so it is worth checking for closures before a visit.
Two restaurants serve the floor. Serena’s Pizzeria, named after the filly Serena’s Song, offers pizza, soups and salads. Churchill’s Bourbon & Brew pairs a long bourbon list with burgers, a New York strip and desserts, and it hosts free live music from regional bands on weekends. Large screens there carry the day’s games next to the betting kiosks.
Getting to Turfway Park
The address is 7500 Turfway Road in Florence, ten miles south of Cincinnati, about an hour north of Lexington and 90 minutes from Louisville. The Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport is around seven minutes away. Partner hotels include the SpringHill Suites and the Hilton Garden Inn near the airport, plus the Hilton Cincinnati Airport.
Other venues are within reach. Derby City Gaming in Louisville is the state’s busiest gaming hall, and the Red Mile in Lexington offers harness racing in summer and fall. Across the Ohio River, Cincinnati and southeast Indiana have full casinos. The Kentucky overview lists every licensed track and its satellite halls.