Matt Winn Stakes Matt Winn Stakes The Matt Winn Stakes is an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually in mid May or early June at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky. Open to three-year-old horses, it is contested on dirt and began at a distance of six furlongs. The event currently offers a purse of $100,000 added. In 2009 the distance was set at 7 furlongs. In 2011, it was changed to its current miles. The race was inaugurated in 2002 as the Northern Dancer Stakes. Its name was changed in 2011 to honor Kentucky Derby and Churchill Downs's Col. Matt Winn, who served
Blue Ribbon Downs Blue Ribbon Downs Blue Ribbon Downs was an American horse racing track located in Sallisaw, Sequoyah County, Oklahoma. The facility hosted American Quarter Horse, and Thoroughbred flat racing events until it closed permanently in 2010. Blue Ribbon Downs started when Bill Hedge bought 102 acres just west of Sallisaw in 1960. The track soon became known as a proving ground and gained recognition from the American Quarter Horse Association in 1963. Hedge sold the track to an investment group in 1973. In 1982, Oklahoma voters approved pari-mutuel betting and the first pari-mutuel race at Blue Ribbon Downs occurred August 30,