From the Bluegrass to the Pacific, One Holiday Card

Labor Day afternoon puts graded turf racing on display in three states at once, with tracks in Kentucky, Virginia, and California each carding a stakes on the grass as part of Monday's program. Four graded stakes in all make up the slate, stretching from the Bluegrass to the Mid-Atlantic to the Pacific coast. It is a rare alignment that lets followers of the American turf watch top company run in three time zones over the course of a single holiday afternoon. For a sport built on regional circuits and long drives between them, a Monday like this brings the whole map into view at once.

With reporting from Thoroughbred Daily News.