Memorial service set for Eight Belles | Lexington Herald Leader

Churchill Downs has announced details for a memorial service for Eight Belles, the second-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby who had to be euthanized on the track after the race.

The service will be at 2 p.m. Sept. 7 in the Kentucky Derby Museum garden.

“We hope our memorial service will serve as a lasting tribute to this great filly, and remind every visitor who walks through our doors of the incredible passion and ability she showed here in the Kentucky Derby,” Lynn Ashton, executive director of the Kentucky Derby Museum, said in a news release.

Eight Belles' owner, Rick Porter of Fox Hill Farm, will unveil a plaque honoring the filly during the ceremony. It will be mounted under a magnolia tree where the filly's remains will be interred.

“Now, she will rest in a place of honor, and her story will be shared with visitors from around the world at the Kentucky Derby Museum,” Porter said. “She was a magnificent steel gray filly who will live in our hearts forever.”

The public is welcome to attend; no museum admission will be required for the ceremony.