The Churchill Downs-sponsored conditions race at Kempton Park this spring that guaranteed the winner a starting spot in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) has been shelved for 2010.

Churchill officials attributed suspension of the race, dubbed the Kentucky Derby Challenge Stakes, to lack of simulcast wagering interest in the qualifier and the poor economy, according to published reports.

The decision to scrap the race for 2010 was announced on Friday, a few months after Churchill Downs Inc. fired Tom Aronson, a vice president who spearheaded the Derby Challenge Stakes venture as a way to boost European interest in the Kentucky Derby.

Churchill Downs sponsored the Derby Challenge on the synthetic Polytrack surface at Kempton for the first time this year in an effort to spark European interest in the Kentucky Derby. Churchill, which provided $90,000 of the gross purse, guaranteed a starting sport in the Derby for a European-trained horse and offered a $100,000 starting bonus to the winner of the 1 1/8-mille Derby Challenge.

Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid al Maktoum’s Mafaaz (GB) earned an automatic starting spot in the U.S. classic with his neck victory in the $112,304 Derby Challenge on March 18 at Kempton. The Medicean colt was subsequently sent to the U.S, where he finished eighth in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G1) on April 11 at Keeneland Race Course and ultimately bypassed the Derby.