Andrew Walker Stars in Kentucky Roses at Churchill Downs
andrew walker stars in Hallmark Channel’s Kentucky Roses, the original movie filmed at Churchill Downs and tied to the Kentucky Derby celebration. He plays Ash, the son of Churchill Downs’ CEO, opposite Odette Annable as Sadie, whose work in the greenhouse among the roses puts the romance inside the venue’s own grounds.
Churchill Downs in Derby week
Hallmark is rolling out the film as the 152nd running of the Kentucky Derby begins on Saturday, with coverage starting just before 7 pm/ET. The Derby winner receives $3.1 million, a reminder that Churchill Downs is not just a backdrop here but the center of the weekend the movie is built around.
That setting gives Kentucky Roses a built-in selling point Hallmark originals do not always get: the movie was shot on location at Churchill Downs, so the same venue viewers associate with Derby day also frames the story on screen. For a channel that leans on seasonal event programming, that location tie makes the film easier to place as part of the weekend rather than as a generic romance.
A century-old family divide
Nearly a century earlier, the film adds a parallel storyline that connects the families around Ash and Sadie. That history becomes the friction point in the present-day romance, with the family link clouding their relationship before the movie pushes back toward the roses, the grounds, and the Derby imagery Hallmark is using to anchor the release.
Andrew Walker’s character is also pulled into a practical job after a storm damages one of the iconic Twin Spires, and Ash is called in to repair it. That detail keeps the film tied to Churchill Downs as a working venue, not just a visual reference, and it gives the story a reason to move beyond courtship and into the place’s physical upkeep.
Hallmark’s Derby weekend play
The pairing of Walker and Annable gives the movie a familiar Hallmark lead duo, but the business logic is the Derby-week timing and the Churchill Downs footage. Hallmark is not only borrowing the event’s audience; it is attaching its original film to one of horse racing’s most recognizable settings and to a weekend that already has a national sports and entertainment audience.
For viewers, the practical takeaway is simple: Kentucky Roses is the Hallmark title to watch if they want the channel’s Derby tie-in, the Churchill Downs location work, and a romance built around Ash, Sadie, and the family history between them. The film lands as part of the celebration, not after it, which makes it the channel’s cleanest event-style counterprogramming around Derby Saturday.
