Lexington has never shied from the spotlight when it comes to showing off the best the equine industry has to offer, especially when it comes to horse racing.
In the Thoroughbred business, that is without a doubt Keeneland Race Course. One of the industry’s marquee venues, the historic racetrack is a familiar destination for the sport’s top horses and connections. On the other end of the spectrum, the eyes of the harness racing world fall upon The Red Mile each autumn during its Grand Circuit meet, where the track hosts two weeks of lucrative stakes races.
For most of the year, the two tracks avoid stepping on each other’s toes in regard to their live racing schedules. Keeneland holds its live meets during the afternoons in April and October, while The Red Mile runs mostly in the evenings from mid-summer to early fall. However, there were three days in 2012 when their schedules not only overlapped, but their live cards were held at the exact same time.
The planning of the schedules seemed odd. Why would two racetracks, regardless of the breeds, put on world-class race cards in the same city at the same time — especially when one of those tracks normally held the bulk of its live cards at night? Putting all logistical reasoning aside, what I saw was a challenge to be accepted — experience live racing at both Keeneland and The Red Mile in one day, and in the process try to make some money at the windows.
The day started out in the grassy parking lots at Keeneland to partake in one of the track’s most unique traditions — tailgating before the races. No other major racetrack to my knowledge elicits such a response from its fans that they feel it necessary to “pre-game” before the races begin. Some even spend the entire day in the parking lot and never set foot past the front gate.
A callback to Kentucky’s Old South charm, the face paint and team colors that are normally seen at a tailgate for any other sporting event are replaced with more formal attire. The typical male outfit consists of a collared shirt, pants in some kind of hideous color pattern and aviator sunglasses. Being one of the last somewhat warm days of the year, many women took the opportunity to pull a sundress off the rack for a final time.
As with any tailgate, the alcohol flows freely from the trunk of just about every vehicle down the rows. Even during football season, the Keeneland tailgate is a popular destination for students from the local colleges. Many of them quickly reveal themselves to be ill-equipped to maintain the balance between the dignity of their carefully chosen outfits and the responsibility of holding their liquor, leading one to hear conversations in the line for the port-a-potties that begin with the phrase, “When I’m dressed up, I just feel so sophisticated, you know?”
While tailgating is allowed just about anywhere in the parking lot, the track does have some designated real estate where, for a price, tailgaters can party close enough to the track to walk up to the outside rail during the races. The relative serenity of watching races from the tailgate lot sits in sharp contrast to the often bustling atmosphere on the apron. The sound of the announcer and the buzzing crowd are nearly imperceptible, replaced by the sound of hooves hammering the track as the horses go by, their jockeys urging them on with a wide variety of vocal cues.
After watching a couple races from the tailgate lot, my traveling party loaded up and made the roughly eight-mile trek downtown to The Red Mile. By the time we pulled in, the horses were heading to the post for the sixth race. I soon discovered that the races were being held earlier in the day to account for the Standardbred yearling sale being held in Lexington later that evening.
Being a fair-weather fan of harness racing, the size of the crowd was hard to gauge. As someone who normally attends the races at The Red Mile on quiet weeknights, it was easily the biggest crowd I had ever seen at the track. However, it was by no means packed, with plenty of room to move around on the apron and your pick of seats in the grandstand. The Red Mile is a much more laid-back counterpart to the high-class airs of Keeneland. The attire rarely strayed from blue jeans and a jacket, and the professional catering of Keeneland was replaced by a pair of tents — one preparing barbecue and the other popping kettle corn.
The feature race on the card was the $510,300 Tattersalls Pace, featuring some of the nation’s top three-year-old pacers. In the meantime, I tried to improve my laughably poor harness handicapping abilities during the undercard. In the two years that I have been somewhat regularly attending harness races at The Red Mile, I have had as many horses break stride and go to last as I have had winning tickets. Ever the optimist, I haven’t given up on the game yet.
While every trip to a harness track is an exercise in turning over a new leaf, I am not immune to betting on a horse with a cool name, regardless of its chances. The familiar trap snared me again with Clint Westwood, playing off the popular film actor and opponent of empty chairs, who was made all the more unavoidable by the name of his trainer, R. Nifty Norman. The horse finished fourth and I lost two bucks.
In the main event, Sweet Lou held off late charges from Hillbilly Hanover and Bettor’s Edge, each finishing within a head of the winner. My bad luck held out through the harness portion of the day, highlighted by having the Tattersalls Pace winner in my exacta, which requires the bettor to pick the top two finishers, but whiffing with local hero Bolt the Duer, who finished last, putting me $18 in the red thus far.
As soon as the tote board clicked “official,” I got back in the car and drove back to Keeneland just in time for the $400,000 Dixiana Breeders’ Futurity, a race for two-year-olds, some of whom will probably run in next year’s Kentucky Derby. As the horses saddled, it felt like there may have been more people in the paddock and walking ring alone than there were on the entire Red Mile property.
Thanks to my press pass, I did not have to fight through the crowd to get a spot with a view for the race. While dealing with crowds can be a pain at the races, especially at the betting window with two minutes left to post time, it’s a sign that business is good and interest in racing is high. It certainly beats the alternative.
As the juveniles unsaddled and the pictures were taken of winner Joha, I headed back to the paddock for the feature, and the second race in Lexington worth over a half-million that day, the $750,000 Shadwell Turf Mile, featuring one of the leading Horse of the Year contenders, Wise Dan. He didn’t disappoint, running away with the race and making it look easy.
As Wise Dan’s connections were ushered back to the Director’s Room, fans chanted “Class-ic, Class-ic,” urging them to send their horse to the Breeders’ Cup Classic in early November, as opposed to one of the undercard races, where he may face a softer field. As a horse that has won stakes races on the dirt, turf and synthetic over the past calendar year, the world is his oyster.
Soon, I headed up to the press box to watch the final race on the card and try to snap the heroic goose egg I had been laying at the betting windows that had now stretched across two tracks. No such luck. At the end of the day, I was in the hole $26, but I had completed my self-imposed challenge and witnessed some of the best racing North America has to offer in the process.
Six hours, a 16-mile round trip, two racetracks, two world-class races worth over $500,000 a piece, and two completely different experiences. Only in Lexington.