When the Breeders’ Cup, the world championships of Thoroughbred racing, comes to Keeneland this fall, it will be a signature triumph for the historic, picturesque track and an opportunity for the Lexington community to shine for an international audience.
The two-day event, Oct. 30-31, will offer purses worth more than $25 million, making it the richest two-days in sports. The eyes of the racing world will be on Lexington.
“All of our great citizens of Lexington who love this community, this industry, this place, have opportunities to be engaged in a lot of different ways,” said Bill Thomason, president and CEO of Keeneland. “We will be asking for further help and support to welcome all of these people from around the world.”
The local convention and visitors bureau wants home-towners to help “roll out worldclass experiences” for visitors and to “overdeliver on hospitality, to exceed expectations,” said Mary Quinn Ramer, president of Visit Lex. Ramer wants to make it easy for the Breeders’ Cup selection committee to pick Lexington again one day.
Winning the Breeders’ Cup for 2015 and staging a successful event could place Keeneland in a rotation to host it again. Churchill Downs in Louisville has hosted the Breeders’ Cup eight times, most recently in 2011.
Keeneland will host the event despite having a relatively small track when compared with others that have hosted the race, such as Churchill Downs’ and Santa Anita’s in California. Keeneland is expected to welcome as many as 45,000 fans on both race days.
Keeneland prepping
One important move to secure the 2015 Breeders’ Cup was Keeneland’s decision to scrap its Polytrack synthetic surface in favor of a return to dirt.
Horse race officials also prefer to keep the tax burden light, and the Kentucky General Assembly and Gov. Steve Beshear come to their aide this past legislative session. Lawmakers passed a bill that the governor quickly signed exempting pari-mutuel taxes on wagering on live races at Keeneland during the Breeders’ Cup. This incentive had been afforded other racetracks across the U.S. that had staged the event.
“It put us in an even, competitive environment with others that hosted it,” said Thomason. “The only thing we’ll do differently with the money is invest it back into our community and industry; do even more for our patron experience.”
The track’s food and beverage service has been upgraded with a new name — Keeneland Hospitality. New managing director, Bryan O’Shields, has put his stamp on the operation during preparations for the Breeders’ Cup. Thomason said O’Shields brings a wealth of international restaurant and resort experience at several luxury properties in North America.
“I have never seen someone come in like Bryan who understands this place and what we try to do here,” said Thomason.
Thomason also is touting the new private saddling paddock chalet installed for the spring meet. They are now assessing the sight lines and how people moved through the area.
“It’s something unique and had never been off ered at Keeneland. People who have been in it love it,” said Thomason.
Spring meet not a dry run
You might think Keeneland’s recent spring meet would serve as a dry-run for the Breeders’ Cup. Not so, say officials. Each spring meet is considered unique in and of itself. The track already had plenty going for it with the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes, an important Kentucky Derby prep race, and for fillies, the Central Bank Ashland Stakes, a prep for the Kentucky Oaks. Both were run on the same day, early in the meet.
Thomason promised that the fall meet, wrapping up six days before the Breeders’ Cup, will serve as a better test run with added facilities and staff in place.
“We’ll practice a little harder in the fall than we did in the spring,” he said.
Breeders’ Cup bash
Remember the Spotlight event in downtown Lexington during the FEI World Equestrian Games in 2010? Many people called it a highlight of the games. Get ready for a similar but bigger and better experience the week of Breeders’ Cup.
The Courthouse Plaza and the 5/3 Pavilion at Cheapside Park downtown will be the sites for free, live music of all genres each night of Breeders’ Cup week.
“We felt that if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” said Kip Cornett, CEO of Cornett Integrated Marketing and chair of the Breeders’ Cup festival committee. “There will be limited street closings to encourage pedestrian traffic.”
The main stage will be near the courthouses with a smaller one at Cheapside.
“We’re looking for a combination of local, regional and national acts. We’ll have multiple bands each night. I can assure you there will be very diverse musical offerings,” said Cornett.
The celebration also will include a wide variety of food and beverages. Organizers have obtained a festival zone permit to allow for open containers of alcohol in downtown Lexington, as was done during Spotlight fi ve years ago. The area will be heavily policed. There will also be ways to wager on the races Friday and Saturday and big screen TVs to show all the race action across town.
“Obviously, we know Keeneland will do a fantastic job with everything at the track, but we want to extend the experience into our downtown core,” said Ramer. “We want people to get the full fl avor of Lexington while they’re here.”
That includes highlighting downtown’s cultural, arts, food and bar scene.
‘The double’
The weekend will include more than the pounding of horse hooves. The University of Kentucky and the University of Tennessee will butt helmets at Commonwealth Stadium. Sports fans are hoping the game will be scheduled at night, giving them a chance for “the double.” That’s Keeneland (enhanced by the Breeders’ Cup) and UK football, all in one day. And as if there’s not enough going on that weekend, the CP National Horse Show, with hundreds of participants, will be held at the Kentucky Horse Park.
With a near sellout of Breeders’ Cup venues at Keeneland within a few days of going on sale, “that tells you how much demand there is to see Keeneland and the shining star that it is. It gets to put its best foot forward on an international stage and featured two straight days on television,” said Cornett. “There’s no unknown. We don’t wonder if people will show up. They will. It’s just a matter of how we take care of them so they’ll come back.”
Race to secure hotel rooms all but over
Tickets:
The Breeders’ Cup may not be coming to Lexington until late October, but most of the best reserved seats for the horse racing extravaganza were sold by offi cial vendors within hours of going on sale. Breeders’ Cup Ltd. said there was “incredibly high demand” March 4 when tickets went on sale. Total ticketing for the two days was estimated at 77,000. Tickets for tailgate areas known as The Hill and The Meadow at Keeneland are per car and allow access for all occupants of the vehicle. Combined estimated attendance for the two days could hit 90,000.
But, at this relatively late date, count on buying your tickets from acquaintances, brokers or scalpers, and likely at premium prices. For example, online ticket marketplace StubHub on a recent day had about 1,200 tickets for sale, ranging from general admission at $67 per ticket to a clubhouse lawn chalet for $6,766 per ticket.
Hotel rooms
Hotel rooms during Breeders’ Cup weekend are all but gone. Not only is the big race taxing hotel resources, a UK-Tennessee football game and a major equine event at the Horse Park also are adding to the pressure. If you can find a room in the general vicinity, “The time to book is now,” said Mary Quinn Ramer, president of Lexington’s convention and visitor’s bureau.
That’s if you can find a room that hasn’t been taken. Hotel bookings for the last week of October were made earlier than normal, according to Todd Garvin, director of sales and marketing for the downtown Hyatt Regency Hotel.
“But, for us, it won’t be any different than a regular Keeneland weekend,” said Garvin. “Most rooms in the hotel are taken by tour groups, people from horse farms or companies that have something to do with the Breeders’ Cup. Some other individuals will stay here during Breeders’ Cup, but not a lot of them.”