Want to feel like a millionaire? Keeneland can give you a taste for $60.
Thoroughbred racing enthusiasts rejoice, Keeneland’s Fall Meet begins Friday, and opening weekend is loaded with plenty of high-stakes contests. Saturday’s card alone features nine races whose winners will automatically qualify for the Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs Nov. 2-3.
Races with major ramifications are nothing new to Keeneland regulars. But this Fall Meet will mark the introduction of some first-time features that will give visitors an opportunity to get a unique look at race-day operations.
The Owner’s Experience Tour will take visitors on a behind-the-scenes trek through each step leading up to and through a race. A tour guide will take participants to the saddling paddock where they’ll watch up-close as race teams prepare their horses. They’ll follow the horses inside the walking ring and then onto the track, where they’ll watch the race from the winner’s circle. They’ll also get to remain in the winner’s circle during the post-race celebration and photo session.
Kara Heissenbuttel, Keeneland’s director of patron experience, said the addition of the new tour is an expansion of a program begun in 2015 to give fans unprecedented access to the racing scene.
“We’re always looking for new ways to give fans an experience they can’t get anywhere else,” Heissenbuttel said. “Thousands of fans will come here on a race day and have a wonderful time, but only an elite group of people get to actually go into the saddling paddock and the walking ring and the winner’s circle, and we wanted to create an opportunity for people to get that really cool sneak peak of what it feels like to be an owner for a day.”
The Owner’s Experience Tour will be offered during the first race each day of the Fall Meet except for Saturdays. It costs $60 per person and will last about 90 minutes, beginning at noon. Tour groups are limited to 10 people.
“We wanted to keep it limited to a small group so everyone could hear what the tour guide has to say,” Heissenbuttel said. “That way it feels much more intimate than it would with a large group. And we’re also trying to be mindful that this is a live race day and we don’t want to have a group that’s so big it impedes on preparations.”
Advance tickets for the Owner’s Experience Tour can be purchased at tickets.keeneland.com as well as the Keeneland Welcome Center.
The second new addition to the Fall Meet program will offer visitors a chance to take a guided tour led by a Hall of Fame jockey. The “Racing from the Top” tour will occur twice, on Friday Oct. 19 and Friday, Oct. 26. Chris McCarron, who won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont twice each, will serve as guide for the two-hour tour, which will begin at 9 a.m. each day.
McCarron will guide participants all over the grounds where they’ll get an up-close look at horses training and team’s preparing for race day. In addition to the saddling paddock and walking ring, the tour will include trips to the racing offices and jockey’s quarters.
“Chris has won so many stakes races here at Keeneland, he’ll be able to tell a lot of great stories,” said Amy Gregory, Keeneland director of communications. “I’m sure that will be fascinating, just being able to listen to him talk about being on the racetrack and all the great horses he’s ridden.”
Tickets for the “Racing from the Top” tour are $60 and are available online at visithorsecountry.com. They include a reserved grandstand seat for that day’s racing as well as a food voucher. A portion of ticket sales will benefit Old Friends Equine, the Thoroughbred retirement farm in Georgetown.
Keeneland Fall Meet
When: Oct. 5-27
Times: Gates open at 11 a.m. and first post is at 1:05 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. No racing Monday and Tuesday.
Admission: $5 general admission, children 12 and under free. $10 reserved grandstand Wednesday through Friday and Sunday, $20 Saturday.
Call: 859-254-3412
Online: Keeneland.com
This story was originally published October 3, 2018 at 12:31 PM.