Five things to know ahead of the 2021 Fall Meet at Keeneland
Keeneland’s 2021 Fall Meet will mark the 85th anniversary of the historic race course, after its first meet occurred Oct. 15, 1936.
This year’s Fall Meet at Keeneland will run from Friday until Oct. 30.
Racing will occur on 17 days, with no racing on Mondays and Tuesdays.
The first post for each day of the 17-day Fall Meet will be at 1 p.m. and gates to Keeneland will open at 11 a.m.
Drive-through wagering will be open each race day from 8 a.m. until the feature race.
As you get set to return to the track, here are five things to know ahead of the 2021 Fall Meet at Keeneland.
1. Fall Meet to begin with star-studded weekend. Fall Stars Weekend will open the Fall Meet from Friday through Sunday, and features a long list of standout horses and races.
The weekend will consist of 10 stakes races — nine of which are graded — worth a combined $3.65 million. Of those 10 stakes races, five of them are Grade 1 events and nine of them are Breeders’ Cup Challenge races. The challenge races are “win and in” events that award the winners fees-paid berths into the corresponding races for the 38th World Championships at Del Mar Racetrack in California in early November.
Friday will feature the Grade 1, $400,000 Darley Alcibiades for fillies, with a dozen 2-year-olds entered for the 70th edition of the event, as well as the Grade 2, $250,000 Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix, featuring seven sprinters going 6 furlongs on the main track.
Saturday’s racing slate includes three Grade 1 races with the $750,000 Keeneland Turf Mile featuring defending champion Ivar, the Grade 1, $500,000 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity, which has featured eight future Kentucky Derby winners since it was first run in 1910, and the $400,000 First Lady presented by UK HealthCare for fillies and mares.
On Sunday, the Grade 1 Juddmonte Spinster will be highlighted by Letruska, the top-rated mare in North America and a winner in five of six starts this year.
2. Defending winners look to repeat Saturday. Two horses on Saturday will look to score repeat victories at the Keeneland Fall Meet.
In the Keeneland Turf Mile, the 5-year-old Ivar is looking to become the third repeat winner of the event, alongside Gio Ponti in 2010 and 2011 and Dumaani in 1995 and 1996.
To secure a second Turf Mile victory, Ivar, who was bred in Brazil, will have to defeat Order of Australia, who recorded a 73-1 upset win at Keeneland last November in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. Ivar finished fourth in that race, 2 lengths behind Order of Australia.
Another defending champion is running Saturday in the Grade 2, $250,000 Thoroughbred Club of America, with Inthemidstofbiz looking to defend her upset win from 2020.
Only one horse has won the TCA in consecutive years, Excitable Lady in 1982 and 1983.
The winner from the six-horse field will earn a fees-paid berth to the Grade 1, $1 million Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint to be held Nov. 6 at Del Mar.
3. This year’s Fall Meet features an emphasis on turf. An expanded racing schedule of 22 stakes races will take place this October at Keeneland, with those events combining for a race meet record $6 million in stakes purses.
Twelve of those 22 stakes races will be held on the grass.
Of those 12, three are Grade 1 races: The Keeneland Turf Mile, the $500,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup presented by Dixiana and the First Lady presented by UK HealthCare.
The Turf Mile and First Lady will both be contested Saturday.
4. Keeneland has adjusted several Fall Meet policies due to COVID-19. Keeneland adjusted and has kept in place several race-day operations and admission procedures.
All general admission, reserved seat and dining tickets must be pre-purchased online at tickets.Keeneland.com or on the Keeneland Race Day app. Walk-up cash purchases will not be available at admission gates during the Fall Meet.
General admission tickets can be purchased online in advance for $7 and they can be purchased online the day-of for $10. Tickets will be sent via email or texted directly to your phone and can be scanned at the gate.
General admission tickets are not required to tailgate and watch and wager on The Hill, which will be available Fridays and Saturdays. Food trucks and live music presented by The Burl will also be located on The Hill.
Keeneland will also be limiting admission to the Fall Meet to ensure “optimal daily capacity.” According to Keeneland, the optimal capacity on large race days should average more than 20,000 fans.
Keeneland “strongly recommends that all guests, regardless of vaccination status, wear a mask when indoors” and masks and hand sanitizer will be available at the race course.
5. There are plenty of viewing options if you can’t make it to Keeneland. There’s a lot to do in the Lexington sports scene at the moment, highlighted by the Kentucky football program’s 5-0 start to the season and its sold-out home game Saturday night against LSU. But whether you are occupied this weekend or later on in October, there are plenty of ways to follow along with the Fall Meet at Keeneland.
During the Fall Meet, TVG will present live, on-site coverage on race days starting at 1 p.m. Additionally, all Keeneland races are streamed live for free on Keeneland’s website, race day app and YouTube page.
During Fall Stars Weekend from Friday through Sunday, NBC Sports Network will provide live coverage of some of the Breeders’ Cup Challenge races.
Coverage from Keeneland will occur on NBCSN on Friday from 5-6 p.m., Saturday from 5-6 p.m. and Sunday from 4:30-6 p.m.
NBCSN will also broadcast the meet’s final Breeders’ Cup Challenge race — the Grade 2 JPMorgan Chase Jessamine — from 4-5 p.m. Wednesday.
Enhanced Spanish-language media options are also being offered during the Fall Meet. There will be a livestream of Fall Stars Weekend race cards in Spanish, Spanish translation of the Keeneland Race Day App and handicapping content and analysis in Spanish on Keeneland.com.
This story was originally published October 7, 2021 at 1:26 PM.
