Keeneland’s Fall Meet is over. See the leading connections and records that were broken.

The 2024 Fall Meet at Keeneland has officially come and gone, with 17 days of thoroughbred racing concluding Saturday evening.

The result? There was record-breaking all-sources wagering at the Lexington track. Keeneland reported an all-sources wagering total of $210 million for this year’s Fall Meet, which also featured record purse money awarded across 22 stakes races.

Specifically, Keeneland’s all-sources wagering (not including whole-card simulcasting at Keeneland) for the meet was $210,165,945, which beat the previous record set during the 2022 Fall Meet by more than $1 million.

A single day, all-sources wagering record for Keeneland’s Fall Meet was set on Oct. 5, the opening Saturday of the meet. That 11-race card — which included five graded stakes races — produced an all-sources wagering total of $22,356,693.

Keeneland reported an on-track handle of $16,597,162 for this year’s Fall Meet, more than a 2% increase over last year’s amount.

“The Fall Meet was exceptional,” Keeneland President and CEO Shannon Arvin said in a news release. “The class and quality of the horses and riders competing here are truly special, and we appreciate the tremendous support from our owners and trainers who make the choice to race with us.”

Horses go from Keeneland wins to the Breeders’ Cup

The 22 stakes races that took place during this year’s Keeneland Fall Meet offered a record combined purse amount of $9.85 million. The Grade 1, $1.25 million Coolmore Turf Mile — run on opening Saturday, Oct. 5, and won by Carl Spackler — was the richest race in Keeneland’s history.

Opening weekend of the Fall Meet — known as Fall Stars Weekend — featured eight races that were win-and-in qualifiers for corresponding races in the Breeders’ Cup, which will be held this weekend at Del Mar in California.

Ten horses were pre-entered into the Breeders’ Cup following wins during the opening weekend at Keeneland.

Those horses were Darley Alcibiades winner Immersive (Juvenile Fillies), Jessamine winner May Day Ready (Juvenile Fillies Turf), Phoenix winner Federal Judge (Sprint), Breeders’ Futurity winner East Avenue (Juvenile), Turf Mile winner Carl Spackler (Mile), First Lady winner Gina Romantica (Mile), Thoroughbred Club of America winner Zeitlos (Filly and Mare Sprint), Spinster winner Idiomatic (Distaff), Indian Summer winner Governor Sam (Juvenile Turf Sprint) and Castle & Key Bourbon winner Minaret Station (Juvenile Turf).

Keeneland averaged 9.6 starters per race this fall.

Gaffalione, Cox dominate jockey, trainer standings at Keeneland

The leading jockey and trainer titles for this year’s Fall Meet were runaway results.

Jockey Tyler Gaffalione won 24 races to secure his fifth Fall Meet leading jockey title, and his eighth overall Keeneland leading rider title. Gaffalione won four stakes races this month at the Lexington track: the Grade 1, $1.25 million Coolmore Turf Mile with Carl Spackler; the Grade 1, $600,000 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity with East Avenue; the Grade 2, $350,000 Lexus Raven Run with Emery and the Grade 3, $300,000 Sycamore with Highway Robber.

Luis Saez was second on the jockey leaderboard with 20 wins, and Jose Ortiz was third with 17.

Two veteran jockeys — Paco Lopez and Irad Ortiz Jr. — both recorded their 4,000th career wins during the Fall Meet.

Trainer Brad Cox cruised to his fifth consecutive Fall Meet title with 14 victories. Overall, this is Cox’s sixth Keeneland leading trainer title. Cox won a six stakes races during the Fall Meet, which represented the most stakes wins by a trainer during any Keeneland meet.

Those stakes races were: the Grade 2, $350,000 Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix with Federal Judge; the Grade 1, $600,000 Darley Alcibiades with Immersive; the Grade 1, $600,000 Juddmonte Spinster with Idiomatic; the Grade 2, $350,000 Lexus Raven Run with Emery; the Grade 3, $300,000 Rood & Riddle Dowager with Chop Chop and the Grade 2, $350,000 Hagyard Fayette with Hit Show, who ran fifth in the 2023 Kentucky Derby.

Rodolphe Brisset was second in the trainer standings with nine wins.

Another notable trainer milestone came with longtime Keeneland-based trainer Rusty Arnold winning his 300th Keeneland race. Arnold — who won his first race at Keeneland during the 1977 Spring Meet — claimed eight race wins during this year’s Fall Meet.

Sheikh Mohammed Al Maktoum’s Godolphin won four races, including two stakes, to claim the leading owner title for the Fall Meet. This is Godolphin’s third Fall Meet leading owner title in the last four years.

Fall Meet continued at Keeneland despite construction

For the second time this year, Keeneland staged a race meet at full capacity despite a significant ongoing construction project.

Last October, Keeneland announced plans for a significant expansion project, which called for the construction of a new, permanent Paddock Building that would stretch the length of the existing Paddock and Walking Ring. The project also called for new dining options and seating areas for patrons.

Construction on the project began in January. Arvin, the Keeneland President and CEO, told the Herald-Leader last week the project is set to be completed in September.

This is the largest capital project undertaken since Keeneland opened in 1936, and it’s the track’s first major construction event since the Keeneland Library was built in 2002.

Keeneland’s East Gate entrance has been inaccessible during the construction. But nonetheless, racing and sales at Keeneland have continued at full capacity this year, with the annual spring and fall meets, as well as a record-breaking September Yearling Sale, all taking place.

“Definitely anytime that you take a project like this, at a location like Keeneland, you’re taking a risk,” Arvin told the Herald-Leader. “But we got really comfortable just because we were guided back to our mission, which is to increase the interest in the sport, be a model racetrack, be a model sales company.”

This story was originally published October 27, 2024 at 11:39 AM.