When it opened in 1875, the track sat on 80 acres at the edge of the countryside. Today, its neighbors include a Kentucky Kingdom amusement park, an international airport and the University of Louisville stadiums, as well as a couple of residential neighborhoods. The paddock, where fans can glimpse horses en route to the starting gate, backs up to the parking lot.
Horse racing may not command the national attention it once did, but the decadence, speed and spectacle of the Derby remain. Churchill Downs feels more like the Circus Maximus than a normal racecourse. The Kentucky Derby Museum (closed on Derby weekend), located behind the grandstand, captures almost 150 years of lore, bringing some of the legendary characters — equine and human, horseman and civilian — to life. The allure is well earned.
Elaborate hats, frosty mint juleps, celebrities: The Derby scene fosters the mystique. For casual fans, the five weeks in May and June that compose the Triple Crown define the sport — and draw the massive crowds. Most Derby infield attendees only see the race on a jumbotron. Even if you don’t get inside, Louisville transforms into a week-long party. There’s really nothing quite like it.
Location: Churchill Downs, 700 Central Ave., Louisville.
At idyllic Keeneland, you can get close to the athletes and the action
About 70 miles east, at Lexington’s Keeneland Race Course, it’s the same sport but a different scene — especially in autumn. While Churchill awes spectators with its size and scope, on par with the world’s monumental stadiums, Keeneland, opened in 1936, guards its idyllic appeal. Horse farms surround the track, built on more than 1,000 acres of undulating bluegrass. There are hardly any advertisements, and it draws both racing aficionados and fans of fashion and finery.
Where Churchill reflects the initial boom in American popular sports, Keeneland feels like a place the leisure classes built for themselves. Yet it might be the most accessible sporting venue in the United States. Nowhere else can you get as close to the athletes (horses) as you can here.
Arrive early for morning workouts (free of charge, though general admission race tickets are $7). Grab breakfast at the Track Kitchen and rub elbows with jockeys and trainers, then move trackside to watch the horses tune up.
Keeneland has two racing seasons: April and October. In the relative quiet of the fall meet, which runs Oct. 8 to 30 this year, the exquisite details of the facility really come into focus. Behind the ivy-covered limestone of the grandstand, a giant sycamore as old as the track itself presides over the storied paddock; by month’s end, the tree’s leaves will have shifted from green to gold. Navigating only 8,600 seats and a slower pace, you can take your time moving from betting window to bourbon bar to burgoo stand. (A cousin of Brunswick stew, burgoo pairs nicely with local distillations, and October is the perfect weather for it.)
As for the races themselves, along the rail, you can hear and even feel hoofs pounding as horses hit the homestretch. During fall’s opening weekend, 10 races offer automatic entry into the Breeders’ Cup, the sport’s season finale. Long overlooked for its compact size, Keeneland will host only its third Breeders’ Cup, scheduled for Nov. 4 and 5, 2022. Save those dates.
Nothing matches the sublime power of a Derby homestretch roar, but Keeneland’s picturesque beauty offers its own more accessible charms.
Location: Keeneland Race Course, 4201 Versailles Rd., Lexington, Ky.
Cornwell is a writer based in the District. His website is grahamhcornwell.com. Find him on Twitter and Instagram: @ghcornwell.
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