The cool thing about that visit more than three years ago, though, was that the track was new not only to me but also everyone since I was attending the first day of live racing at Presque Isle Downs in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Kentucky Downs has been around a little longer, opening in 1990 as Dueling Grounds—named in honor of the site's heritage as a place where people could settle their feuds with a few paces and a quick shot. Kentucky Downs is on the Kentucky side of the Tennessee-Kentucky boarder. Way back when, duels were legal in Kentucky but illegal in Tennessee. Similarly, pari-mutuel wagering is legal in Kentucky but illegal in Tennessee.
Even though I've lived in Kentucky for eight of the track's meets previous to this one, I never made the 180-mile trek from Lexington because the track's two weekends of live racing always seemed to fall on Kentucky Cup weekend at Turfway Park and my mom's birthday.
That changed this year when Turfway Park (which used to own Kentucky Downs in partnership with Churchill Downs) canceled its Kentucky Cup program, but Kentucky Downs kept its Grade 3 Kentucky Cup Turf. It was time to finally check the place out.
The first impression is quaint. The main structure is a Colonial-style clubhouse that reminded this Lexington resident of the Henry Clay estate. One of my traveling companions, Thoroughbred Times Senior Staff writer Frank Angst, said it reminded him of the clubhouse at Colonial Downs, but I've never been to that facility, so I can't say for sure.
The main entrance is about a quarter mile from the finish line, which is easy to note because when you walk outside there's a big pole with red and white stripes coming out of the ground. It's an easy walk to the finish line, an area that also includes an area that does triple duty as paddock, walking ring, and winner's circle.
The most unique experience about watching the races at Kentucky Downs is the stretch run. From the main entrance/simulcast/restaurant/sports bar area that also includes a bingo parlor, it's interesting to watch the horses run away from you toward the finish.
The uphill stretch run dulls some of the big moves we're used to seeing on the turf, but at the same time it helps increase anticipation for the finish because of the longer time it takes as well as the assumption that the horses are trying harder since that last push is uphill.
The second impression Kentucky Downs made was a bad one. The live program is just photocopied past performance sheets. Kudos to them for including Belmont Park in the live program rather than force patrons to buy multiple programs for the two tracks they're most likely to play but charging $3 for a photocopied printout is just cheesy.
Of all the places for a "souvenir" program, a destination meet that runs four days a year would seem to be it. I can't believe that Kentucky Downs couldn't sell advertising to some area merchants. I know that I would have definitely paid close attention to any local restaurants that advertised in the program.
Marketing in general seemed to be light. Frank had a great idea that Kentucky should have marketed its two Grade 3 stakes that day—the aforementioned Kentucky Cup at Kentucky Downs as well as the Turfway Fall Championship Stakes—in some kind of "guaranteed pool" daily double wager since both races were 1 1/2 miles and neither was on dirt. It was a fairly baron day for top-level simulcast races with no Grade 1 races, so something like that may have gotten some attention, and once you handicap the double well you might as well look at those pick 3s and pick 4s as well!
In another sense, however, the seesaw nature of the card with races from both Kentucky Downs and Turfway being part of the same program was tiresome. The last three races at Kentucky Downs were more than an hour apart from each other. Again, given the destination-style of the track, this didn't really work for me, and I'm someone who enjoys simulcast. I doubt it makes a favorable impression on people who are solely there for the live racing.
As for the food, another Turf writer who was there said the buffet in the sports bar was overpriced, but the concessions seemed more than reasonable. Beer was $3 and pop was $1.75 with $.75 refills. I had grand designs on finding a home cookin'-style place for dinner, so I didn't plan to do much eating, but I couldn't resist trying their take on Frito pie, and it delivered.
Kentucky Downs was worth the five-hour round trip trek, but if I went back I'd probably want to tie in with a trip to Nashville or at least Bowling Green.
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