Breeders' Cup — The Downtown Experience

Keeneland, The Breeders' Cup and the city of Lexington are giving race fans plenty of reasons to come early in advance of this year's World Championships Oct. 30-31. The Breeders' Cup Festival Week, sponsored by KentuckyOne Health, features a food-truck cook off, a “retired racehorse makeover” event, and a play about the renowned African-American jockey Isaac Murphy by Kentucky's poet laureate. And that's just Day 1 of the Festival.

“Local community support was an important factor in selecting Keeneland for the 2015 Breeders' Cup site,” said Robert N. Elliston, executive vice president and chief operating officer of Breeders' Cup Ltd. “The wide variety of outstanding events and activities arranged for KentuckyOne Breeders' Cup Festival Week is a testament to the organizational skills of the Host Committee. We expect the festival will give fans coming from around the world a truly memorable Breeders' Cup experience in Lexington and in Central Kentucky.”

Mary Quinn Ramer, president of the tourist board VisitLEX (www.visitlex.com), has been busy getting the word out. “Our biggest goal is to get folks to come early and take advantage of all these different activities,” she said. “I know for the Breeders' Cup organization itself, the Festival Week concept is exciting, because it's new and hasn't been done in other places. We feel like we're giving visitors an awesome reason to come to town early and to tour these different horse farms and bourbon distilleries, and to enjoy our nightlife and culinary art. We want to let folks know that before the racing begins on Thursday at Keeneand, come on in an enjoy some of our best attractions.”

Kicking things off on Saturday, Oct. 24, is the Thoroughbred Makeover and National Symposium at the Kentucky Horse Park, the featured event of the Retired Racehorse Project. Some 350 recently retired racehorses who have been retrained in one of 10 different disciplines will compete for $100,000 in cash and prizes.

On the same afternoon, the Feeders' Cup will be held at Whitaker Bank Ball Park, which locals know as the home of the single-A Lexington Legends. Lexington has experienced a food-truck revolution in recent years, and the event will pit some of the very best against each other in a (friendly) battle royale of culinary skill.

“We've utilized food trucks both at the sales and for the racemeet up on The Hill with tailgating, and we've seen the momentum pick up over the last two or three years,” said Keeneland Vice President Vince Gabbert. “The Feeders' Cup is a great way to capitalize on that with local and regional food trucks.”

Many of those food trucks will be be seen later in the week at Keeneland itself during the Breeders' Cup races to expand food options for race fans, said Gabbert.

“When we were planning on the layout of the campus, the food-truck concept, and even some 'food-truck villages,' if you will, were things that we saw on golf courses at large-scale PGA events,” he explained. “We saw how that allowed them to service more people and offer more variety, and we thought from the beginning they would be an integral part of the planning.”

Food trucks are just a part of Lexington's burgeoning foodie culture that the Breeders' Cup and Keeneland hope to spotlight.

“What's happened to the Lexington culinary scene has just been awesome,” said Ramer.

She noted two areas, on Short St. and on Jefferson St., that have seen especially heavy growth.

“We have had these two corridors that have grown up organically and are playing host to this entertainment district,” said Ramer. “We're seeing a lot of investment and excitement there, and it makes for great socializing, and for great food and drink. The city as a whole has seen a lot of innovation, and that ranges from our food trucks to our white-tablecloth fine dining establishments. A lot of it pays tribute to Kentucky and our culinary traditions, and there is a lot that's inspired by other regions. It's wonderful to have that wide variety.”

For those non-equine athletes who want a chance to strut their stuff during Breeders' Cup week, and maybe burn off a few calories from the Feeders' Cup, the Kentucky Horse Park hosts the “Kentucky For Kentucky – 5K Fun Run & Walk” on Sunday, Oct. 25. The 26-furlong tree-lined course (3.1 miles) winds through the Park's interior. Dress up as your favorite Kentuckian for a chance at a $1,000 prize.

Lexington's art scene is embracing the Breeders' Cup. The Downtown Arts Center, the Headley-Whitney Museum and the University of KY Art Museum are among several galleries offering free admission to visitors throughout Breeders' Cup week. The Headley-Whitney Museum, in particular, is a must-stop destination for racing fans. Its exhibits will include, “Treasures from the Farms,” a collection of trophies, furniture, paintings, and more; as well as “Breeders' Cup Memorabilia.”

“We have these very thoughtfully curated exhibits and programming throughout the city, and from my perspective, it's a generous and wonderfully southern welcome to our visitors,” said Ramer.

Racefans can continue to get their culture on at The Lyric Theater. The Lyric will stage performances of the play “I Dedicate This Ride” throughout Breeders' Cup week. The play was developed from a collection of poems by Kentucky's current poet laureate, Danville native Frank X. Walker. The book, released under the same in 2010, is a series of persona poems largely told from the perspective of one of racing's first superstar jockeys, Isaac Murphy. Considered one of the best jockeys off all time, Murphy, born in Frankfort and raised in Lexington, booted home three Kentucky Derby winners and was the first rider inducted into racing's Hall of Fame in 1955.

“People are more familiar with my poetry, but I'm trained as a fiction writer and wrote about a half dozen original plays for Message Theater in the 90's,” Walker told the TDN. “The book of poems has helped resurrect Murphy's legacy and created an opportunity for [regional] students to learn some important Kentucky history.”

Walker hopes the play will help Breeders' Cup fans tap into that history, too.

Two major unveilings will be made during Breeders' Cup week. The first will be held Monday, Oct. 26 at the Thoroughbred Park. John Gaines, father of the Breeders' Cup, and Juddmonte Farms' Khalid Abdullah will be honored for their contributions to racing with a bronze plaque in the park's Hall of Fame. The following day, the late, great Cigar will have a statue unveiled in his honor at the Kentucky Horse Park.

Juddmonte has been a huge supporter of the Breeders' Cup, sending out a record 73 starters (and four winners) in Breeders' Cup races. Cigar, meanwhile, capped a perfect 10-for-10 season with a win in the 1995 GI Breeders' Cup Classic.

“These are three figures that are really so prominent in Breeders' Cup history,” said Gabbert. “For them to be remembered and be woven into the historical fabric here in Lexington is pretty phenomenal, and I think it gives us a great opportunity to showcase that history and what it means to the sport.”

Ramer agrees, and thinks Lexington is intent on living up to Gaines's vision.

“It's great that the event is coming home, so to speak, with Mr. Gaines having led the charge and getting the Breeders' Cup establish all those years ago,” she said. “It's a tremendous honor for our city to play host to the best two days or racing out there. The benefit for the folks coming in is that they really are in the heart of horse country, and they'll appreciate how much Lexington celebrates the horse.”

Those looking to paint the town Breeders' Cup purple can find cohorts at the Kentucky Ale Stage. For six straight nights starting Oct. 25, national and local musicians will perform in the heart of downtown Lexington. The shows are free and run from sundown to 10 p.m.

“There's going to be tremendous live music downtown,” said Ramer. “We'll have two stages, one at the Fifth Third Pavilion, and the other at Courthouse Square.”

Gabbert said that the Breeders' Cup Festival reflects a tradition of Keeneland's engagement with the downtown area.

“When Keeneland was founded, there was a worry that we were so far out of town that it would hurt downtown, so there's always a concentration on us staying attached to downtown,” he explained. “Transportation is a little easier now than in 1936, but we still want to make sure everybody is seeing what downtown has to offer. And there's so much electricity in downtown Lexington right now.”