Thomason: It was a Special Breeders' Cup

Keeneland has a smallish grandstand, had never hosted a Breeders' Cup before, can be hard to get in and out of on even normal racing days and its home, Lexington, isn't a metropolis blessed with ample hotel space and numerous restaurants on the scale of a Los Angeles or New York. Yet, from the owners and trainers and the 95,102 patrons who attended the two days of racing there have been very few complaints and almost universal praise for how well run the event was.

That might come as a surprise to some, but not to Keeneland President and CEO Bill Thomason.

When asked what Keeneland could have done better, he actually paused for a good 10 seconds, struggled to come up with a few minor details and concluded his answer by saying, “I was extremely pleased with the flow and the entire operation of the whole Breeders' Cup, so it is hard to find a major flaw and say, 'Gosh, we really messed that up.'”

Attendees seem to agree.

“Everything was handled perfectly,” said Kevin Cox, a handicapper who took part in the Breeders' Cup Betting Challenge. “I didn't think a small venue could pull it off, dealing with a crowd that size. But they did so with aplomb. I didn't hear one gripe from one person all day. They cornered the market on hospitality. There's no doubt that Keeneland should be a part of the rotation for Breeders' Cup tracks.”

Thomason said that the result, a well-run Breeders' Cup that overcame several challenges, was the result of years of planning and a commitment on the part of the Keeneland team to make sure that the event was one where everyone would go home happy.

Thomason said there were six areas his team focused on when it began putting together a blueprint for how to run a Breeders' Cup. They wanted to provide an exemplary customer experience for the fans, showcase the beauty and tradition of Keeneland, make sure that every need an owner and trainer and their horses could possibly have was taken care of, and to involve the Lexington community, knowing that the horse-crazy city would rise to the occasion. The list also included enhancing the November Breeding Stock Sale set to begin two days after the Breeders' Cup and they wanted to learn from the experience in a way where they could make a normal day at Keeneland even better.

“The industry and our fans have very high expectations for this place because of the care we place in everything we do and the care we place in our people, how we feel about our fans and our industry,” Thomason said. “We feel we have a responsibility to our industry and our community, that this place is special when it comes to how it represents the industry and how we can help grow the industry.”

In other words, failure was not an option.

The crowd on Breeders' Cup Friday was 44,947 and the Saturday program attracted 50,155. Considering that the biggest day of the normal Keeneland season, Blue Grass Day, attracted 26,357 fans this year, Keeneland could have had a logistical nightmare on its hands by stuffing all those extra bodies into the facility. But they deftly managed to utilize every inch of the track, much of which was made up of “chalets,” or temporary structures, each one able to accommodate large groups of fans. The use of the chalets was one of the reasons Keeneland was able to avoid the usual headaches when a sports facility is overtaxed–long lines at the concession stands and bathrooms, patrons getting shut out at the betting windows, those taking in the races at a restaurant area having to wait far too long for their food to come.

When asked if Keeneland exceeded expectations Thomason said that's a question better answered by others.

“We count on the people who were here to tell us how we performed,” he said. “So whether we think we exceeded expectations or not, what matters is that the patrons who were at this place on this historic moment have told us it exceeded their expectations. Therefore, my answer would be yes. And it's only because the fans and people who attended told us what a great event it was. It was a special Breeders' Cup.”

The hope that the Breeders' Cup would have a carryover effect and have a positive impact on the November Breeding Stock Sale has come to fruition. Through the first two days of the sale, the average was up 11.5 percent and the median was up 15 percent.

“We knew we had the ability to enhance the most important breeding stock sale in the world, which was going to take place two days after the Breeders' Cup,” Thomason said. “We had plans to make it safe for our horses and convenient for our buyers and consignors to get to those horses and see them. We also wanted get the principals and people involved in the industry here in town and make it convenient to attend the sale where, before, they sometimes had to make decisions on how or whether they were going to come to it. We feel really good about how this has gone, especially after the first two days of our sale.”

There's no doubt that the Breeders' Cup will return to Keeneland and Thomason has said his team very much looks forward to another go at it. The next available spot for the Breeders' Cup is 2018. He said there have been no official talks yet about future Breeders' Cups with Breeders' Cup officials or internally among Keeneland's leaders. He said all that will have to wait until after the sale is over and everyone has had enough time to digest what took place this year.

In the meantime, Thomason will take time to reflect on the satisfaction that comes when you know you and your team tackled something difficult and outperformed even the highest expectations and satisfied even the loudest critics.

“We were involved in an historic moment for our industry and to were able to showcase Keeneland; we let people enjoy this place and see it in all its splendor,” he said. “We were able to allow the industry to see the passion of the people who are involved in providing this experience, and that is from all the members of the Keeneland team. This was the most satisfying and exciting thing that has ever happened to me in my life.”