With both the Keeneland September Yearling Sale and the boutique Kentucky Downs race meet going on at the same time and 170 miles apart, Keeneland has arranged charter flights from Lexington to the Franklin, Kentucky racetrack to accommodate owners, trainers and others who are working the yearling sale, but also have horses running at Kentucky Downs.
The 40-minute flights go between Lexington's Blue Grass Airport and the Portland (Tenn.) Municipal Airport seven miles from Kentucky Downs. The roundtrip flights are Sept. 7, 9, 10, and 13–the last four days of the Kentucky Downs meet. The Keeneland yearling sale begins Sept. 11.
The flights depart at noon Eastern from the Triton Airways at the Blue Grass Airport, located at 4170 Aviator Road (not the main terminal), directly across U.S. 60/Versailles Road from Keeneland. They land in Portland Municipal Airport, also known as Douglas Hunter Field. The return flights will leave about 7 p.m. Central/8 p.m. Eastern.
“Keeneland is pleased to offer this service to anyone who is attending the September sale and wants to go racing on a particular day without five hours of driving,” said Tony Lacy, Keeneland's Vice President of Sales. “There are a lot of horses participating at Kentucky Downs that have, not only domestic owners, but international as well. With such a diverse group of people in town for the sale, it's wonderful for them to be able to go enjoy a very unique, very competitive, extremely rich meet for the few days that they are in Kentucky. It's important that we showcase the quality of Kentucky racing as the circuit gets stronger.”
The aircraft will be a King Air B200 with two pilots, WiFi and eight seats. Those seeking a spot should email [email protected]. The cost for each seat is $625 per roundtrip.
Kentucky Downs is staging a pair of $250,000 allowance races on its Aug. 31 opening-day card restricted to 2-year-olds who went through the sales ring at last year's Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Keeneland is a minority partner with Kentucky Downs' ownership in the new Cumberland Run harness track that opens in Corbin in October and The Mint Gaming Hall Cumberland, its sister historical horse racing and entertainment facility in Williamsburg in southeastern Kentucky.
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