August – Keeneland Race
Posted on 03. Aug, 2011 by admin in What’s on
Some call it America’s Ascot, but this being America, it’s not half as plummy nor aristocratic as the flagship British racing event.
Sure, people dress up at Keeneland, it is after all the thoroughbred racing Mecca for the US – it’s always voted the No 1 track. Some visitors dress smartly, most casually, and the odd person rather ludicrously – but Keeneland is far more democratic, and way more family friendly than its royal counterpart (with far fewer silly hats, too).
Like Ascot, there’s the fabled car park picnics, but it’s less the posh hampers with shampers round the back of the Bentley or Range Rover than fun barbecues and Budweiser at Keeneland. Well, it’s hardly a car park – the cars sit on the rolling lush bluegrass hills over the 1,000-acre site.
Tickets are easier to buy, too and often available on the day of the prime race, if you are willing to take a gamble on not seeing such hallowed events as the Bluegrass Stakes.
What’s more, tickets are cheaper than the staple £50 ticket for Ascot, just $8 to reserve a grandstand seat for some meets, rising to $25 for the Bluegrass Stakes. Hurry though, such seat applications need to be in by August 1, dining applications in July. General admission at Keeneland is just $5, with children under 12 allowed in free – perhaps more than other factor making it a more family-friendly event.
During my visit to the Keeneland races, I noticed more families and children than ever seen at all my racetrack visits in the UK (OK, four so far). It’s relaxed and fun.
So why the Ascot of America? Well, Keeneland is a venerable track, its old-world grandstand built in the 1930s – some feat in the midst of the Great Depression. That makes Keeneland virtually neolithic given the relatively short span of US history.
It was here that the movie Seabiscuit was filmed, largely because the surroundings here have hardly changed since Keeneland was built.
Perhaps it’s seen at the US Ascot because it is always ranked the No1 course for thoroughbred racing; perhaps because Keeneland was founded as a non-profitmaking track – very noble, though far from aristocratic – built to further the cause of racing in general rather than line pockets in particular.
Perhaps it’s because of the wealth assembled at the great meetings – there’s a Spring Meeting in April, a prelude to the Kentucky Derby on the first weekend in May, and a Fall Meeting in October. Perhaps, it’s because Keeneland likes to retain traditions – it was the last track in North America to broadcast race calls over its public-address system, not doing so until 1997.
Keeneland likes to think of itself as not so much “traditional” but as “selectively conservative”. It’s apt a description, because stuffy Keeneland isn’t, having introduced many an innovation over the decades, including the now ubiquitous polytrack surface – think millions of rubber bands mixed with sand and synthetic fibers and woven into a kind of racing carpet that lays on the mud, all to save the legs and hoofs of the expensive thoroughbreds galloping above.
This year the track at Lexington, the epicentre of America’s horse and horseracing industry, celebrates its 75th birthday – the first race being run on October 15 1936 – so expect a bit more pomp and ceremony than usual.
Want to visit, then pop here to see ticket prices and how to apply, but hurry – it’s the 75th anniversary.
July – Kentucky Nascar
Posted on 08. Jul, 2011 by admin in What’s on
The Kentucky Speedway, home to the Nascar Sprint Cup Series
It’s taken a long, long time but Kentucky is finally under starters order: it’s very own Nascar Sprint Cup Series event.
The chequered flag waves on July 11, promising a huge Saturday night party, luring 116,000 petrol-heads and race fans to the vast Kentucky Speedway stadium tucked into the countryside at Sparta, between Louisville and Cincinnatti.
The fabled Sprint Cup Series with Nascar (the National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing), as popular in America as Grand Prix in Europe, pinballs to and fro right across America, from the immortal Daytona 500 race to the fabled Indianapolis circuit and Talladega Superspeedway to oval tracks from Vegas in the southwest to New Hampshire in the northeast. Now Kentucky is on the map.
Huge crowds flock to the Nascar events. Why? Imagine deafening noise, the heavy whiff of petrol and smoke, and the spectacular scenes from grandstand seats jacked-up as high as a tower block, watching the souped-up, precision-engineered Fords and Chevvies battle it out at speeds of more than 200mph over as many as 500 laps for two to three hours, hugging and tucking into rivals’ slipstreams just waiting to pounce.
As Nascar itself puts it: “Your heart will pound. Your seat will shake. Your vision will blur.” They are not wrong.
Don’t Believe us, then take a look at this, possibly the craziest ever finish to a Nascar race, as if straight out of the Will Ferrell spoof Talladega Nights, with poor old Nascar maestro Carl Edwards playing the role of Ricki Bobby.
As with all American sporting events, it’s more than just racing. It’s an experience. A true happening: be it mingling with the crowds in the towering grandstands or in the traditional car park barbecue, enjoying the campground picnics, having a beer and hotdog by the trackside or camping for days like thousands of other devotees in Kentucky Speedway’s sprawling 200 acres. Soon there’ll even be a casino.
If you can’t make the Sprint Cup, October sees just as racey, just as raw an event at Kentucky Speedway, with the IndyCar competitions, the American version of Formula 1.
Kentucky is the first new track on the Sprint Cup Series since 2001, when Kansas and Chicagoland held their inaugural races. Kentucky’s gain is Atlanta’s loss, surrendering one of its two races, part of a big shake-up in the schedules to reward keen newcomers such as Kentucky Speedway.
The track had tried for what seemed aeons to lure the grand Sprint Cup Series to its newly developed oval at Sparta. It won Nascar Truck events and a Nationwide cup event, but it always seemed to miss out on the grand prize: the Sprint Cup.
Why? Well, it didn’t help that the granddaddy of race venues, Indianapolis, was seen as too near, just three hours’ drive away; there was the huge monsoon rains for the inaugural Truck race which turned the circuit into a mudbath, prompting traffic jams all the way down Interstate 71 (shades of Silverstone Grand Prix in 2000?), and there were several “unhelpful” legal barriers always frustrating the prize.
Now it’s finally happened and Kentucky is counting down to the big night. Very soon, hopes Kentucky Speedway, there’ll be a second race. Watch this space.
For tickets, click here. For more informaion on the Sprint Cup Series click here and for Nascar click here.
June – Great American Balloon Race
Posted on 01. Jun, 2011 by admin in What’s on
Great American Balloon Race
The countdown to lift-off is nearly upon us, the Great American Air Balloon Race in good ol’ Danville, Kentucky is just around the corner.
The 22nd annual spectacular has become a great family day out, with people of all ages flocking to Junction City to watch the bright blue June skies fill up with the multi-hewn balls of fabric and hot air. It’s like a rainbow, albeit in dots.
Families from across the state flock to Danville, near Harrodsburg, for the race, which celebrates all things ballooning, historically man’s first successful attempt to fly. It started in Paris, in 1783, with two men flying 5.5miles for 23 minutes before plunging safely down to Earth.
We don’t know where “le ballon” touched down but the Danville enthusiasts seek to emulate the landing, albeit in a more modern, much more controlled, and safer way.
The event – on June 10 this year – is not so much a race as a test of aeronautics and navigation, the balloon pilots testing their guile against wind and air pressure to land their flimsy, lightweight craft within 200 yards of the set landing target, with the closest balloon scooping the $1,000 prize.
It’s a tricky task, some years there have been no winners at all, the weather conditions making it too difficult for any of the 20 or so balloon pilots to get anywhere near the mark.
The field opens at 5pm, with a brass band playing in the crowd and food vendors opening for snacks and refreshment. At 6.30pm the pilots gather at the VIP hangar and by 7pm the fist balloons take off. Ninety minutes later the winner is awarded.
Why so late in the day? Apparently ballooning is best at sunrise or sunset, all due to the prevailing thermals and wind.
If you can’t make the June 10 event, try the all-year round balloon ride specialists at louisvilleballoonrides.com, offering unforgettable aerial views of Kentucky in the heart of the bluegrass country. Or if you plan to visit Louisville in spring for the fabled Kentucky Derby, check out the Derby race in the sky, the Derby Festival Great Balloon Race. Or if you visit in deep summer, venture to Lexington’s 15th Annual Rotary BB&T Fourth of July Balloon Rally.
May – The Fort Knox Experience
Posted on 20. May, 2011 by admin in What’s on
Fort Knox in Kentucky
A universal byword for impregnable security, Fort Knox in Kentucky is known the world over as home to the US gold bullion reserve. Well, it does have a 22-tonne steel door.
As the resting place of perhaps the greatest concentration of wealth in the world – some 47.3 million troy ounces of gold are stored in Fort Knox, that’s £96bn ($130bn), all in nice gold brick bars – it is guarded by more than a few dobermans. Only one man has managed to foil security there: the eponymous main baddie in the James Bond classic film Goldfinger.
Bond film crews were allowed to film the reserve building’s exterior but were banished from inside, for obvious security reasons. Obviously, simple tourists can’t pop in for a quick peek at the gold but you can venture onto the grounds of the 110,000-acre Fort Knox army base and drive past the building (from a distance). Just mind all the tanks and army trucks trundling by.
Recently, amid all the banking and global finance shenanigans, some people such as Texas congressman Ron Paul, have called for an audit of the gold; the last time a team of accountants went through the reserves was under President Eisenhower. They want to count it, and, more importantly perhaps, make sure the US Federal Government still owns it.
Since it was built in 1937 the gems locked inside the vault have included the US Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address, parts of the Gutenberg Bible and Magna Carta.
Remember: if anyone stops you for acting suspiciously, or just being there, say you are visiting the newly remodelled and completely refurbished General George Patton museum, dedicated to the famous, though somewhat controversial world war II general, plus the US military throughout the ages, all housed nearby.
There’s events throughout the year, including re-enactments and the annual Life of the Soldier weekend, this year from May 27 to May 29, which details the life of the American soldier nice 1775.
For more information visit Armor for the Ages.
April – Kentucky Derby Festival
Posted on 11. Apr, 2011 by admin in What’s on
Taking place 15th April to 5th May, this festival occurs in the three weeks immediately preceding the first Saturday in May, when the world-famous Kentucky Derby race is run. This whirlwind of 70 special events starts off with “Thunder Over Louisville”, the nations largest annual fireworks extravaganza and includes other events such as the Great Balloon Race and the Festival Spring Fashion Show.
Another huge event taking place 28th April at the Kentucky Horse Park is the Rolex Kentucky. This three-day event tests the relationship and finesse between horse and rider in three disciplines: dressage; cross-country and jumping.
For more information, head to www.derbyfestival.org or www.rk3de.org
March – Wine Barrel Tasting
Posted on 07. Mar, 2011 by admin in What’s on
Join in the fun at this unique fundraiser to support development and improvements at McConnell Springs , the historical site where Lexington was named. For a small fee of $20, you’ll have access to the 14 participating wineries in the Lexington area. For more information, visit www.mcconnellsprings.org
January – Louisville Boat, RV and Sport Show
Posted on 19. Jan, 2011 by admin in What’s on
Taking place at the Kentucky Exposition Center, the Louisville Boat Show is a one-stop market-place for outdoor enthusiasts
This is the place to be if you know the difference between your fishing boats, bass boats, water ski boats and offshore race boats. Taking place at the Kentucky Exposition Center 26th – 30th January making the perfect last-minute deal. Check out www.louisvilleboatshow.com for more information.
Over the Moonbow: 19th – 23rd November
Posted on 12. Aug, 2010 by admin in What’s on
Over the Moonbow: 19th – 23rd November
Cumberland Falls, also known as the “Niagara of the South”, is one of the natural highlights of Kentucky featuring authentic lodges and stunning scenes across the hiking trails. It also happens to be the only place on the western hemisphere where you can witness a moonbow. This breathtaking natural occurrence happens by light passing from a full moon, through droplets of water, creating a silvery-white arc in the midst of the waterfall.
The Moonbow takes place from 19th to 23rd November and if you fancy more adventure, then take part in the Moonbow Trail Trek on 6th November – hikers can choose between a challenging 4.5 and 10.8 mile trek through the rugged Cumberland River Gorge.
For further details visit http://parks.ky.gov/findparks/resortparks/cf/naturalist.
Follow Our Road Tripper Around Kentucky
Posted on 12. Oct, 2009 by admin in News blog
Kentucky Tried?
Hi yall, I’m off to Kentucky: home of the thoroughbred racehorses and American racing, the bourbon capital of the world, the home of Muhammad Ali, the Louisville Slugger baseball bat, bluegrass music, the gateway to the South, Mammoth Caves, the biggest cave system in the US, and Cumberland Falls, the only place save for Victoria Falls where you get “moonbows”. Of vast state parks, sprawling lakes and good old southern hospitality. And yes, the home of Kentucky Fried Chicken and Colonel Sanders!
“How you doing”
The first thing that hits you about Kentucky, is the people. Friendly isn’t the word. Everyone says “hello”, or “morning”, or “hi”, or “how you doing”. They make eye contact. And when they say “have a good day”, it’s as if they mean it – none of this “have a nice day” supermarket checkout faux pleasantry, which can often translate as “Look I have to say this, otherwise I get sacked – I couldn’t really give two cents if you get mugged on the way out and your car gets totalled by a bus”.
“Yep, they’re friendly, very friendly” says Craig, a diver from Wisconsin checking out supports on one of the new river bridges. “And they mean it, it’s not like Detroit.”
I sat next to Craig on the plane from Detroit, perhaps the smallest airplane I have encountered. It figures, Lexington is one of the smallest airports I have encountered, save for the early days of Ryanair flying into one-man flying school aerodromes in suburban Oslo, Norway. On the other side of the coin, baggage pick-up, rental cars and the 10 yard walk from the plane to arrivals is a plus.
Lexington
East Main in Lexington, Kentucky
Now cute or quaint aint the word for this town, the capital of horses. Compared to much of urban America, it’s positively regal. Surrounded by undulating bluegrass fields, horse ranches and stud farms, pockmarked by old wooden barns, lined by pretty green, black or traditionally white plank fences or stone walls, all topped off by the palatial mansions of the “colonels”, the thoroughbred horse trainers and ranch owners.
The city of nearly 250,000 is brimming with Victorian townhouses, wooden arched gables, stone window ledges, clapperboard faciers, with neo-classical collonades on the leading up the covered porches; townhouses all, it’s an America I haven’t seen before. Most of the town seems to be lined with these old homes, save for a part of downtown, where the high-rise banks have sprouted, albeit for only a block or two. Banks such as the oddly named skyrise tower of the Fifth Third Ban”, which makes you wonder what happened to the first four.
Front Porches of Houses in Lexington, Kentucky
Its clear Lexington has history, as befits horse country. Pioneers came here after the Revolutionary War (the War of Independence in this Brit’s book), settling for the vast pastures and naming the town after the battle which sealed victory. The horse farms and breeders came soon afterwards.
It claims to be the Horse Capital of the World – and why not? Nearly everyone here has links to the trade, be they the marketing manager of a horse-feed firm, jockey or a trainee vet. Well, nearly everyone: in downtown Lexington, law practices abound, and it’s clear quite a few people are majoring in criminal justice or work at the nearby law firms. Perhaps there are major disputes between ranch owners (“hey, that’s my horse” … “no it’s not, it mine!” “Prove it!”)
Basketball
Don’t mention the word basketball; it’s Kentucky’s major sport and the team, UK (University of Kentucky, based in Lexington) has just lost in the quarter finals to Oklahoma). Still, they don’t seem too upset at the Sidebar grill, a funky indie-style bar serving value for money burgers and steaks on 147 North Limestone (www.sidebargrill.com). It’s $5.99 for a ground sirloin patty burger with cheddar, onion, pickle and lettuce, with fries. The bottled Kentucky Ale, a lively brew, and tasty, rocks in at 5.4%. “Yeh, don’t mention the game,” says Anna, the waitress. “It sucks.” If you want a more fancy meal, try La Deauville bistro or La La Lucy’s on East Main.
You won’t mention the game at Mia’s, either, a lively bar this Monday night. Everyone is too busy getting drunk. It’ the only bar buzzing this night on the edge of the downtown area; McCarthy’s is dead, as is Molly’s, and Cheapside, next to the being-renovated old market is quiet too. Well, it is Monday, and 10pm. so why is Mia’s throbbing? Karaoke. or, to be precise, gay and lesbian karaoke.
You do know it’s a gay and lesbian bar, ask Brian? I kinda figured, a casual glance of the student clientele and the karaoke playlist gave it away (Neil Diamond, for your future reference). And who else, on a Monday night, before the start of the annual spring race meet at nearby Keeneland racetrack, would be whooping it up on a Monday night.
Oh, my God, I just love your accent….
Kentucky doesn’t get many visitors from across the pond (well, not just across the pond – across the Appalachians, and West Virginia, then Virgina, and then the pond). You can tell, ‘cos when you speak, many people look, well, if not exactly awestruck, at least phazed or non-plussed. “Oh-my-God, I just love your accent!” You can never tire of that phrase. I might even get a t-shirt saying it. I was gonna get a T-shirt with the design I Heart Kentucky, in the same design as HK or NY, but with KY being the abbreviation, well, perhaps not.
- Gratz Park Inn in Kentucky
The Gratz Park Inn
I’m staying at the Gratz Park Inn (http://www.gratzparkinn.com/photoGallery.html), a converted old Victorian mansion home in deep downtown, a refurbished grand Victorian property with a classical piano taking pride of place in the lounge/reception. The bedroom is vast, dominated by perhaps the comfiest double-poster bed I have slept in. After the missed connection at Detroit, I need some shuteye. A lush four-poster bed kinda helps.
DAY TWO
Come on, when in America, it’s best to track down some little corner of Americana, which is kinda hard to find in refined, Victorian Lexington. Take one step forward, the Parkette, a fabled old 50s drive-in diner just off the junction to Winchester. Hidden in a sea of drive-in shops, motor malls, fast-food joints and other assembled anomalies, sits the Parkette. The huge towering sign shouts Shrimp boxes and fried chicken.
Sign outside Parkette
You simply pull in, drive up to a bay with a speaker and menu and order, the waitress will then come deliver. Sounds simple, but it aint – for starter, you have to make sure you park driver-side next to the meNu and ordering machine. Secondly, you have to make sure that particular bay machine works. On the third attempt, my face as red as burger ketchup, I succeed.
Gloria rolls out with my “poorboy”, a $2.99 Big Mac double beef ground sirloin, with red onion, tomato, special Parkette sauce and mustard and pickle. It’s not bad for $2.99, redolent of a Big Mac, but less processed, which kinda figures, cos apparently, the Parkette used to be an original McDonald’s. Hee they offer shrimpbozes, tender shrimp, deep fried, or chicken, deep fried, apparently it’s famous, it’s deep fried in lard.
Parkette Owners
Nowadays, the Parkette host 50s retro nights, where, I guess, people in long ra-ra skirts bobby socks, ponytails and pluco-quiffed guys in baseball jackets re-enact the T-Birds and the Pink Ladies in their old cadillacs.
Photo of Yellow Plymouth Duster
Next up, the drive to Louisville, through Georgetown, Frankfort and Shelbyville …
(“Oooh, there’s a cow!)
Hot August Blues Festival
Posted on 05. Feb, 2009 by sarah in What’s on
Set the Mood this Summer with Kentucky’s Hot August Blues Festival
Don’t miss the Hot August Blues Festival this August in Kentucky at Lake Hardin, bringing you the best in Blues music.
From the 27th – 28th of August 2010, enjoy some of the finest Blues acts from around the world as well as much-loved local favourites. With the scenic Lake Hardin as the backdrop, food and drink available to purchase throughout the festival, good music and good company, the Hot August Blues Festival makes for a very entertaining weekend.
In the past the Hot August Blues Festival has been selected as one of the state’s Top Ten summer events and has remained a “must attend” festival in the western Kentucky region.
Book in advance and you can purchase tickets from only £8 – £12 per person or tickets are available at the entrance gates and cost from £10 – £14 per person. The ticket prices vary according to the day of attendance. Weekend combo tickets are also available for either £17 per person if booked in advance or £20 per person if bought at the gate.
For more information on the Hot August Blues Festival and purchasing tickets visit www.hotaugustbluesfestival.com.