Kentucky Downs Continues to Upgrade its Facility

In the track's newsletter, Kentucky Downs' senior vice president and general manager Ted Nicholson recently talked about planned facility upgrades.

"We're going to further enhance the guest experience both for our year-round entertainment and our live race meet. We have the new porte cochère and are adding valet parking. We are staging a Grand Re-Opening on Friday, March 23 to publicly show off all our renovations, having completely redone in the interior and exterior of our main building, as well as landscaping. Our new lounge area and terrace is perfect for watching horse racing and sports, or enjoying our live music four nights a week. We also are very proud of our new Lucky 7s Diner, with its 1950s feel and comfort-food menu.

"For live racing, we're replacing the Finish Line Tent in front of the officials stand with a permanent pavilion, which also will be open air but more substantial and more comfortable. We have resurfaced the parking area near the main building and improved our lighting. We also have paved all of the areas that previously were gravel where our guests watched the races.

"We're going to have an additional area for group outings at the top of the stretch. Our reserved seating sells out for our biggest days, and we needed a venue where groups of all sizes can come out and enjoy an afternoon together at the races. It will be a point of emphasis this year, headed up by veteran racing executive Debbie Blair.

"I don't want to jump the gun on stakes, but I know that we will be enhancing some selected stakes purse-wise. Our five-date meet now has four Grade 3 stakes and we will work hard to get them to Grade 2 status, as well as getting additional graded stakes. While we wish it could have all happened yesterday, we continue to move the ball forward and look forward to a huge 2018."