LEXINGTON, Ky. (LEX News) — October is just 5 days away, and it'll be a busy month in Lexington, especially for horse racing fans and the industry as a whole.
"We've got quite an opportunity here as a city to put our best foot forward. The fall meet starts next Friday, followed by the Breeders' Cup," said Leslie Miller, the Vice President of Marketing for Visit Lex.
Miller and her staff have been preparing for this, essentially since the last time Lexington hosted the Breeders' Cup in 2022. But success, in their mind, has as much to do with everything that happens away from the Keeneland Racetrack as what happens inside it.
"My hope is that people may come for the races, but they leave remembering so much more about Lexington, and it encourages them to want to come back, and that's an impact that we feel well beyond the Breeders' Cup," Miller explained.
From the horse farms to the Bourbon Trail, restaurants, and parks, Lexington and central Kentucky have so much to offer beyond the racing element, and Miller has been working on hotel outreach to make sure our visitors are aware of all the options.
"We'll be doing that to make sure our hotel partners and their staff have information on the local things to do and recommendations to make to folks that may be coming into town to make sure that we're pointing them in the right direction," Miller said of that initiative.
The Breeders' Cup weekend alone was an enormous money maker for the city and county four years ago. It figures to top that number late next month.
"We saw an $81 million economic impact in Lexington and the surrounding areas," Miller said before noting that the real impact can happen months and years down the road, if the execution of their vision during October is flawless.
"You may be here for the event, and so your weekend is jam-packed, so we want to do everything we can to make people think, 'my goodness, I must come back because I have to experience all these,'" she said.
For more information on things to do in Lexington, or if you're planning your visit for the Fall Meet or Breeders' Cup, click here: Horse Capital of the World: Lexington, Kentucky Visitor Information
