The O'l Red Mile !
The Red Mile is a one mile harness racing track that has been around since 1875. The track was modernized and opened for night racing in 1962. It doesn't get the recognition of it's rich thoroughbred cousins in Kentucky, but is still highly regarded in the standardbred world. The Red Mile is also known for it's historic round barn, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The barn is still used for private events.
The Red Mile is named for the red clay dirt that makes up the racing surface of
the track.
The Red Mile is one of seventeen stops on the prestigious Grand Circuit a series of harness races with purses in the millions. It has also hosted several short quarter horse meets since the late
In 2011 the Red Mile hosted it's normal racing dates and the fore mentioned Grand Circuit Week. It was also scheduled to run a short quarter horse meet, but that was cancelled due to the lack of horses.
in 2012 The Red Mile enjoyed another good season of regular
and Grand Circuit racing. No quarter horse meet was offered, but a
trotting under saddle race was run. Racing under saddle is a popular
hybrid of trotter races run in Europe. The driving title was won by
Tyler Smith.
season.
Revisiting The Red Mile, takes my back to my first botched attempt to find it. I set my GPS for what I thought was the track, but when I ended up outside a farm house on a dirt road somewhere outside Lexington, I knew something was off. My next attempt was in 2012, this time I was prepared, it was actually in downtown Lexington. After driving through urban sprawl for some time the GPS said to turn, once again I questioned it's wisdom, thinking I was going to end up at a fast food restaurant, but up ahead was the historic round barn. Since the last update, In 2015 The Red Mile, in partnership with Keenland completed a twenty five million dollar upgrade to the facility, which included the addition of historic horse racing machines. Grand Circuit racing will be conducted in October.