Of all the races Kentucky has hosted over the years, the Commonwealth could win, arguably its most significant, by passing New York in overall wagering handle.
"It's huge. We're a state of 4 million people, and New York has always been New York," Chauney Morris said from his office in the Kentucky Horse Park. Morris is the executive director of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association and the Owners and Breeders Organization.
On the other side of this iconic Lexington equine facility, Jamie Eads, the CEO of the state's racing and gaming commission, had a similar feeling about this upcoming milestone.
"We were in the top four, but we were barely there. There was a huge gap between us and Florida, New York, and California, and so to see us now inching up right underneath New York is very cool," Jamie Eads said.
Most of the gap has been closed during the last 6 years since the pandemic, and that speaks to the incredible growth of central Kentucky's equine industry, which will be in the global spotlight this weekend when The Breeders' Cup World Championships return to Lexington's Keeneland Racetrack for the first time since 2022, and second time since 2015.
"I think it's hugely significant because, if you look before 2015, most of them occurred in California," Morris said of Keeneland becoming part of the regular Breeders' Cup rotation.
Visit Lex, which handles much of Lexington's tourism business, says the last Breeders' Cup pumped about $80 million in revenue into the Lexington and Fayette County economy.
Additionally, Keeneland's September Yearling sale set another record for dollars spent.
"It speaks to the total health of the industry; not only on the breeding side, not only on the commercial bloodstock side, but on the racing side that's created this up swell of demand that's beneficial to every single sector of the industry," Mr. Morris explained.
According to a study from many years ago, Kentucky's racing industry employs more than 60,000 people. Its total assets are in the billions of dollars, and Morris expects the numbers to rise once a new study they've commissioned is completed. His most salient point about the equine industry was illustrated by comparing central Kentucky's topography with industrial areas in other parts of America. We happen to be lucky ours looks so nice.
"It's the reason that central Kentucky looks like central Kentucky, and it's not (for) picturesque or nostalgic (reasons). That is exactly like smokestacks or any other type of economic activity that you can think of. Whenever you see thoroughbreds behind a fence line, that is a business that is employing tens of thousands of Kentuckians and generating incredible income," Morris said.
Now more is on the way for central Kentucky as Breeders' Cup weekend approaches this Friday and Saturday.
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