This past weekend I scooted on down to Louisville to experience the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby. I wore a big hat, I bet my hard-earned cash on thoroughbreds, I drank mint juleps, and I lived to tell the tale! Or, rather, to tell you how to plan for next year’s event because, seriously, you need to start planning now. For me, the biggest takeaway from attending this year was that the Derby is about so much more than horse races; it’s about experiencing all the best that this part of Kentucky has to offer. In other words, you’ll want to stay for a while.
Sort Out Your Derby Plans
The Derby is always the first Saturday in May, so go ahead and clear your schedule for May 3, 2025. Now figure out how much you want to spend. There are tons of ticket options, from basic grandstand seats to celeb-filled Millionaire’s Row. If you’re tight on cash, then you can always score an infield ticket the day of for about $100. These are the cheap seats—though there aren’t actually any seats and you can’t really see the races, except on the Jumbotrons. But it is a party. I did this in 2008 (when I was young and fancy free) and I had a blast.
If you want to splash out a bit, then the First Turn Club is where it’s at. (This year, a two-day ticket to Oaks Day and Derby Day cost $1,849.) This massive $90 million addition debuted in 2023 offering a ground-level club right on the track’s rail with room for about 2,000 people. (There’s also reserved seating on the second and third levels.) With the club ticket, you get unlimited food and drinks, and they’re top notch. I feasted on bourbon cherry brisket burnt ends, white truffle whipped potatoes, bibb salad with poached pear and blue cheese, and plenty of Derby-Pie (a trademarked chocolate and walnut dessert from Kern’s Kitchen), as well as mint juleps made with Woodford Reserve and served in classy metal cups (keepsake!). You can also chow down on all the food served outside the club entrance: hot dogs, burgers, empanadas, cheesecake on a stick… it’s all free to anyone with a First Turn Club wristband. (After a couple of bourbons, a hot dog starts to sound really good.)
The beauty of the First Turn Club is that it’s big enough so that you never feel like you’re sharing the space with 2,000 strangers. Sure, there are lines for the bar or the bathroom, but they’re manageable—and you can spend your time people-watching and chatting up fellow racegoers about their bets or hats. Speaking of hats, everyone here goes all out. If people are paying this much for a prime spot, then you know they’re putting some serious thought into their look. (Hot tip for outsiders: match the outfit to your hat, not the other way around.)
Another perk of the club is that there are plenty of mutual tellers on hand, as well as self-service kiosks, so you can easily place your bets. You don’t have to be a big spender to bet. You can put down as little as $1 or $2 on a horse, but that will still make watching a race infinitely more enjoyable. Oh, and by the way, the Derby is just one of 14 races on Derby day, so you have plenty of chances to win (and lose).
The Derby Isn’t Just about the Races
Don’t come all this way just to watch horses run 12 furlongs. This is your chance to explore and fully experience the beauty of Kentucky. Obviously, you can stay in Louisville and have a ball: Visit the distilleries on Main Street (aka Whiskey Row), see the latest exhibit at the Speed Art Museum, have a meal to remember at Edward Lee’s 610 Magnolia… But it’s a bit of a madhouse: This year an estimated 256,000 people came to Louisville for the Derby.
Instead, head east. Thirty scenic miles bring you to the Jeptha Creed Distillery, where mother-daughter duo Joyce and Autumn Nethery are making one of the state’s newest bourbons—and providing one of the coolest tasting experiences around. Sign up for a barrel tasting tour, which they do in a barn packed with leather recliners. Lean back, listen to their origin story and hear about their Scottish roots, and then sample their eye-opening cask-strength bourbon straight from the barrel. (And then, of course, buy a bottle in the gift shop before you leave.) The Jeptha Creed motto is ne oublie, Gaelic for never forget. This is one tasting you’ll remember, trust me.
Before you sample more bourbon (gotta pace yourself), pay a visit to one of Kentucky’s storied horse farms. Book a tour with Horse Country, a company dedicated to connecting people with the state’s equine industry. I visited Gainsborough Farm in Versailles, which is part of Godolphin, the thoroughbred breeding and racing operation owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai. Gainsborough is home to Godolphin’s mares and foals, and when I went, Horse Country executive director Hallie Hardy joked that it was a “maternity ward.”
Sure enough, babies were everywhere. One, 24 Flashing, had been born just six hours before I arrived! He stumbled around on knobby knees and nursed from his mom, despite the fact he had an audience. Foals, Hardy explained, take their mom’s name (plus the year of their birth) for the first two years. Why? No one knows their potential yet—will they become a true racehorse?—and, said Hardy, “You don’t want to waste a good name.”
Horse Country’s tours are packed full of facts and fun stories, and no doubt will make you appreciate and respect the Derby horses even more. Also, getting to feed peppermints to pretty horsies and pet their velvety muzzles is straight-up awesome.
Before you let the lights of Louisville carry you home, stop for a tour at Castle & Key, no doubt the most beautiful distillery in Kentucky. Yes, it has an actual castle, and it also has a key—or, at least, a key-shaped springhouse from which the distillery sources its limestone-rich water. (After all, the “key” to good bourbon is good water.”
Castle & Key’s history goes way back to 1887, when Colonel Edmund Haynes Taylor, Jr., inspired by the popularity of beer gardens in Europe, built a distillery specifically to encourage tourism, something that hadn’t been done before in these parts. Of course, eventually prohibition came along and ruined everything, and then the Colonel died. The brand was bought and sold a couple of times and ultimately, the distillery and its once magnificent castle and garden fell into ruin. People literally used it as a dumping ground.
Fast forward to 2012 and, according to my genial guide, Aaron, a man named Will Arvin needed a change in his life and Googled “distilleries for sale near me.” (Is this true? I have no idea, but it makes me laugh.) He and investors got the land cleaned up, restored the distillery, and started making liquor again. The distillery officially reopened in 2018 and they released their first aged spirit, the Restoration Rye, in 2020. Now the property is so darn pretty that they regularly host weddings.
On the ride back to Louisville, you’ll want to take things slow—to gaze out the window at rolling hills blanketed in Kentucky bluegrass. Is it blue? Not usually. But if it grows high enough, little blue flowers bud, giving the land a soft, cerulean filter. This grass is ideal for horse pastures—nutrient rich and apparently quite tasty—and helps foals like 24 Flashing grow into strong racehorses. In three years, he’ll be ready for his chance to run the Derby. What are the odds? Who knows. But I’ll be there to find out.
