Red Mile opens with Sunday night racing

 Lexington, KY…July 20, 2024…Lexington, Kentucky’s iconic Red Mile, with its harness racing history reaching back to 1875, opens on Sunday, July 21, for its “sesquicentennial” 150th anniversary with a 5:05 p.m. post time, the first of nine continuous Sunday night programs.

The Red Mile will race Sundays, Mondays and Tuesdays through September 17 with Monday and Tuesday post times set for 1:00 p.m.

Grand Circuit racing will continue at The Red Mile with a Thursday, Friday, Saturday schedule September 26-28 and a Friday, Saturday, Sunday October 4-6 with Grand Circuit post time at 1 p.m.

This 2024 meeting will offer championship racing with Stakes events each live racing day

The fan friendly one mile oval will feature the lowest pari-mutuel takeout in the industry while offering fans a full buffet of wagering options including “bookend daily double wagering,” exacta and trifecta wagering, 20 cent superfectas, Pick-3, Pick-4, Pick-5 and Pick-6 offerings and the Super Hi-5.

The 50 cent Pick-5, beginning on race three, will offer a 12% takeout, as will the Pick-4, which begins in race six.

The Red Mile will also ease any hunger pangs and thirsts with $2 hot dogs and beers.

Admission to the Red Mile is free and the festivities on opening night include fun for the family including camel and ostrich races.

In anticipation of the Sunday night opener, Racing Director Gabe Prewitt said, “The Red Mile has been such an iconic part of harness racing’s history, and we will make sure that our racing fans will enjoy the festivities with our bargain basement prices on food, entertainment for all ages and, of course, great racing.”

Prewitt concluded, “We might not have the great John Campbell here on opening night, but we’ll have the next best closest thing—John Camel—in our ‘feature’ after the fifth race.

On the racing front, opening night features two-year-olds and three-year-olds in the $400,000 Kentucky Proud Finals.

Free program pages are available on the Red Mile website.

by John Berry, for The Red Mile