2009 Kentucky Derby (Need tickets. Anyone ever been there and have thoughts to share?)

[MHgb]

My wife and I are looking to go to the Kentucky Derby in 2009. First issue, we have no tickets and no connections for tickets, so we'd like to square that away before making the trek down there. Anyone with connections? Suggestions? Success buying tickets online or elsewhere? Like anyone, we don't want to break the bank here.

I know the infield is just one big party with no real view of the track and those tickets are sold day-of for $40. I would kind of like to sit in the grandstand and place some wagers and watch the races.

Has anyone been to the Derby and can share your experience? Seating location...things to do outside of the Derby (Louisvile Slugger!)...wagering (are there lines? make all bets at once?)...

Anything would be appreciated. We have a friend who lives in Kentucky who we would be able to stay with, I think, so we shouldn't need hotel acommodations. And I think we would be looking for 3 tickets (wife, I, and friend).

[heresrobin]

I went with friends last year, and my friends have been going for the past 3 years. We stay with a buddy who lives close to Louisville.

 

I'm not sure about this, but if you want to sit in the grandstands anywhere, I'm sure it's at least a couple hundred dollars. The nicer sections of the grandstands and the boxseats I would guess start at near $1,000.

 

I can only really speak for the $40 tickets though. And those you DO NOT have to purchase in advance. If I remember correctly, the first race started at around 11-12pm. The main Kentucky Derby race (which is about the 9th or 10th race) started closer to 5pm. We arrived around 10am and had no problem getting a ticket or finding a place to sit down in the infield. As long as you show up before mid-afternoon, I'm sure you'll get a ticket.

 

A few words on the infield. I've heard that turns 1 and 2 are more "family-orientated." The 3rd and 4th turns are generally known as the "party" corners. It's a drunken free-for-all, and is honestly quite disgusting especially if the infield grounds get at all muddy or wet. By about 4:30pm, the port-o-potties are almost unmanageable. There are plenty of betting counters however set up in tents all over the place. My advice would be to get your betting for the 7th-8th-9th etc... races done way ahead of time to avoid standing in line for 30-45 minutes. Also, unless you are near the fence, you will barely see a horse. Watching is mostly done on the Jumbotrons they have set up on the corners.

 

I'm pretty sure that you cannot bring in alcohol. You can bring in chairs/blankets/tarps though to set up your little "station" where you are going to be setting up shop. At least until people get fall-over drunk, they respect your blanket/tarp area.

 

As far as parking, we used the Louisville football stadium parking lot, and from there it was no more than a mile walk to the infield.

 

Another bit of advice. If you can, go to the racing grounds the day before the Derby. There's a bunch of racing. Tickets are less than $10 to get in and you can sit anywhere you want. And you get a "lay of the land" for the next day. I really felt like I was able to soak up more of a horse racing atmosphere the day before the Derby at the grounds. Saturday was just a big party.

 

It's become a tradition with me and my friends to go to the Derby. It's exhausting but it's fun. I can tell that the infield atmosphere is going to eventually wear on me though. Also, the whole thing with Eight Belles last year kind of put me in a funk after the races.

[JoeHova]

My sister went last year and she said it was just as much of a freak show as Hunter S. Thompson claimed. Sounded kinda fun http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/wink.gif.

[MHgb]

Heresrobin...thanks for the great information, especially the idea about going and sitting in the stands the day before. I wouldn't mind paying a hundred or two to sit in the stands since it might be the only time we make it to Churchhill Downs in our lives. But if we do like you suggested, we'd get both experiences. JoeHova...I am a little worried that it'll be too much of a freak show for too long of a time. It seems like a thing that might be fun/funny for a while, and then get a little obnoxious. It's good to hear there might be a family section and a drunken freak section so I can spend time in both.

[heresrobin]

Check out http://www.kentuckyderby.com/2008/. It's for 2008, but if you dig around on the sight, it should answer most of your questions.

 

I'm afraid I accidently misinformed you too. The day before the Derby (it's called the Kentucky Oaks), it is $25 to get in and have general admission access to the infield and the first level grandstands. I think my group paid less than $10 because we arrived so late (like the last 2-3 races) and they were giving discounts to people just to get them in.

 

Going the day before also allowed me to practice my betting as it can be quite confusing initially. Also, some people who work behind the windows get a little testy if you come up there and don't know what you are doing. There will be programs at the races where you can read up on all the horses as well as how to bet - you'll have plenty of time to read these at the races.

 

Unfortunately, I just don't know how to get seats in the grandstands for the Kentucky Derby. I think you may have to apply for seats in advance or something like that. Maybe, closer to the race, seats open up on E-bay. Either way, I have a bad feeling that my "couple hundred bucks" estimate could be a little low.

 

Good luck and have fun. I'm glad I went. I get so wrapped up in my football/basketball/baseball fandom, that it was pretty neat for me to be exposed to something completely different, and at the same time so historic and interesting.

 

Another note: the collectible glasses. People love these things. I'm sure you can buy them at gift stores or local supermarkets or whatnot. But just an FYI, the mint juleps come served in these collectible glasses, so it's totally up to you how many you want to "collect." They do get kind of hard to carry around after a while though.

[adamb100]

Google gave me this: http://www.stubhub.com/kentucky-derby-tickets/