The first leg of the Triple Crown [began] Saturday at the Kentucky Derby, and with it a new era for facilities tied to horse racing’s biggest and most important events. Churchill Downs is unveiling a brand-new paddock after $200 million worth of renovations were completed in time for the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby.
“The experience is going to be drastically different if you haven’t been here in a couple of years,” Churchill Downs president Mike Anderson tells Front Office Sports. The track’s famous twin spires, originally constructed over the grandstands in 1895, are now much more visible for spectators. “Before, when you walked through the front entrance, there was a building right smack in front of you, a hundred feet, that really kind of blocked the view,” Anderson explains.
