LEXINGTON, Ky. - Keeneland will build a permanent structure overlooking its paddock and walking ring that will transform its main entrance and provide new dining, seating, and viewing areas, including a rooftop patio, the track announced on Wednesday. The new three-story building, which will be styled architecturally in the same manner as the rest of the facility, will occupy the entire length of the current entrance area and encase the main grandstand entrance in three high stone arches. To accommodate the project, the paddock and walking ring will be reconfigured, and the saddling stalls will be moved. The $93 million project, which also includes the building of a new administrative building in the current parking lot, will begin in January and is scheduled to be completed by the beginning of the September yearling sale and the fall meet of 2025, which starts the first weekend of October. Keeneland’s chief executive officer, Shannon Arvin, said that the track will operate “at full capacity” during the construction period. “Keeneland’s founding mission is to be a model race track, to invest in the future of our sport, to enrich our Central Kentucky community, and to always do what is best for the horse,” Arvin said. “This project is central to our mission because it will allow us to welcome more fans and give them a variety of world-class experiences during our race meets and beyond.” The project will be the most extensive in Keeneland’s history, the track said. Over the past 20 years, Keeneland has undergone two major projects – one to reconfigure its main track and build a new tote board, and the other to improve its sales facilities – but both would be dwarfed by the scale of the project announced on Wednesday. Keeneland has also built a library on the grounds, well away from the racetrack and sales areas of the property. :: Bet Keeneland with confidence! Get DRF PPs, Picks and more. The new structure is expected to have five ticketed areas, Arvin said in an interview, including two large event rooms that will seat 240. Several of the new areas will have access to the rooftop patio, which will run along the entire top of the new structure, Arvin said. The patio will be covered. “We’re still working through the details, especially the operations,” Arvin said. The saddling stalls will be moved from the south end of the current paddock to a semi-circular space underneath the new structure, on its north end. “This is an area we are really excited about,” Arvin said. Keeneland has built temporary suites overlooking the paddock prior to its three Breeders’ Cup events, in 2015, 2020, and 2022. The suites were erected prior to the fall meet in each year, and so the track has had experience with creating ticketing options in that space. The suites are filled for nearly every Friday and weekend race day. Currently, the area next to the walking ring is occupied by a two-story building containing administrative offices and the jockeys’ quarters. Although the administrative offices will be moved to the new building, a new jockeys’ quarters will be constructed in the new building, Keeneland said. Jockeys leaving the new quarters will now walk through one of the ticketed areas in the new structure en route to the walking ring. The walkway into the track from the main entrance will be expanded and will open up to a plaza-type setting, according to the architectural visualizations provided by Keeneland. The iconic sycamore tree currently standing near the walking ring will be maintained, Keeneland said. The Breeders’ Cup is scheduled for Santa Anita this year and for Del Mar in 2024, but the 2025 event has not yet been announced. Arvin said that Keeneland expects to host another Breeders’ Cup, but she did not say whether the track would attempt to host the event in 2025, given the construction schedule. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. “We are excited about the opportunity to host the Breeders’ Cup in the future, without a doubt, and we are confident that this will provide an enhanced experience for fans in the event that we host another Breeders’ Cup,” she said. “But when that occurs, we don’t know.” In the past week, officials have said that Del Mar is the leading candidate for the 2025 event.   Populous, an architectural and design firm, is the lead architect on the project. Among racing projects, Populous designed the complete makeover of Ascot Racecourse in England and has worked with Churchill Downs in Louisville on a variety of renovations the track has conducted over the past decade. Keeneland’s grounds, which are clearly visible on approach and takeoff from Lexington’s airport, were designated a National Historic Landmark in 1986. In addition to its two three-week race meets, held each spring and fall, Keeneland holds numerous auctions throughout the year, including its industry-leading September yearling and November breeding stock sales. Although Kentucky tracks have been able to install devices similar to slot machines on their grounds for a decade, Keeneland and Churchill have declined to site the devices at their main facilities, though Keeneland, for its part, has partnered with a downtown Lexington harness track, The Red Mile, on a casino operation there. Keeneland also declined to site a sports-betting facility on its grounds, again partnering with The Red Mile on a sportsbook there.  Keeneland received $23.2 million in state and local government financial incentives for the project from the Kentucky Tourism Development Finance Authority, the track said. The decision to award the incentives was made on Wednesday, the day the project was announced. “Keeneland attracts thousands of tourists to our community, who fill up our restaurants and hotels,” said Lexington Mayor Linda Gorton. “With this change, Keeneland will be able to welcome even more guests.” :: Get Daily Racing Form Past Performances – the exclusive home of Beyer Speed Figures Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, a Democrat who is running for re-election this year, said that the project will strengthen “our signature horse racing industry” and be a boost for tourism. “The horse racing industry is as indispensable to our economy as it is to our culture,” Beshear said. While racing in Kentucky is currently thriving – purses at the state’s tracks have doubled over the past eight years due to subsidies from the gambling devices statewide – the industry overall is struggling through new competition from sports betting and questions over whether horseracing is sustainable in a cultural environment in which animal-welfare concerns have become paramount to higher proportions of society. “It’s more important than ever to go through a project like this at a time like this,” Arvin said. “We believe in this sport, we believe in the strength of this sport. And so this is a critical time to exhibit our confidence in the future.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.