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10 High-Falutin' Horse Races
Douglas Rogers August 23, 2007PAGES: 1 2
See our slideshow of World’s 10 ‘Richest’ Horse Races.
In the U.S., the Kentucky Derby, the first leg of the Triple Crown, has always been the flagship of American racing, but every year it gets bigger, the city of Louisville turning into a virtual New Orleans-at-Mardi Gras the day before the big race.
“Five years ago I was sending 100 clients to the Derby,” says Brian Wilder, founder of Premiere Sports Travel, one of the U.S.’s leading sports travel companies. “Now I take more than 700 clients—it’s right up there with the Super Bowl and the World Series.” For the right price, Wilder arranges tickets to Millionaire’s Row or the members-only Turf Club in the stands, where his guests can sip mint juleps next to the likes of Sheikh Mohammed and Pamela Anderson; and he also organizes visits to Kentucky horse farms where famous jockeys and owners are booked to meet and speak to his guests.
That said, even Wilder admits it’s difficult to get access to the biggest bash of all: the Barnstable Brown Gala, a charity event held in a famous old Louisville mansion on the eve of race night that attracts Hollywood stars, country music legends and billionaire race horse owners, as well as hundreds of paparazzi and shrieking fans lining up outside to see them arrive.
Lucrative sponsorship from the world’s leading luxury brands are one major reason for horse racing’s global makeover. Once a minor stop of the racing circuit, Hong Kong now has several major meetings a year, among them the Mercedes-Benz Hong Kong Derby, worth two million dollars, and the Audemars Piguet Queen Elizabeth II Cup, sponsored by the exclusive Swiss watchmaker, worth $2.3 million. As for the once ramshackle Hong Kong Jockey Club track, it’s now been transformed into the futuristic Sha Tin Race Course with the world's first retractable parade ring roof, the world’s longest Diamond Vision Television screen to view the races, and several floor-to-ceiling glass bars and sushi restaurants such as the Skylight Lounge, perched right over the winning post.
For the biggest racing carnival of all, however, you’re going to have to go Down Under. First run in 1861 the Melbourne Cup, Australia’s answer to the Kentucky Derby, has long been known as the "Race that Stops the Nation." Nowadays it stops a lot more than that, with some 700 million people in 120 countries tuning into the live broadcast. Melbourne Cup Carnival, a four-day party of racing, fashion shows, gambling and street parades has sprung up around it, and the state of Victoria has even declared race day itself a state-wide holiday. Tellingly though, its current success can also be traced back to the desert: It’s sponsored by Emirates, the Dubai airline part-owned by Sheikh Mohammed.
Here we offer our guide to the top 10 most glamorous horse races and how best to experience them.
See our slideshow of World’s 10 ‘Richest’ Horse Races.
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