Why serious racing fans skip Derby week and visit Churchill Downs in Louisville instead

More than a Derby: it’s 150 years of history

You don’t have to wait for the first Saturday in May to visit Churchill Downs.

The 147-acre racetrack on Central Avenue in Louisville has been running since 1875, and most of what makes it worth the trip is there every day of the year. The museum, the tours, the barns, the Twin Spires overhead.

The Derby is the headline, but the story behind it runs a lot deeper than one race.

The man who built it and the uncles who gave it a name

Colonel Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr. wasn’t just a horse enthusiast.

He was the grandson of explorer William Clark, and after watching the Epsom Derby in England, he came home with a plan.

He leased 80 acres from his uncles, John and Henry Churchill, then rounded up 320 local businessmen willing to put in $100 each to fund construction.

The track opened May 17, 1875, hosting the first Kentucky Derby and the first Kentucky Oaks on the same grounds. The name Churchill Downs became official in 1883.

The first Derby winner nobody talks about enough

Ten thousand people showed up for the first Kentucky Derby.

A 19-year-old African American jockey named Oliver Lewis rode a horse called Aristides across the finish line two lengths ahead of the field. His trainer, Ansel Williamson, was also African American.

Of the 15 jockeys who ran that day, 13 were Black.

African American jockeys went on to win 15 of the first 28 Kentucky Derbies before the sport gradually pushed them out in the early 1900s. That history is part of what the track now works to preserve.

The Twin Spires almost didn’t happen

When Churchill Downs planned its new grandstand in the 1890s, a 24-year-old draftsman named Joseph Dominic Baldez looked at the design and decided it needed something more.

He added two hexagonal spires, each rising 55 feet above the roofline, set 134 feet apart from center to center. They weren’t in the original plans.

Baldez put them in because he thought the building needed to stand out. He was right.

The spires debuted in 1895, and a former Churchill Downs president reportedly told Baldez they’d never come down.

In 1986, the U.S. Department of the Interior made it official, designating Churchill Downs a National Historic Landmark.

A museum that puts you inside the race

The Kentucky Derby Museum sits right on the Churchill Downs grounds and stays open all year. Spread across two floors, the collection runs to more than 20,000 artifacts.

The anchor experience is an 18-minute film called The Greatest Race, shown in a 360-degree theater that wraps around you on all sides. A permanent exhibit on Triple Crown winner Secretariat draws a steady crowd.

The museum is also the only official tour provider for the racetrack itself, so your visit there is really the starting point for everything else on the property.

Step inside the barns where Derby horses train

The backside of Churchill Downs is a working community.

Trainers, riders and stable hands live and work back there, and a guided van tour takes you through it.

You’ll pass green-roofed barns where thoroughbreds are fed, groomed and prepped, with panoramic views of the grandstand and the Twin Spires opening up as you move through.

Horses stay on the grounds from mid-March through late fall. Come in winter and you can still see Secretariat’s historic barn and stall.

In the days before the Derby, the Dawn at the Downs tradition lets fans watch Derby and Oaks contenders work out in the morning.

The new paddock hides a 130-year-old surprise

Churchill Downs finished a major paddock redesign in time for the 150th Kentucky Derby in May 2024.

The new structure works like a stadium, with multi-level seating and glass-walled stalls so you can watch horses being saddled before each race.

During construction, workers uncovered original brick and iron beams from the 1895 grandstand that had been covered over for decades. They restored them.

The Twin Spires are now visible from inside the paddock for the first time in years.

The $200 million paddock project was the last piece of a three-year renovation that also added the Homestretch Club and the Turn 1 Experience.

A screen so big it weighs a million pounds

In 2014, Panasonic installed what became one of the largest 4K video screens in the world at Churchill Downs.

The Big Board runs 171 feet wide and 90 feet tall, covering more than 15,000 square feet and sitting 80 feet above the ground. It weighs over one million pounds.

Permanent lights went in five years earlier, in 2009, when Churchill Downs ran its first-ever night race.

The track now runs more than 70 live racing days across three annual meets: spring, a September meet added in 2013, and fall.

Derby Week is a full week, not just one Saturday

The Kentucky Derby runs the first Saturday in May at 1.25 miles, but the week leading up to it is its own event.

Opening Day kicks things off, followed by Dawn at the Downs, where you can watch Derby and Oaks contenders during their morning workouts.

Thurby, held in partnership with the Frazier Kentucky History Museum, celebrates Kentucky heritage the Thursday before the race.

The Kentucky Oaks runs on Friday, one of the country’s top races for three-year-old fillies. In 2026, Sunday racing returned to Derby Week for the first time since 2010.

Roses, a song and 150 years of tradition

The Kentucky Derby goes by two nicknames: the Most Exciting Two Minutes in Sports and the Run for the Roses.

The roses part comes from the garland of red roses draped over the winning horse, a tradition that started in the 1890s and hasn’t stopped since.

Before the race, the crowd sings “My Old Kentucky Home,” a tradition that dates back decades and still fills the grandstand every year.

Between the $200 million renovation and 150 years of history running beneath your feet, Churchill Downs manages to feel like both a living museum and a working racetrack at the same time.

More to do than just watch the races

Family Adventure Days bring kid-friendly activities to the track alongside live racing.

The Bourbon and Bridles Tour connects Kentucky’s two most famous traditions, walking you through the relationship between thoroughbred racing and bourbon.

On the Mint Julep Master Tour, you learn to make the classic Derby cocktail from scratch. Father’s Day racing, holiday-themed days and other special events fill out the calendar between meets.

Churchill Downs runs something worth showing up for on most weekends from spring through late fall.

What first-timers need to know before they go

Start at the Kentucky Derby Museum. General admission gets you in and includes a guided walking tour of the racetrack.

If you want behind-the-scenes access, including areas like Millionaire’s Row, the specialty tours are worth booking separately.

Regular race days run with smaller crowds and affordable general admission, and that’s often the better way to take it all in without the Derby-week pressure. Spring meet runs roughly late April through early July.

Fall meet goes from late October through late November.

The museum is closed on Derby Day, Oaks Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, so plan around those dates.

Visit Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky

Churchill Downs sits at 700 Central Avenue in Louisville, Kentucky 40208.

You can start planning your visit through the Kentucky Derby Museum, which serves as the gateway for all guided racetrack tours.

Museum hours run Monday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., with extended summer hours starting at 8 a.m. Sundays, doors open at 11 a.m. The 152nd Kentucky Derby is scheduled for May 2, 2026.

Check the official website for current tour schedules, race-day tickets and specialty tour availability.

This article was created with AI assistance and human editing.

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