• Home
  • About me: Jim Fitzpatrick
  • Contact

JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC

Feeds:
Posts
Comments
« Who will benefit from legalized sports wagering?
Rick Smith bids KCPD — and Kansas Citians — farewell and walks away with a quarter million dollars »

Derby Day is Saturday, and if you want even a bad seat at Churchill Downs, you’ll be paying close to $1,000

May 2, 2022 by jimmycsays

Derby Day is this coming Saturday, and I won’t be there. In fact, the way it looks, I won’t be attending any more Derbies.

Churchill Downs has priced the average person out of the event. Now, the Derby itself is still a fantastic sporting event and will be for as long as it continues to be held; it’s just that tickets have become prohibitively expensive.

I used to buy individual tickets outside the Downs and usually paid about $100 to $150 for reserved seats in the first-floor clubhouse. If I was going with other people, I’d sometimes buy two or more individual tickets, in different sections, and hope we could find some seats together in one of the areas where the tickets were located.

Once several years ago I bought five tickets for a total of $1,350. Only two of those tickets were a pair, but the people whose box the seats were in (there are six seats to a box) were kind enough to let our group use their box as our headquarters, of sorts. There’s a lot of moving around on Derby Day, so the boxes are often empty or in use by just one or two people for extended periods. It worked out well that day for me, Patty, Brooks, Charlie and a friend of Charlie’s.

The days of wheeling and dealing on tickets came to an end, for the most part, when the Downs, like many other sporting and event venues, went to electronic tickets a couple of years ago.

At the same time, the Downs made Ticketmaster its official ticketing resale agent. I say resale because all reserved seats are sold out well in advance, and the reserved seats that are available are those that people, or companies, have purchased but turn back in for resale.

So, I want to show you how the price of tickets as skyrocketed. Here’s the Churchill Downs chart of reserved seating sections.

All 100-level seats are on the first-floor, which is track level. Unlike at a basketball game, you don’t really want to be seated low at the racetrack because the only time you can get a good look at the horses is when they come by you. The 200-level seats aren’t much better. In fact, they are often worse, because you are wedged in between the first level and the third level, and the view is terrible. (I sat there once and hated it.)

The best vantage point, by far, is the third floor, which is elevated enough that you can follow the horses all the way around the track with the naked eye.

I’ve watched the race from the third floor about three times, and it’s great. But those tickets got too pricey for me years ago, and so the last few times I’ve gone, I’ve angled for first-floor seats. The advantage of the first floor is that there’s plenty of room to move around, and although you only see the horses come by you once, you can follow the races very clearly on a huge video board in the infield.

With that seating primer, here’s a sampling of prices.

As of this afternoon, 26 tickets were available in Section 112, in the first turn, for $750 each — and up — plus a service fee of $150 or more. So, for about $900, you could sit in 112 and see the Derby horses flash by you once.

In Section 117, which are low but on the finish line, 14 tickets were available, starting at $1,600, plus service charge.

Moving up to the third floor, four tickets were available in Section 320, which offers a spectacular view of the track, for $3,550 each, plus a hefty service charge.

Two tickets remained in Section 321 for $1,796 each, plus service charge.

A dozen tickets were available in Section 325 for $1,000 or more, plus service charge.

For perspective, here are a couple of photos. This photo shows the first floor and the third floor. (There is no second floor in this particular part of the stands.) You can imagine how much better the view is from the third floor than the first.

But if you want a better idea of what the view is like from the first floor, here’s a photo from Section 115. It doesn’t look too bad here, but imagine all those seats filled to capacity, and everyone standing on tiptoes or on those folding chairs, craning their necks for a view of the horses.

**

Jacking up ticket prices to an irrational level is just one way Churchill Downs has ruined the Derby for the average person. Another way is that for decades the Derby was the eighth race on the card, with post time about 4:30 Louisville time.

Over the years, because of nothing but greed, the Downs has increased the number of races on Derby Day to 14. (The more races there are, the more betting there is, with the track getting more money.) Post time for Race 1 is 10:30 a.m. Post time for the Derby — Race 12 — is 6:57 p.m., and post time for Race 14 is about 8:30.

By the Derby race, many people in the crowd are drunk, hungry and out of betting money. And even if you leave the track right after the Derby, it takes about an hour and a half to get out of the vicinity of the track and get home or to a restaurant. So, you’re talking about eating dinner at 9 or later. (The Downs now includes food and drink with the price of all reserved seats, but I wouldn’t expect the quality to be very good with the “all-inclusive” feature.)

In the process of protracting the day, the Downs has done a disservice to many Louisville restaurant owners because many people straggle out of the track and head home exhausted instead of going to a local restaurant.

**

Despite all the negatives, the Derby will continue to attract crowds of 125,000 to 150,000 because there are enough people with enough money who want to be there for “the most exciting two minutes in sports” and will spend the money and put up with the hassle at least once, just to say they’ve done it.

But for me, nah. I’ve been to well over 20 Derbies since starting to go regularly in 1971, and I get tired and irritated just thinking about fighting that crowd and the cost. We almost went last year. I was haggling for days online with a guy who was offering two third-floor seats for something like $800 each. I offered $600 or $650, but he wouldn’t come down, so we went to the condo of some friends and watched on TV, bet online and had a great time.

That showed me I no longer needed to be there in person. It’s been a great run, but I’m yielding the floor, and the turf, to younger people with more energy and more money.

**

Now that I’ve vented, here are the Derby horses, listed by post position, with trainers, jockeys and “morning line” odds, meaning what the Chruchill Downs handicapper projects the odds to be.

1. Mo Donegal, Todd Pletcher, Irad Ortiz Jr., 10-1

2. Happy Jack, Doug O’Neill, Rafael Bejarano, 30-1

3. Epicenter, Steve Asmussen, Joel Rosario, 7-2

4. Summer is Tomorrow, Bhupat Seemar, Mickael Barzalona, 30-1

5. Smile Happy, Kenny McPeek, Corey Lanerie, 20-1

6. Messier, Tim Yakteen, John Velazquez, 8-1

7. Crown Pride, Koichi Shintani, Christophe Lemaire, 20-1

8. Charge It, Todd Pletcher, Luis Saez, 20-1

9. Tiz the Bomb, Kenny McPeek, Brian Hernandez Jr., 30-1

10. Zandon, Chad Brown, Flavien Prat, 3-1

11. Pioneer of Medina, Todd Pletcher, Joe Bravo, 30-1

12. Taiba, Tim Yakteen, Mike Smith, 12-1

13. Simplification, Antonio Sano, Jose Ortiz, 20-1

14. Barber Road, John Ortiz, Reylu Gutierrez, 30-1

15. White Abarrio, Saffie Joseph Jr., Tyler Gaffalione, 10-1

16. Cyberknife, Brad Cox, Florent Geroux, 20-1

17. Classic Causeway, Brian Lynch, Julien Leparoux, 30-1

18. Tawny Port, Brad Cox, Ricardo Santana Jr., 30-1

19. Zozos, Brad Cox, Manny Franco, 20-1

20. Ethereal Road, D. Wayne Lukas, Luis Contreras, 30-1

**

And, to wrap up this extra-long post, the winner, JimmyCsays says is…

Zandon

Share this:

  • Twitter
  • Facebook

Like this:

Like Loading...

Related

Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment

One Response

  1. on May 2, 2022 at 8:38 pm Cecil Wirtz

    I like your choice, Chad Brown and Flavien Prat and the 10 post, I would bet $20 to win if you could place it.



Comments are closed.

  • Pages

    • About me: Jim Fitzpatrick
    • Contact
  • Archives

    • February 2023
    • January 2023
    • December 2022
    • November 2022
    • October 2022
    • September 2022
    • August 2022
    • July 2022
    • June 2022
    • May 2022
    • April 2022
    • March 2022
    • February 2022
    • January 2022
    • December 2021
    • November 2021
    • October 2021
    • September 2021
    • August 2021
    • July 2021
    • June 2021
    • May 2021
    • April 2021
    • March 2021
    • February 2021
    • January 2021
    • December 2020
    • November 2020
    • October 2020
    • September 2020
    • August 2020
    • July 2020
    • June 2020
    • May 2020
    • April 2020
    • March 2020
    • February 2020
    • January 2020
    • December 2019
    • November 2019
    • October 2019
    • September 2019
    • August 2019
    • July 2019
    • June 2019
    • May 2019
    • April 2019
    • March 2019
    • February 2019
    • January 2019
    • December 2018
    • November 2018
    • October 2018
    • September 2018
    • August 2018
    • July 2018
    • June 2018
    • May 2018
    • April 2018
    • March 2018
    • February 2018
    • January 2018
    • December 2017
    • November 2017
    • October 2017
    • September 2017
    • August 2017
    • July 2017
    • June 2017
    • May 2017
    • April 2017
    • March 2017
    • February 2017
    • January 2017
    • December 2016
    • November 2016
    • October 2016
    • September 2016
    • August 2016
    • July 2016
    • June 2016
    • May 2016
    • April 2016
    • March 2016
    • February 2016
    • January 2016
    • December 2015
    • November 2015
    • October 2015
    • September 2015
    • August 2015
    • July 2015
    • June 2015
    • May 2015
    • April 2015
    • March 2015
    • February 2015
    • January 2015
    • December 2014
    • November 2014
    • October 2014
    • September 2014
    • August 2014
    • July 2014
    • June 2014
    • May 2014
    • April 2014
    • March 2014
    • February 2014
    • January 2014
    • December 2013
    • November 2013
    • October 2013
    • September 2013
    • August 2013
    • July 2013
    • June 2013
    • May 2013
    • April 2013
    • March 2013
    • February 2013
    • January 2013
    • December 2012
    • November 2012
    • May 2012
    • April 2012
    • March 2012
    • February 2012
    • January 2012
    • December 2011
    • November 2011
    • October 2011
    • September 2011
    • August 2011
    • July 2011
    • June 2011
    • May 2011
    • April 2011
    • March 2011
    • February 2011
    • January 2011
    • December 2010
    • November 2010
    • October 2010
    • September 2010
    • August 2010
    • July 2010
    • June 2010
    • May 2010
    • April 2010
    • March 2010
  • Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

    Join 563 other subscribers

Blog at WordPress.com.

WPThemes.


  • Follow Following
    • JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC
    • Join 563 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • JimmyCsays: At the juncture of journalism and daily life in KC
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Copy shortlink
    • Report this content
    • View post in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: