On Tuesday, September 28, 1875, Lexington celebrated Red Mile’s inaugural opening of the Great Fall Trots, sponsored by the newly reorganized Kentucky Trotting Horse Breeders Association.

For over one hundred and forty years, harness racing’s elite have converged on Red Mile to stage some of the greatest equine battles in history. Now it’s your turn to join the fray.
Play at Red Mile.

On October 9, 1893, excitement was building among the crowd gathered at Lexington’s Red Mile. The occasion? The inaugural celebration of the Kentucky Futurity, one of the Commonwealth’s oldest and richest horse races. Today, it still ranks as the oldest classic race in the world of harness racing. Back on that day in 1893, the crowd watched the shiny black colt Oro Wilkes score a grueling five-heat victory for driver J.A. Goldsmith. Oro Wilkes fastest Futurity heat was 2:14 ½, and the purse for the inaugural was only $11,880.