LEXINGTON, Ky. – Keeneland was given a mulligan a couple of years ago after ontrack attendance and other aspects of the 2020 Breeders’ Cup were stifled by the coronavirus pandemic. The fruits of that do-over will be realized over the next 30 days as enthused racing fans here and beyond will be talking Breeders’ Cup non-stop, particularly as a 17-day fall meet opens Friday with a schedule packed with prep races toward the Nov. 4-5 championships. A three-day FallStars Weekend runs Friday through Sunday with 11 stakes – all but one of them graded, and all but two of them Win and You’re In events toward the 39th Breeders’ Cup – in getting that month-long party started. A 10-race opener is anchored by the Grade 1 Alcibiades (race 9), directly preceded by the Grade 2 Phoenix (race 7) and Grade 2 Jessamine (race 8). Saturday brings five more graded races, including the Grade 1 Coolmore Turf Mile, followed Sunday by three more, led by the Grade 1 Spinster. The color green abounds at Keeneland, from the grandstand and its ubiquitous bunting to the employees’ attire to the spectacular foliage and shrubbery and lush turf course that will host the first grass racing on the Kentucky circuit in more than three weeks. Whereas in-state rival Churchill Downs has struggled with the maturation of its new course, an ongoing development that forced turf racing to be suspended at its recently ended September meet, the lawn at Keeneland is in pristine shape. :: Bet Keeneland with confidence! Get DRF PPs, Picks, Betting Strategies, and more. “Beautiful,” said Wesley Ward, who led all trainers here in the spring with 13 winners. “I think everybody is ready to get it going. The town’s pumped. It’s an exciting time of year.” Green also is the color of the money to be paid out in record-level purses at this meet. Including bonuses from the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund, maiden-special races will max out at $100,000, while allowances range from $110,000 to $140,000. The schedule of 22 stakes is projected to be worth nearly $9 million. Many of the continent’s elite stables are on hand, while the local jockey colony will be infused on a steady basis with top riders from New York and elsewhere, including Joel Rosario, Luis Saez, John Velazquez, Flavien Prat, and the brothers Ortiz, Irad and Jose. First post daily is 1 p.m. Eastern. The meet runs through Oct. 29, after which Churchill will run its first four fall-meet race dates (Oct. 30 and Nov. 2, 3, 7) around the Breeders’ Cup. Mondays and Tuesdays are dark. Kurt Becker, the only race-caller at Keeneland since the track installed a public-address system in April 1997, will be back in the booth as always. Sunshine and highs in the low-to-mid 60s are forecast throughout opening weekend. Huge Saturday on tap A big field was expected for the $1 million Coolmore Turf Mile when entries were drawn Wednesday for the 11-race Saturday card, easily the richest of the meet. Santin and Smooth Like Strait, the respective 1-2 finishers in the Aug. 13 Arlington Million at Churchill, are among the older horses in a lineup that also includes 2021 winner In Love, Somelikeithotbrown, Set Piece, and the Chad Brown pair of Emaraaty and Masen. The other Grade 1 races on Saturday are the First Lady, for which Brown was to have as many as three entries, and the Breeders’ Futurity, a key stepping-stone to the BC Juvenile. A pair of Grade 2 sprints, the Thoroughbred Club of America and Woodford, will round out an all-graded stakes pick five. Besides the Spinster, Sunday also will feature a pair of turf races for 2-year-olds, the Indian Summer and Grade 2 Bourbon. CNBC will host live broadcasts Saturday and Sunday featuring the FallStars events, with both shows starting at 5 p.m. Doubleheaders next 2 Saturdays The first two Saturday cards of the meet will be the front ends of “Bluegrass doubleheaders,” with the University of Kentucky hosting football games afterward at nearby Kroger Field. Kentucky faces South Carolina on Saturday, then Mississippi State on Oct. 15. Prior to the pandemic, a night game typically would spur Keeneland attendance to 30,000 or more revelers, but the track now has a self-imposed limit of “about” 20,000 within the track grounds, making for more comfortable conditions. All ticketing for ontrack admission is now handled online at tickets.keeneland.com (no cash walk-up). All fans still have access to free tailgating on “The Hill” on the spacious campus. General admission is $7 in advance, although the first two days (and Oct. 15) already were sold out as of Wednesday. An alternative site sanctioned by the track, etix.com, does allow for purchase of resold tickets. Doyle back in the saddle Sophie Doyle is back exercising horses at Keeneland for her husband, trainer Chris Davis, following the birth of their first child, daughter Emilie, on July 8. She has yet to decide, however, whether she’ll resume a race-riding career that has netted more than $12 million in mount earnings, including her upset of the 2015 TCA on Fioretti. Doyle, whose brother James is a highly successful jockey in their native England, rode her most recent race in December. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.