July 21, 2024
Ladies and Gentlemen, It’s Time for
The 2024 Tour d’Elegance:
This year, our 21st, supporting our beneficiary, UK Healthcare Kentucky Children’s Hospital the Tour d’Elegance will once again showcase the horsepower that inspires the inner drive to keep moving forward as a region. As always, the Tour will depart from Keeneland’s Keene Entertainment Center/Barn at 9am on Sunday, July 21st, 2024. Arrive prior to 9am to sign in and get your spot in line.
After a long and winding road to get the Tour organized, the Tour d’Elegance is ready to entertain you with classic views of quintessential Bluegrass.
The first part of the Tour features tight bends, historical bridges, and horses lining iconoclastic plank fences and stone walls demarcating the historical horse farms that cover the rolling hills of central Kentucky.
Crittenden Rawlings, a shop known for outfitting Presidents at Inaugural Addresses and Kentucky gentlemen in Winner’s Circles, will welcome Tour participants to a morning refreshment break. Walking through the history contained in a small, intimate store, located in a small, quaint town, gives you the perfect opportunity to experience how small businesses continue to be the backbone of American entrepreneurialism.
The second part of the Tour will force drivers to focus on driving. The road will tease you, encourage you to carry a spirited pace as you chase the driving line next to the flowing waters of a picturesque creek, a tributary of the essential waterways that spur the growth of bourbon distilleries in the area.
Don’t let the wide, sweeping turns of HWY 127 north of Frankfort lull you into complacency. The most challenging part of the drive is just around the corner. The road will seemingly disappear just as you crest the ridge, twisting one way and then another in a way that will punish you if you don’t control your vehicle’s balance in the S curves…the bottom of the ravine is a long way down!
The Tour will end with a catered lunch at Equus Run Vineyards. You’ll be among the first to visit a major new development at Equus Run. The new pavilion will serve as your base for the afternoon, providing you with comfortable accommodations so you can explore 38 acres of what CNN described as a must see hidden treasure.
After lunch, continue to enjoy the pavilion as your base if you choose to stay and enjoy the band Superfecta play the musical hits of Motown, the 70s, and the 80s during the Tunes in the Vines concert series Equus Runs hosts every weekend in the summer.
Lastly, bid farewell to Fausto as he steps away from the Tour and hands the reins over to Ryan Adams and Pete Cashen. This duo will bring fresh ideas and a dynamic experience to the Keeneland Concours d’Elegance Tour. The best is yet to come.
Sincerely,
Fausto Sarmiento, 2024 Tour Director
Ryan Adams
Pete Cashen
