For being a track that they threw together in less than six months, Pinnacle is pretty nice. It was PACKED on opening day, so much so that the cops blocked off the road to the track because the parking lot was full. I had to work my way around the traffic jams, found the side of a dead-end country road to park on, and walked the half-mile to the track. I might have been the only guy who was happy about the starting gate malfunctions because I made it there just in time to see the first race.
The Corporate Pavillion is serving as a temporary clubhouse. It will be great when it is just the corporate pavillion, but with almost 10,000 people trying to stay out of the sweltering heat it was packed pretty tight. I tried going in after the first race and it was jammed packed. After the seventh, it was less crowded and I was able to walk around and check it out. It was pretty nice in there-- lots of clerks, a couple of bars, flat screen simulcast tvs-- it looked first class.
I spent most of my time on the apron and next to the paddock, which is between the corporate pavillion and the grandstand. They have a temporary grandstand there for now until they can start work on the clubhouse.
The only drawbacks of the day were the starting gate and the tote board. Like I said, they had some malfunctions with the starting gate that delayed the first race by about 30 minutes, and for some reason it seemed like it was taking forever to get it into position before the remainder of the races. That was causing unnecessary delays that hopefully will be ironed out in time. The other drawback was the tote board-- it's obviously a temporary tote board because it showed odds and times, but it had no spots for pool information and payouts. You had to check the simulcast tvs if you wanted that information.
There wasn't much of a sound system either. Unless you were in the pavillion, you really couldn't hear the race call. I know that they want to replicate CD, but maybe they wanted to add the Keeneland experience as well
Again, I am sure this is temporary and will be fixed when the construction is complete.
The track itself was good. It's a synthetic surface, and after 7 races it seemed like it was favoring horses in the middle paths instead of horses on the rail. I would probably also give a slight advantage to off-the-pace types and closers. The pace tended to be a little slow and there weren't many (if any) winners that went wire-to-wire.
All in all, it was a great experience. What they have in place now suggests that the rest of Pinnacle is going to be a terrific track when it is completed.