Thoroughbred Heritage Horse Farm Tours — Attraction in Lexington

To start off, the tour was excellent. We reserved this tour for my grandmother’s benefit and she was very excited to see some of her favorite horses up close.

My grandmother’s dream has been to see American Pharaoh in person. We wanted to make that dream come true for her and chose this tour to do so. She’s over 80 years old and has trouble walking for any longer than a few moments, even with a walker. Therefore, when I got our tickets, I made a note that she had a wheelchair. Some time later, Tim at Heritage reached out to me and mentioned that they had limited space on the vehicle transporting us to the farm and might not be able to accommodate a wheelchair. It was a brief conversation and the apparent conclusion reached was that something could be figured out. I wasn’t sure what that solution would be, but I felt confident that a way would be found to make this tour possible for my grandmother. As it eventually was. When we arrived at the pickup location, Tim was disturbed to see we had the wheelchair with us. It partially folds up and we communicated our desire to try and fit it in the van if possible. While he admitted it might be possible, he kept stating that he had never promised a spot for the wheelchair. Which we understood, and were willing to work with. My grandmother and other members of my family tried to explain that she can’t walk besides extremely short distances, but instead of taking a second to listen and understand this fact, he kept saying she could just take the walker she also had with her. The walker is beneficial for short distances but she can’t walk far with it, especially on an extended walking tour. No one in our group was upset, no one was unreasonable or rude, we simply attempted to explain and work out a solution that would allow my grandmother to realize her dream. She repeatedly stated she would be willing to carry it on her lap if she had to, and my wife and I were equally happy to do so if needed. There turned out to be an empty row, and a seat in the van it could have fit in if needed. In fact, this is exactly what happened with a different tour that had left a few minutes beforehand. The wheelchair had been placed in an empty seat and taken along. But when we expressed our desire to see if it would fit somewhere, Tim showed unwillingness to do so, after already giving his assent to trying. Only after repeated requests did he allow us to give it a try, and when we were in the process of doing so, we were able to work out an alternative solution. Driving our own vehicle and dropping the wheelchair off at the two stops ourselves. This was quickly agreed to and ended up working out well, but ultimately we were very disappointed by the way Tim handled the situation. Taking a second to listen and truly understand my grandmother’s situation before reacting and suggesting solutions would have improved things immensely and made for a much better initial experience. That being said he treated us well during the tour and was kind to my grandmother. Initially, my wife left a poor review, somewhat prematurely, in the heat of the moment, and planned to change it as emotions cooled and the tour turned out pretty great. However, when Tim saw the review during the tour, he grew somewhat hostile, and in the heat of the moment had a disappointing response in walking up to my wife, getting a little too close, asking if she was who had left the review and repeatedly thanking her for it. After this, as the tour came to a close, his demeanor changed again, apparently in an attempt to smooth things over, but for my wife it was a little late. I understood his initial frustration, and my wife’s. I am thankful to Tim for eventually finding us a solution that met our needs, even if the process to achieve that result was less than ideal. Like I said, it was a fantastic tour, my grandmother loved it, and at the end of the day if there was an increased ability to handle difficult situations like these, when reasonable people are involved, there would be no complaints...

Our host/guide Mike (?, tall older gentleman) was amazing and you could tell he loves showing people around! Very knowledgeable too!

We first went to Magdalena farm, which trainer Kenny McPeek runs/owns. This was so awesome and cool! Very laid back getting to see pretty much any part of the barns were neat. Mike(?) was a great guide here too!

We drove the backroads and made a pit stop to see Seattle Slews grave.

We drove a little more and got to Coolmore farm to see the highlight of the trip, American Pharaoh! Our guide (not Mike, it was a Coolmore employee) was friendly and knowledgeable, but everyone else at Coolmore was NOT friendly. We were rushed along throughout the tour. One of the barn hands literally said “come on, let’s go, you need to hurry up” after spending 3-5 minutes in the barn. We were not allowed to touch the horses, only view. To me, it seemed like these guys thought they were “special” and felt like it was a haste for them to do their job. I went to other horse farms on my vacation, and Coolmore was the worst, by far. Yes, seeing American Pharaoh was checked off the bucket list, but highly doubt I will ever go back there.

Overall, our tour guide Mike (not the coolmore employee) was fantastic! Top of the line tour guide! Everything was amazing beyond being rushed through Coolmore and not feeling like we were important enough to be there. Honesty, if American Pharaoh was not a pet of the tour, I’d never go back to Coolmore. I would definitely go to Magdalena farms, spend a few hours with mike, and...

Folks, Don't Miss this Tour!! Really, don't miss it!

My wife and I know nothing about horses, horse racing, etc. However, we were in Lexington, and thought, "...what the heck - sounds fun."

Boy were we SURPRISED. It was A LOT of Fun!!!

First of all, John picked us up from our Hotel and took us over to where the rest of the group was meeting. Within 5 minutes, I knew we were going to be in for a treat. John is genuinely enthusiastic and extremely knowledgeable about the Lexington area, it's rich history, and of course, Horses and Horse Farm information.

He took us out for 3 hours of non-stop fun. We visited Keeneland Race Track, Horse Farms, and saw tons of unspeakable beautiful scenery. During the drive, John was constantly engaging with everyone on the tour. He took the time to point out things you'd never know. He also was quick and friendly to answer any and all questions that we (and others) had.

In the end, the 3 hours breezed by and time truly flew by.

This tour will show you very beautiful and very interesting sights. And if you are Blessed enough to have John as your tour guide, trust me, your day will be even that much better!!

Lastly, we took the early morning tour (08:30am) and I'd highly recommend that. The morning air was brilliant and we also got to see the horses doing their morning runs (exercises) at Keeneland Race Track.

So once again, Don't Miss...