Racing is a sport that attracts all levels of society.
There are the two-dollar bettor, who scrapes out a living by gambling at the track and the other is the casual racegoer who picks bets based on names or colors. There is the ardent fanatic who enjoys observing the sport more than betting.
Then, of course, there are members of society’s upper crust who enjoy a day at the races as well. So, if you bet on the horses online with TwinSpires.com you might have seen some of these celebrities in the sidelines of the tracks.
Whether they are actual racing fans or people who enjoy the glitz and glamor of Derby fashion, the aristocratic style of Saratoga, or the Del Mar social scene, celebrities have long been associated with the Sport of Kings.
Here are just a few of the celebrities you might find at the racetrack.
Bobby Flay
The Iron Chef judge is more than just a racing fan and an avid bettor- he’s a racehorse owner as well, and a successful one at that. Not counting horses he owns in partnerships, Bobby Flay has earned over $5 million as an owner. Flay’s horses have been trained by such luminaries as Christophe Clement, Shug McGaughey, and Todd Pletcher.
Flay has won two editions of the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, with More Than Real in 2010 and the aptly named Pizza Bianca in 2021; he also owned Grade I winners Dame Dorothy and Her Smile. He also shares ownership in 2022 Pimlico Special winner First Captain.
Bode Miller
The Olympic gold medal skier Bode Miller, like Bobby Flay, has owned racehorses in addition to simply betting on them. While he hasn’t had the same success- none of Miller’s horses have won stakes events, and his last recorded start as an owner was in 2018- Miller enjoyed watching the horses compete. He saw the horses he owned not as objects, but rather as athletes who trained and worked in a way similar to himself.
Perhaps Bode’s most impactful contribution to racing came via his friendship with the Baffert family. Twice, Baffert used Miller as a namesake: first, in 2004, when he named his youngest son Bode Baffert, and again in 2011 when he named an equine son of Empire Maker “Bodemeister.” Bodemeister went on to win the 2012 Grade I Arkansas Derby, place in the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, and become a successful sire, ensuring the name will carry on for generations to come.
Gene Simmons
Gene Simmons, lead singer of the band KISS, may not be an influential horse owner, but he likes to bet big.
One episode of his A&E reality TV show, Gene Simmons Family Jewels, focused on a trip to the Kentucky Derby. There, he and his girlfriend, former Playmate Of The Year Shannon Tweed, placed a bet to the tune of $100,000 on the famous race. Simmons never disclosed the horse he and Tweed selected, or how successful the horse was, but he did say that the selection was made based on how much Tweed liked the jockey’s silks.
The British Royal Family
It’s hard to be more connected to racing than the family that serves as the centerpiece to the most famous racing meet in the world.
Indeed, the British royal lineage has been tied to both flat racing and steeplechasing for centuries. The Prince of Wales Albert Edward (later King Edward VII) owned a pair of Derby-winning brothers in Persimmon (1896) and Diamond Jubilee (1900).
Queen Elizabeth II’s mother was the owner of the infamous Devon Loch, who was mere yards away from winning the 1956 Grand National (at the time the world’s premier horse race over jumps) before suddenly appearing to sabotage his own chances by half-leaping into the air and landing briefly on his belly before scrambling back to his feet.
The Queen was an avid racing fan herself, and made history as the first British monarch to watch a live running of the Kentucky Derby in 2007. Her son, now King Charles III, is admittedly not a racing fan in the way his predecessors were, but it will be interesting to see the changes implemented to the Royal Ascot meet with his ascendance to the throne.
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