LOUISVILLE, Ky. — A Kentucky Derby Museum favorite is getting a high-dollar makeover.

What You Need To Know

  •  Kentucky Derby Museum upgrading several exhibit

  •  'Riders Up' exhibit first opened in 2000

  •  The interactive exhibit is getting a $1 Million upgrade

  •  The Laboratory Creative, a Louisville company is redesigning the horses in the exhibit

“Riders Up” is an interactive exhibit where visitors hop on a horse and race in a virtual Kentucky Derby. The Derby Museum is spending $1 million to recreate and expand this popular attraction. Think of a dime-store horse ride for the 21st Century.

The exhibit will now feature five horses instead of three. Each will have its own video screen and a large sixth screen will be featured above and serve as a “spectator’s screen.”

“We’re adding a couple of horses. We’re going to have five total horses for our guests. One of them will be an accessible horse,” said Chris Goodlett, Senior Director of Curatorial & Educational Affairs.

The interactive exhibit first opened in 2000. The current horses are being retired and replaced with more advanced thoroughbreds.

“We’re getting some state-of-the-art animation from our company, Catalyst, which is based out of Australia. Our local build partner, Laboratory Creative, is doing great work on the sculpts of the horses to make them as realistic as possible,” Goodlett added.

Josh Howe is the founder of The Laboratory Creative and in charge of designing all the physical elements of “Riders Up.” Howe is a Jeffersonville, Indiana native and resident of Louisville. His company works in many creative medium including designing and building museum installs.

“Yeah, new horses have been sculpted and they are being created right now and they are going to be really exciting. They are going to be a lot more interactive than the ones we currently have,” Howe said.

Howe studied fine arts and theatre in college and worked on the technical side of theatre performance for several years before designing started taking him around the country on projects.

“Doing mostly theatre stuff and then theme parks for six years, just traveling the country building all kinds of Christmas and Halloween special events stuff for all the major theme parks,” Howe explained.

Eventually Howe returned home and started his own company and has designed several exhibits for the Kentucky Derby Museum, but now he gets his hands on one of its most popular and longest running attractions.

“And it’s just grown as the years gone by. We’ve done quite a few exhibits here and projects for them. It’s just been a great time,” said Howe.

The new and improved “Riders Up” exhibit is expected to open on April 12, 2024. The Kentucky Derby is May 4.

Related Stories