It’s a chilly start to Spring here in the Bluegrass but it still brings warmth to my heart that my favorite track, Keeneland, in Lexington, KY opens tomorrow! The Spring Meet is open from April 8 to 29, 2016. Live racing takes place on Wednesdays thru Sundays throughout those dates. I have to work all weekend so I made sure I got to participate in some of the pre-race events.
Yesterday morning I arrived before 8 a.m. EST and headed to the Racing Office. The horses enter the race track through an opening, “the gap”, right next to this building. Slowly, a large group of horses and exercise riders assembled. They were mounted and waiting for as far as I could see. The fans, connections of the horses and photographers were looking on with anticipation. At about 8:30 the horses took to the track. Some Thoroughbreds went at a leisurely pace while others sped around like they were floating. I love to catch the pictures with all four hooves in the air.
After the excitement of the workouts I headed to the newly renovated Track Kitchen. I had biscuits and gravy. If you haven’t had Southern food like this you are really missing out.
Next, I went to Kellyn Gorder’s barn. He had just recently returned to the grounds after having a nice season at Turfway and ongoing at Oaklawn race track. I visited with his horses and he was very busy on the computer, phone and with office visits in preparation for more races. Some of his nice horses are pictured below. I gave these cute noses some petting.
After the Gorder barn I went to see the remaining stable area. Keeneland has 57 barns with the capacity to hold 1,951 horses. Horses aren’t the only animals you will find on the grounds. In addition to birds, pet dogs and barn cats I met two busy goats along my adventure. I also saw some cool tack including Nyquist’s bridle and Tepin’s Breeders’ Cup blanket that has been refurbished with silk flowers.
The best part of my trip was looking for our favorite race horses. I went to the Casse Racing barn hoping to find 2015 Eclipse Award Champion Grass Mare and winner of the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Mile, Tepin, but she had moved to Churchill Downs. I was not disappointed in meeting Airoforce, 2nd in the 2015 BC Juvenile Turf, Catch a Glimpse and her teddy bear, 1st in the 2015 BC Juvenile Fillies Turf and Noble Bird, graded stakes winner, pictured below in order on the top row. I went to most of the barns to see what I could but unfortunately several trainers do not label their stalls so I just had to appreciate the unknown beauties as they were.
Saving one of the best for last I finally found the undefeated and 1st place winner of the 2015 Sentient Jet BC Cup Juvenile, Nyquist. He is the favorite for the Kentucky Derby with 5/2 odds currently and he is second on the leaderboard for points behind Gun Runner. He was happily snacking during my visit. I was going to return to see him train this morning but his white blood cell count was slightly elevated so he is going to rest up for now and perhaps train on Friday or Saturday. See how sweet he looks below.
Post time begins at 1:05 p.m. EST on Friday. There are 10 races that day. On Saturday post time is 12:35 p.m. with 11 races. 5 of those are stakes races, numbers 6 thru 10. The 9th race, the 15th running of the Madison Grade I stakes, for fillies and mares 4 and older is packed with multiple graded stakes winners. The 10th race is the 92nd running of The Toyota Blue Grass Stakes. It is a Grade I race with a million dollar purse. The 9 furlong dirt race for 3 year olds posts at 6 p.m. This race gives 100-40-20-10 points to Kentucky Derby Contenders based on a 1st to 4th place finish respectively. There are a lot of great races at Keeneland this meet. I hope each of you has a chance to get in on the action. Catch my blog next week here and on Facebook and Twitter for more Thoroughbred news and events.
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