Keeneland

“The most consistent thing about horseracing is that it is consistently humbling” says a third generation horse farm manager outside Louisville, Kentucky.

Two days after the 151st Kentucky Derby, we visit the historic Keeneland race track outside Lexington (“more beautiful than Churchill Downs” – my cousin says),  drive through idyllic rolling green hills of horse pastures, and visit a 900 acre horse ranch that has multi-million dollar mares.  We drop by the 1832 Woodford Reserve estate in Versailles and have a taste of Kentucky Bourbon.

My cousin’s enthusiasm for all things horse racing is only surpassed by her two young, and recently married, friends who are in the industry.  We get to visit a mare who just had a foal two hours earlier and then visit some of the 40 foals born in just the last two months.  They are beautiful to watch as these majestic protective mothers come to the fence and allow us to pet their offspring.  We learn about the bloodlines of each horse and realize that we are among royalty in the horse racing family.  The mare we had first met is one of the most famous brood mares in the business.  Three of her offspring have run in the Kentucky Derby, the most recent, Baeza, just took third on Sunday. 

We are captivated as we learn from this young couple who care deeply about these horses and are so knowledgeable.  We learn that a recent horse they helped raise from a foal took third in the Oaks, the race at Churchill Downs for three year-old fillys last week.  “It was like winning the bronze medal at the Olympics,” said her friend. “Out of 10,000 horses, ours was one of 14 that raced and that she took third was pretty amazing.”.  They talked about the weeklong activities of training each morning, parties each evening and then the glamour and excitement of race day.

They also talked about how frustrating and humbling it can be.  They also had a horse who recently had won races and then just couldnt do it when it came to the big one.  He had shown so much promise and then when it mattered, it just didn’t happen.  They recognize that many things are out of your control, like the horse might get injured, the conditions may be wrong, the jockey makes a mistake, a thousand things could go wrong. 

That is why when everything does go right, it is pretty darn amazing.