BC Trip: Keeneland

After our trip to the Breeder's Cup, I'm pretty much in love with the Lexington area. It's beautiful, horses are in the air no matter where you go, and the people are the most polite and welcoming as a whole that I've ever encountered in all of my travels. Everything about the place is charming. The cooler Autumn weather was a welcome experience to this Idaho girl that now spends fall in Arizona. I loved the colors, the grass, the crisp, clean air. Everything. In short, Lexington was everything I dreamt it would be.

KEENELAND

Keeneland is far from the overwhelming size and majesty of Churchill, but is just as special in its own way with a rich history. Its smaller size makes it a more intimate setting and it certainly isn't lacking when it comes to charm.

It opened as a nonprofit venture in October of 1936 with all proceeds going towards purses and improvements to the facility. Basically, this means that Keeneland was developed by its patrons over the years and all of those that supported the track can take pride in the fact that their money was used to improve it rather than filling investors' pockets. Today, The Keeneland Association (owned by Keeneland Trustees, Inc.) is listed as a for-profit company and pays taxes on all earnings. However, no dividends are paid to the few shareholders and profits are still used for supplementing purses, improving facilities, and making contributions to charities in the community and horse industry. It is everything that a racetrack should be in that aspect.

Winner's Circle and Grandstands. Keeneland's previous winners circle was an area outlined in chalk in the dirt on the track after the race. With Queen Elizabeth II coming for a visit on October 11th, 1984, it was decided that having her stand on a (possibly) muddy track and then have to walk across it for the trophy presentation of the Inaugural Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup would simply not do. In honor of her visit they held the race and built the winner's circle. In order to fulfill her wish to see a live American thoroughbred sale, and since there were no auctions scheduled for the time of her visit, Keeneland did a simulation of a real sale with all of the bells and whistles.

At least the tickets were pretty....

As far as the Breeder's Cup itself, I don't think that Keeneland did a horrible job handling the crowds when it came to transport, concessions, and bathrooms, but the seating arrangements weren't the best in our area. An owner had bought us our tickets as a gift and had spent a substantial amount of money. He felt bad and was extremely disappointed. We tried to reassure him that we were happy to be there no matter what, but I could definitely see where he was coming from. For the same price, we could have been sitting in one of the chalets. When a person spends hundreds of dollars per ticket they tend to expect to at least be provided with a damn seat. Instead, we were in an area where you about had to throw down for a chair and had no access to the general areas. We ended up not even sitting inside much,  preferring to be trackside rather than being crammed in like sardines in a can. Needless to say, it wasn't the customer service I was expecting from a class act like Keeneland. Oh well, it was their first time hosting an event of that magnitude I'm sure they'll do better next time. Hopefully.

Regardless, we all ended up having a wonderful couple of days and it truly was still an experience of a lifetime.

Sales Pavilion

Times around the world.

Walking ring outside of the sale's pavilion

Where the horses come out of the tunnel and onto the track.

Part of the paddock.

Checking out weanlings and mares. I've been watching the sale on and off and horses are selling EXTREMELY well. 

A little about the outfits (in case anyone cares) because dressing up is half the experience:

My friend and I trackside. I wanted red to go with my outfit, but couldn't find any shoes I liked in that color, so I went with blue shoes and accessories. I still fit red in on Friday with a deep red leather pencil skirt with a matching clutch, a cream tuxedo front blouse with black piping, a black blazer, and black booties with black gem jewelry, but unfortunately didn't get a picture of the whole outfit. FYI: boots, tights, and toe warmers are a lifesaver at Keeneland in October. I didn't find any hatinators or hats that I liked, other than a couple that were $350+ and I'm not going to pay that much for one, so I just skipped it. Everything else just didn't look right to me, I was being WAY too picky.

BC bracelet I bought in the gift shop because of my uncontrollable jewelry habit.

Which is also my excuse for possibly going slightly overboard on buying accesories. The blue stuff matched my shoes though and what were the chances of me finding a clutch to match my red skirt perfectly? And a girl can never have too many jewelry options. Plus, my mostly white and black outfits needed some color. #iregretnothing.

P.S. I don't exactly have the greatest fashion sense, so don't judge too harshly. ;)

Next BC Trip post will be about the farms we visited.

Breeder's Cup 2015 Trip: American Pharoah

I don't even know where to begin on our trip to Lexington for the Breeder's Cup, so I'll just get to the best part (and probably the only part that most people care about): American Pharoah.

I'm not exactly one to get mushy over Bob Baffert, but no matter how a person feels about him, no one can deny how truly amazing American Pharoah is. 

Let's start with his last work to prep for the race:

Yeah, when a horse of his quality works like that, in that time, that easy....well, it's a little hard to see them getting beat. Watching this put any doubts after his defeat in the Travers to rest. The Triple Crown winner was not only back to looking like his same old extraordinary self, he may have possibly looked the best he has in his entire career.

Sorry about the blurry pics, I was more concerned with watching than quality pictures, so it was a point in the general direction and shoot kind of thing.

In the post parade, even if you had no idea which horses were in the race, AP looked like the winner (I was about thirty feet away from him). He was calm and relaxed, pure class. His weight was good and his coat gleamed. Most of all, he oozed confidence. Everything about him gave the impression that there wasn't a horse on the planet that was going to beat The Champ that day, much less one in the race. 

When it came to Espinoza, I got the feeling that he didn't have a care in the world. It didn't seem like he was cocky, he definitely didn't come across as nervous. More than anything, pride for the horse underneath him was shining through. Everything about Espinoza's demeanor said "I'm on the best horse in the world and he's going to win this. I'm just here to enjoy my last ride on him."

I'm sure you all saw the race. A few jumps out of the gate American Pharoah was just galloping along with his ears pricked while the riders on every other horse in the race seemed to choose riding for second rather than risk it all going hard after AP. It probably wasn't a bad decision on their part. 

See ya!

American Pharoah winning the Breeder's Cup Classic after winning the Triple Crown was impressive. The fact that he did it so easily while setting the track record was absolutely incredible! 

*The value of the track record was initially questioned  by some because track records are reset when the track surface is changed. Keeneland went from dirt to synthetic back to dirt. When it was discovered that American Pharoah had run the fastest 1 and 1/4 mile EVER, over any of the surfaces at Keeneland, the different footings became irrelevant and his feat became even more extraordinary.

Y'all just sit back and watch while I make history.

I doubt that I can ever describe what it was like to be that close to American Pharoah as he ran past me towards such an amazing victory. I don't remember the cheers of the crowd or hearing the race being called. The one thing I will always remember is seeing what true perfection of a thoroughbred running looks like. Every detail of the grace and athleticism of American Pharoah as he soared by will forever be ingrained in my mind. I will remember that moment for the rest of my life.

I don't know if I was still high on watching AP, if it was the bourbon, or if being out of those heels and carrying a pizza, but I ended up looking like I was hitchhiking in front of our (ridiculously overpriced) crappy hotel. I was attempting to sum up exactly how awesome the day was.

I'll cover the rest of the trip in my next post.