Lots of Horseys

After a late night of Rummikub, where Lauren and I as newcomers placed second and third, we snatched a few hours of sleep. We were up early to drive into Lexington to Keeneland Race Track. Every morning starting at 6am, the race horses are worked out on the track. You can watch them walking and running and flat out barreling down the track. The jockeys are a motley crew of guys and gals who must love what they do to be up so early to work the horses.

So let’s back track. Lauren and I got up early to try and find this place and the roads in the map are not the same roads in real life. Eventually we found Keeneland. We drove through the gates and started reading the signs trying to figure out where the track was. Instead we found the Track Kitchen, which we were going to eat breakfast at later. We walked into the kitchen to ask the nice ladies where we were supposed to be. I think they thought we were idiots, but they were nice enough to sell us some necessary coffee and give us directions. A nice old man offered to walk us there and we took him up on his offer.

Bobby led us out of the kitchen and down the road between the barns through the gate that said “Trainers and Vets Only.” He was leading, so we followed. This road led between two rows of big barns where people were actively working with horses. People were riding up and down this road to the track and back to the barns. Bobby knew a lot of people and was greeting many by name as we ambled down the road. He pointed out specific barns and talked about the quality of their race horses.

Bobby, it turns out used to be a jockey when he was younger, a very good jockey. He talked of his traveling and running different races. Bobby Ussery had 3,611 career wins including one Preakness and two Kentucky derbies. He didn’t brag about these accomplishments, we looked them up when we got home later. We did know that he was a jockey and that he was familiar with horse racing so naturally I peppered him with questions.

Lauren and I stood trackside and enjoyed our coffee while watching the slender, but muscular horses do their workouts. I think horses are ugly, but I can appreciate their build and what it allows them to do. I do not think they are beautiful, but watching one run full speed is a little incredible – especially when it is only one or two and you can really see the muscles working.

Bobby introduced us to his friend Jean, also another jockey who was friendly. Jean turned out to be Jean Cruguet, one of the only eleven jockeys to have won the Triple Crown. He was jockey for a famous race horse called Seattle Slew. We saw a big silver something engraved with his name later at the Kentucky Horse Park. I am sure we will see both their names when we go to the Kentucky Derby Museum in Louisville, but we have learned a lot about their victories just by googling their names.

Then we met a guy named John. John new both Bobby and Jean, but John was there to watch his three horses train. I asked what their names were, but I don’t remember what they said. He was nice enough, but more like he invited us to watch because we were standing with Bobby and Jean.

Lauren and I walked the correct path back down to the kitchen (because we walked back by ourselves) because we were starving. We were mad we didn’t think to take a picture with Bobby, but he made his way down to the kitchen too, so we did get our photo (remember jockeys are short). Breakfast was good. It was cafeteria style and they plated whatever you ordered, but it was good. After breakfast we went for more horses at the Kentucky Horse Park.

The Kentucky Horse Park is where Man O War a very famous race horse was buried. This horse was so well known and famous that it was actually embalmed and had a proper human funeral and procession. Man O War has a bronze memorial over his casket, surrounded by a fountain and gardens and plaques about his achievements. Man O War only raced for two years, but in that time period only lost one of twenty one races and that one not by much.

Inside the park, there is a museum dedicated solely to the history of the horse. It had interesting information about how the horse has been used throughout history and portrayed in artwork, as well as information about some of the breeds. There was a ton of information and a lot of reading. We diligently read through the first half and then sort of skimmed the latter half.

Also at the horse park are a lot of horses – go figure. There are shows every hour throughout the complex on different topics. We went to the Mares and Foals to learn about the baby miniature horses, who are two months, are already two thirds the size of a grown miniature horse. We watched the parade of breeds to compare the qualities and characteristics of some of the breeds of horses. We watched the national champion teen drill team work some figures – kind of like synchronized swimming on horseback. And we walked through the barns and did a tractor ride through the paddocks to see some others.

After the horse park we stopped for groceries and random sightseeing in Lexington which included the Liquor Barn and some neat artsy shops that Jan Forever told us to check out.

We arrived back at Jan’s in time for a dinner feast. We met her fiancé and two youngest kids (5th grade and 8th grade) and helped with dinner prep – or maybe mostly stayed out of the way. Dinner was delicious and though Lauren and I proclaimed that we weren’t really hungry, we both ate plenty.

After dinner, another art project with Jan commenced. This time we were making stepping stones. Mary and Josh (the boyfriend) sawed circle rounds from a big cardboard tube and Lauren and I duct-taped shower curtain plastic to the molds so they would hold the concrete mix. Jan and her daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend worked really well as a team to mix, pour, and smooth the molds. Then everyone ducked in to cover the stepping stones with jewels of colored glass. Mary even put cat prints in a few. My favorite is the one in the chocolate Easter bunny mold – and that one is mine – nice and small so it will dry quickly for me to take home. The whole art project event was hilarious and random and spontaneous on the back porch.

We are waiting for it to get dark so we can run around with sparklers, but Lauren and I are both dead tired and wearing dresses because all the rest of our clothes are dirty and in the laundry.