Keeneland

On Friday everyone from my office loaded onto a bus and rode down to Lexington, Ky. We had invited a group of customers for a brunch meeting at Keene Place, an old mansion on the grounds of Keeneland.

It's a beautiful old home, completely renovated. Gorgeous. Like a magazine.

I sneaked around for a few minutes with my camera, looking out windows, went upstairs to check it out. Noticed this magazine on a side table. Do people really read magazines like this? Really? I guess if you're a real horse lover...

When our meeting ended at 1:00 we drove over to the race track. I noticed this display of large colorful hats set up in a corner, outside. Really big hats, most of them. And really big prices to match. Who buys these things? I did see a handful of women in the crowd with this kind of hat but hope they didn't pay the big bucks - we're talking anywhere from $200 - $800. Crazy.

Horses being walked in the paddock. Cooling down? Or before their big race? Not sure. There's so much I just don't understand about the horse racing business (or should I say culture?).

I'm wondering how much these handlers get paid. Is there a lot of money to be made in walking horses at a race track?

And here's another question: Why do all the jockeys have to have a trainer ride along side them on the track when they're doing warm up laps? Is this really necessary?

Oh, and here's the highlight of my afternoon. I saw all kinds of silly outfits, but this took the cake. This young guy was actually wearing these goofy pants in public and didn't seem embarassed at all. Lime green, with blue and brown horses all over. Topped with a very civilized navy blazer. Seriously?? I don't even know where you'd go to buy a pair of men's pants like this. Whatever he paid for them, he paid TOO MUCH. Some designer is laughing all the way to the bank.

And his friend, who was standing nearby, had on bright orange pants. Yuck.

Now this was kind of neat - a guy who was painting a picture of the scene out in the paddock. Nice job. He was taking his time, talking with the crowd as he worked.

And I got up close to a jockey who had just finished a race - he was posing for pictures with a couple of young girls. I loved his patent leather boots! So small! I guess most jockeys are really small men - he was well under 5' tall.

One of my favorite things at Keeneland - the line-up of jockey statues. Pretty much the same size as the real ones! Ha. I couldn't take a picture from the front side because people were in the way, sitting on the wall with their food and drinks.

I enjoyed it all - a beautiful (chilly) spring day, lots of good people-watching, a few horses, lots of drunk visitors, and some fun with my co-workers. Must do it again next year!