At Keeneland, a premier track in Lexington, Ky., the stakes can run to $750,000.
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When you talk about the fittest in horse racing, you're talking about Keeneland, the picturesque park in the heart of horse country, Lexington, Ky. The place is so beautiful, it makes your heart canter. And if it feels like a movie set, that's because it is. Much of the film version of Seabiscuit was set on the Keeneland grounds. A flight to quality in horse racing will mean, in essence, more tracks like Keeneland--Thoroughbred theme parks where families might take their children, where lovers might go on dates, where sentimentalists might find fuel for fancies of glorious days that never were but should have been. Fans will enter beautiful grounds steeped in racing's rich lore to find clean bathrooms and appetizing restaurants. Going to the track will be an event, with live music and lots of pageantry. The season will be short--Keeneland holds only about 32 days of racing each year, half in spring, half in fall--so that every race can feature strong horses and large fields.
"It's about the integrity of the experience for everyone from the fans to the trainers to the owners to the animals," Keeneland CEO Bill Thomason told me as his spring 2013 meet was drawing to a close. When the last race was run on April 26, the results spoke for themselves: A record $158.6 million was wagered at the track and off-site, a 19% increase over last year. Average daily attendance was over 17,000 for a meet total of 278,000--another record. Despite construction snarls on the road leading to the track, more than 30,000 fans turned out each Saturday, and the meet's most prestigious race, the Blue Grass Stakes, drew the second largest crowd in the 89-year history of the race. The only larger crowd was the one the year before.
The Blue Grass delivered everything Americans once loved about horse racing: the elegant animals, groomed to a high gloss, parading to the starting gate; the coiled power exploding as the gate snapped open; the jockeys steering their mounts through the treacherous pack; and an exhilarating stretch run to victory by a colt named Java's War. This idealized past is the key to a possible future. The only thing better would be a new Triple Crown winner. It's been 35 years since Affirmed turned the trick, and it's time to write some new history.
The original version of this article misidentified Jockey Club president James Gagliano as Joe Gagliano.
The original version of this article referred to Sir Gallahad as one of two horses to have sired three Kentucky Derby winners. In fact, he was one of four.