The 10-Minute Bugle: Keeneland

Keeneland is an iconic track in the heart of the Kentucky bluegrass region that attracts a diverse and enthusiastic crowd. (Photos by Eclipse Sportswire unless otherwise noted)
Bourbon, bluegrass, basketball, barbecue, and broodmares—consider these Kentucky’s five Bs. And in Lexington, with its uprising of microbreweries, “beer” completes a fine second-letter sextet. Suffice it to say, Kentucky is a state with its priorities straight.
Although Louisville, with its multitude of bridges crossing the Ohio River, looks more like Portland, Ore., Lexington is actually the Portland to Louisville’s Seattle, a small city with happy residents who probably don’t want to let the rest of the country know how good they’ve got it, for fear of carpetbagging. Yet for the amount of money that sustains the area’s lucrative Thoroughbred industry, there’s not a lot of snobbery on display. This friendly, egalitarian ethos extends to Lexington’s limestone jewel of a racetrack, Keeneland Race Course.
KEENELAND ALWAYS DRAWS A CROWD

If you’ve ever dreamt of a horse track, Keeneland is the track you’ve dreamt of. (And if you caught “Seabiscuit”, you’ve also seen it on the big screen.) Gray-stoned and festooned with green pennants, it’s surrounded by nothing but hills and horses. Its parking area is grassy and festive, with a blue-blazered tailgate scene sharing more in common with Ole Miss’s Grove than that of any other horse track. Boasting live racing only two months out of the year—April and October—every day that hooves hit the turf at Keeneland is a special one, and the caliber of racing it cards supports such a notion. 
Main At-tracktions
While there is but one way — Versailles Road — to physically access Keeneland, Lexington’s FM radio dial offers a pair of appropriate sonic companions for your entrance to the track’s bucolic parking area. On Saturdays from noon to 1 p.m., WRFL (Radio Free Lexington, operated by the University of Kentucky) features Honky Tonk Happy Hour at 88.1, where you might hear a bluegrass cover of a Dylan tune. Further down at 102.1, WKYL plays classical selections like Gershwin’s “Rhapsody in Blue.”
For a sport that appeals to both Cadillac and combine drivers, alternating between the two on your drive in is probably the best prescription.
While Keeneland has an organized extravaganza called The Hill, such structure, while welcome, isn’t necessary to get track-goers into the prerace spirit (or spirits). Whether it’s a card table set up next to a freshly waxed Ford or some youthful bourbon enthusiasts cavorting around the perimeter of a charter bus, Keeneland is as close as horse racing gets to a proper SEC tailgate scene.
In 2015, on the last weekend of October, Keeneland will host the Breeders’ Cup World Championship — typically run at mammoth venues like Louisville’s Churchill Downs or in California at Santa Anita Park — for the first time.
While the confines are sure to be cozier than usual, the announcement had an “it’s about time” feel to it, as Keeneland is regularly ranked as the nation’s highest-caliber track by the Horseplayers Association of North America.
Leading up to next year’s Breeders’ Cup will be the usual sterling slate of October races, highlighted by two Grade 1 races for 2-year-olds, the Darley Alcibiades and the Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity, as well as the mid-meet Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup, a top-flight turf route for 3-year-old fillies. And in April, the Blue Grass Stakes will reclaim its distinction as a first-rate Kentucky Derby prep race, what with Keeneland’s recent decision to reinstall a dirt surface after a synthetic detour.
RACING ON KEENELAND'S NEW DIRT TRACK

While there are certain rooms within the grandstand that appeal to the well-heeled, one of Keeneland’s charms is its lack of overt classism. For sustenance, a Chicago dog at Dogs Up on the fourth floor will do just fine, while the track’s signature cocktail is a Keeneland Breeze, comprised of Maker’s Mark, ginger ale and orange liqueur.
Where to Drink and Eat
As the home to the University of Kentucky, Lexington is a semi-major Southern city that’s blessed with the cultural sensibilities of a college town — a really sweet combination, if you can find it. Nowhere is this confluence more effervescent than on Jefferson St., which traverses a historic neighborhood on the outskirts of downtown.
Comprised of shotgun houses and columned estates, with Transylvania University as its architectural fulcrum, Jefferson and the parallel-running Limestone St. offer an eclectic, relaxed vibe on the embers of what once was a more desolate district. If you’re a dive-bar aficionado, the Green Lantern (on Jefferson) and Al’s Bar (on Limestone) are cheap, welcoming and appropriately shopworn. With Paul McCartney’s bizarre “Temporary Secretary” playing on the jukebox, the latter bar offers a signature onion and pretzel soup, a bourbon and hot cider special, and live music nightly. Bottled beer is stored in portable coolers, with a ton of shelf space devoted to dusty bourbon bottles, and precious little real estate dedicated to clearer booze. “In God we trust,” reads a sign behind the bar. “All others pay cash.”
NORTH LIME DONUTS AND COFEE

Photo courtesy of North Lime Donuts & Coffee
Across the street from Al’s is North Lime Donuts, where a tasty glazed and a café au lait can stave off the sternest of hangovers. Back on Jefferson, near Short St. (one of Lexington’s more scenic roads to take a stroll on), is Stella’s Kentucky Deli, with an astonishingly diverse menu that includes a must-order Kentucky Pie, a delicious chocolate chip cookie/pecan pie hybrid that’s unique to the region.
Occupying a narrower niche a few blocks down Jefferson is the hip, rustic County Club, which focuses on smoked-meat sandwiches and serves up a tasty smoked lemonade and bourbon cocktail. Out by its bocce ball court is a large public park, which contains a rink for roller hockey, and a block away is West Sixth Brewing, where the Cocoa Porter is ideal on a cool night.
For a more every-bar vibe in the heart of downtown, there’s Parlay Social, where a stellar cover band called the Johnson Brothers rock out on a regular basis (their rendition of the Allman Brothers’ “Jessica” is particularly killer). And for a mealtime experience more befitting of the southern archetype, ordering a plate of fried chicken (ask for all thighs) at the Merrick Inn on the other side of town won’t let you down.
If you’ve got a designated driver and a taste for brown booze, you can follow Kentucky’s Bourbon Trail to such distilleries as Maker’s Mark, Jim Beam, Bulleit, Woodford Reserve, Evan Williams, and Wild Turkey. But the smoothest of the lot might be Buffalo Trace in Frankfort, located about 21 miles northwest of Keeneland.
Where to Sleep
Lexington offers the usual array of comfortable, national-chain hotels, with the downtown Hyatt sticking out as a particularly happening locale. But for a locally flavored, boutique experience, the Gratz Park Inn is within walking distance of virtually everything — save for the track itself, which is about six miles west of downtown on Versailles Road. With such a short meet, however, weekend space can get tight, making Airbnb an option worth considering.
Riders Up
HORSES AND JOCKEYS HEAD TO THE TRACK

At Lexington, if Ken and Sarah Ramsey have a horse entered in a race, bet against it at your peril. The Ramseys are perhaps North America’s most bankable owners, and their charges are often the chalk. As for horsemen, while any number of big names are liable to mount a month-long residency at Keeneland, Julien Leparoux is the track’s most reliable rider, while Todd Pletcher, Mark Casse, Mike Maker, Graham Motion, Bill Mott, Wesley Ward, Ken McPeek and D. Wayne Lukas typically rank among the more successful trainers.
Tip Sheet
It sounds sentimental, but Lexington might be America’s friendliest city. Whereas in Portland, Ore., there’s a whiff of smugness in the air, Lexingtonians seem genuinely eager to share their city with visitors, and the hospitality carries over — and then some — to the track. And, lo and behold, Keeneland’s not the only live bet in town, as the Red Mile — one of America’s oldest tracks, dating back to 1876 — offers twilight harness racing in August and September.