The place that I have chosen for my
ethnographic project is Keeneland. For
those of you that do not know, Kentucky is the horse capitol of the world, and
Lexington is right in the center. Keeneland
is a famous horse racing track at the corner of Versailles Road and Man O’ War
Boulevard. Keeneland was put together
over a series of events but the first day of live racing was October 15,
1936.
Keeneland only races in two months
of the entire year, one in the spring, and one in the fall. But it is open throughout the year for
tourists, shoppers, gamblers, and many more.
So if you were to go on a day in late September, it would be extremely
different than going on a day like October 4th, the first day of
live races for the fall.
A late September day at Keeneland
would start out by entering through the pillars on one of the many
entrances. Right away you would be
amazed at how pretty the scenery is. Acres
and acres of beautiful green grass as far as the eye can see. If you look closely you will be able to see
fences that guard off horse farms off in the distance. On your way to park you will see the
Keeneland library on a hill to your right.
This is a building made of stone that looks kind of dull from a
distance, but if you are lucky enough to get up close to it, you will truly see
how magnificent it really is. This is a
research and reference library that was established in 1939 and it holds more
than 15,000 volumes of books and journals, 250,000 photographic negatives,
thousands of newspaper articles and 1,500 videocassettes documenting sales and
racing at Keeneland and other tracks throughout the nation. This is all before you have even parked.
Once you have parked you will begin
walking up the hill towards the gates.
Depending on the day and what time you go, you could see different
things. While walking up to the gate to
the right are several rows of stables where horses are kept. If you are lucky you might be able to see
them being walked around or shown to other people and if you are unlucky, which
you will likely be, you will be followed by the stench of horse manure all the
way to the top of the hill. Before you
reach the gate there is a small building on your right that isn’t very
welcoming and doesn’t stand out a whole lot.
This is the building where horses and actioned off. These horses will be sold anywhere from
$50,000 up to the millions.
Finally once you have made it to
the top of the hill you can go in through the gates, which is free when
Keeneland isn’t racing. Immediately you
are overwhelmed with the beauty. The
area that you would be standing next to is called the paddock. This is a part of Keeneland that is extremely
well known and talked about. The paddock
is where the horses walk around before they race. It is surrounded by a gate that is difficult
to see because of the well-trimmed bushes in front. After you have taken in all the beauty here
you are likely to be drawn towards the track.
Once you step out to the general standing area you finally see the whole
reason you came, the race track.
Keeneland’s track is a one and one sixteenth mile Polytrack oval and
inside of that a seven and one half furlong turf oval. These tracks look much bigger than they do on
maybe a television show or a movie. Inside
of the track are several huge jumbo screens and two bushes that spell out
Keeneland. If you turn around you will
see tons of seats that have to be reserved from the past. If you have finally seen enough and are ready
to go then you would just turn around towards the way you came. Since there aren’t any races going on the
atmosphere is pretty dead, but you might hear some yells of people who are
gambling and watching races on other tracks throughout the nation. If gambling is not your thing then you could
go to the Keeneland shop and pick out a souvenir to take home with you.
The Keeneland race track is one of
the biggest icons that Lexington has to offer.
I highly recommend that you try to get out there whether there are races
that day or not. You should have a good
time either way.
The Paddock
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