We booked ourselves a tour of the Keeneland Race Course. The
tour guide was an expat Aussie who had been in the States since the 80s. Very
knowledgeable and had lots of info about the track and the horses.
We had a tour of the private members area – the club is huge
and was built as a private racetrack in the 1930s. In the members stand the seats
are named, and the rights are passed down through families, so the chances of
ever being able to buy in are pretty slim.
We saw horses on trackwork, the young horses galloping in
pairs, the older ones on their own, and some cantering. The track workers ride
up to 8 horses in a morning.
We stood in the winner’s circle, constructed for the visit
of the Queen in the 80s.
The stables are impressive, holding up to 1951 horses.
The
Sales Pavilion is where Keeneland hold four sales a year and are the best known
thoroughbred sales company in the world, selling millions of dollars worth of
horses in each sale, to global purchasers.
After lunch we visited the local Buffalo Trace Distillery.
The distillery has been in continuous operation for over 200 years, distilling
“medicinal bourbon” during prohibition. In those days’ doctors prescribed
alcoholic drinks for just about every ailment.
The tour was more perfunctory
than the others we have done, with a video, a visit to a rick house, then a
tasting. The tasting was 2 bourbons, their white whiskey (before it goes into
barrels to be aged) and their cream liqueur. They were nice enough, but we were
not tempted to buy. We asked if there were any premium tastings, but no.
No comments:
Post a Comment