Keeneland: Racing like it should be

LEXINGTON, Ky. — You will be happy to know, but not as much as the smiling fellow pictured above, that American Airlines Flight 5071 from Charlotte, N.C., arrived here safely Friday at Blue Grass Airport, off Man o’War Boulevard, which intersects with Versailles Road and as the locals will tell you is pronounced differently than in France — with the “A” long.

Ver-sales, as in the annual Keeneland thoroughbred auction at the horse yard across the street from the airport and from which this dispatch is filed. (Fellow passengers from Charlotte included the Kentucky Derby-winning trainer of Orb and the Arkansas Derby-winning trainer of Classic Empire. If that plane, carrying Shug McGaughey and Mark Casse, had gone down, this guy would have been a trifecta kicker in the obit at 60-1.)

A few miles east on U.S. 60 is historic, stately, majestic — any adjective you choose — Calumet Farm. The same place that Citation, Whirlaway, Alydar and a few others who could run a little grew up. If the Grand Canyon can make an atheist believe in God, one look at Calumet, with its rolling hills and white picket fences, can tug at the heart of one who wouldn’t be caught dead at the races.

I look down the backstretch at Keeneland and think of the 1978 Blue Grass Stakes. Alydar won by open lengths and, after having his picture taken, proceeded to a limousine at trackside. There awaited Lucille Markey, widow of Calumet owner William Wright, too ill on this day to watch with the gentrified, closer on this visit to railbirds than bluebloods, but ever a fan. Mrs. Markey petted the horse who restored the stable’s iconic devil’s red and blue silks to prominence. Many a racing fan shed a tear at the following month’s Kentucky Derby when Alydar lost a close one to Affirmed, an outcome that would repeat itself in the Preakness and (dramatically, with the Triple Crown riding), the Belmont Stakes.

(One last note about Calumet, which sold the devil’s red and blue silks. The Kentucky Cancer Center in downtown Lexington is named for Gene and Lucille Markey, both deceased. Gene Markey, who may have been no more an admiral than Tom Parker, Elvis’ manager, a colonel, was for certain a charmer with women. Lucille Markey could be cold, virtually tossing out William Wright’s family after his death, disowning a son, but said of her new husband, “I never knew what love was until I met the admiral.”)

Back to Keeneland, second day of the track’s fall meet, and where American Pharoah ran his last race. The first Triple Crown winner in

37 years entered the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Classic off a Travers loss and needing to beat older horses, it was felt, to establish himself as an all-time great rather than for making his reputation against fellow

3-year-olds.

Save for some light snow that snarled postrace traffic on an early sunset, Keeneland brought off its first (and to date only) Breeders’ Cup without a hitch. So did American Pharoah, dominating a good field (Effinex, the next year’s Oaklawn Handicap winner, was second) and going on to stud (his first crop is eligible for the 2020 Derby) without having to answer, “Who did he beat?”

Into my second day at Keeneland, I have yet to place a bet, which may change later in the afternoon (expect a sonic boom if Gouveneur Morris, a Saratoga maiden winner for Todd Pletcher, takes the Breeders’ Futurity, the track’s major fall Derby prep) but only after the sight-seeing trip ends.

Waiting for a friend from Louisville, I am seated behind one of two outdoor paddocks for which horses are prepared before paraded through a tunnel to the track. Keeneland, which for years lacked an announcer, confident that its horse-wise fans would recognize their favorites without help, has the able and precise (if not especially dramatic) Kurt Becker calling races. In recent years, a turf course has been added, and highlighting the star-studded card on this Saturday in the Grade 1 $1 million Shadwell Turf Mile.

(All this makes me rethink Oaklawn Park and grass racing, guessing that it will get a turf course

when track officials restore 2-year-old racing – let’s say the year 2525. Still, I am discouraged that Mr. Misunderstood, a multiple stakes-winning turfer, has never raced, and is likely never to race, in trainer Staton Flurry’s hometown. And that without grass racing, Oaklawn fans can see such as Wise Dan, Goldikova or any of trainer Chad Brown’s international stars only on TV screens rather than in person. But, hey, I thought Charles J. Cella would never budge on exotic wagering and, later, add a trifecta.)

In any case, you know you’re in Kentucky when the fellow sitting next to you, who might have been around when Native Dancer ran, asks, “Who do you like in the Shadwell?”

Lexington should be jumping next weekend when Arkansas plays Kentucky at Kroger Field. If you ask me, combining world-class racing and SEC football represents the best of both worlds. Some, as with hard liquor, do not require a chaser and for them it may not matter much whether Oklahoma or Texas wins the Red River Shootout or which SEC lesser light, Arkansas (after a week off) or Kentucky, prevails on the home front. (A man in the crowd wearing a UK cap and learning that I am an Arkansas sportswriter said, “Your team almost won [against Texas A&M] last week.”)

Basketball is another matter in the Bluegrass, and John Calipari’s latest group of freshman phenoms soon will be in action at Rupp Arena downtown. Whether they agree or not with Sen. Mitch McConnell, many in this state sing blest be the tie that binds horse racing and Kentucky basketball. An ex-Razorback basketball coach was reminded of this after coming here in 1985 with something frizzy under his hat.

“Eddie Sutton should know,” wrote a Louisville columnist, “that Kentuckians like their bourbon — and their coach’s hair — straight.”