Keeneland Magazine - Fall 2026 Edition

CHERIE DeVAUX’S HISTORIC DOUBLE

KEENELAND AT 90

GODOLPHIN: BREEDERS’ CUP LEADER

K EENELAND FALL 2026

celebrating bluegrass traditions

KEENELAND.COM

WHAT QUALITIES WILL MAKE HIM A GOOD STALLION? First and foremost, his ability. He's obviously got a tremendous amount of ability. He's extremely attractive, he's very correct and he's unbelievably sound.

He is everything horse racing needs right now Steve Asmussen

One of the best, most precocious, and fastest sons of GUN RUNNER

Exceptional E xceptional F Farms arms iin n The The B Bluegrass luegrass

An extraordinary 11.5-acre gated estate just minutes from downtown Lexington and directly across from Spendthrift Farm. Offering 11,700 square feet, 5 bedrooms, and 8 total bathrooms, this impeccably maintained home showcases soaring ceilings, exquisite woodwork, a chef's kitchen open to the family room, a handsome wood-paneled office, and a stunning two-story foyer. Outside, enjoy a saltwater pool and a newly constructed 3-stall barn with room to expand to six stalls, making it ideal for equestrian enthusiasts. Complete with underground utilities and countless upgrades, this exceptional property blends timeless elegance with modern luxury.

Situated on 2,245 acres in the heart of Kentucky's renowned Thoroughbred region, Adena Springs is a world-class equine facility developed in 2007. The centerpiece is a stunning 2½-story office and 14-stall stallion barn featuring over 6,250 square feet of premium office space, a breeding arena, teaser and mare stalls, and beautifully landscaped grounds with ponds and a fountain. Designed by horsemen for horsemen, the farm includes seven identical 28-stall barns, 10-3 stall run-in sheds, a 5-stall quarantine barn, exceptional employee housing, and outstanding amenities including a gated village with a pool and recreation facilities. Additional improvements include hay and straw barns, a 75' x 140' equipment/shop building, a six-horse stallion exerciser, five gated entrances.

This 72-acre estate, with the Elkhorn Creek meandering through it, is bordered by the world renowned Gainesway Farm. The magnificent main residence offers over 8,400 square feet of gracious living space, complemented by a formal rose garden. Adjacent to the main residence is its infamous pool house featuring an Olympic-size pool. Additional improvements include a historic two-story guest house, a manager’s home, an art studio, a log cabin chapel, and former staff quarters—now used as offices. Horse improvements include two horse barns with 16 stalls, and two equipment sheds. RECENT SIGNIFICANT PRICE REDUCTION!

Enter this 90 +/- acres through the brick-gated entrance and across a charming covered bridge to a two-story, 3-bedroom, 2.5-bath home overlooking the farm. Improvements include two barns with 21 stalls, a horse walker, round pen, and eight run-in sheds. Additional features include a manager's home, modular home, tobacco barn, equipment shed, V-mesh and plank fencing, and city water. Conveniently located near Lexington and Paris, Dunquin Farm is a turnkey horse farm in a peaceful and aesthetically pleasing setting.

Seller will consider other divisions. For more details, please contact Bill Justice!

JJUSTICE USTICE R REAL EAL E ESTATE STATE 960 JACK RAKES

Experience the beauty and privacy of this exceptional 325-acre Bluegrass estate, ideal for equestrian, cattle, and recreational pursuits. Designed by a Dallas architect, the residence is perfect for entertaining with professional décor, custom stonework, exquisite lighting, elegant window treatments, high-end Sub-Zero/Wolf appliances, a built-in sound system, and a spacious great room with a wet bar. Enjoy panoramic views from the expansive wraparound porch. Improvements include a 4-stall Morton barn with a wash bay and heated tack room, the original mule barn with a fully equipped studio apartment, a hay barn, cattle working pens, three stocked ponds, quality fencing, automatic waterers, and scenic wooded trails for hunting, fishing, horseback riding, and ATVs.

1378 BRENTSVILLE

This picturesque farm features excellent soils, five ponds, five fenced paddocks and five fields with automatic waterers, a five-bent tobacco barn with five stalls, shop and hay storage, an equipment shed, a wash bay with a heated and cooled tack/medicine room, and four run-in sheds, each with enclosed hay storage. The beautifully restored stone home, originally built in 1795 with an 1810 addition, combines historic character with modern updates. A thoughtfully designed 2020 addition includes a mudroom, updated kitchen, and private primary suite. Two covered porches and a deck offer peaceful views of the surrounding countryside. Currently operating as an equine rescue, this versatile property is ideal for a variety of farming uses.

825-ACRES of ADENA SPRINGS KENTUCKY

This exceptional 825-acre division of the renowned Adena Springs offers outstanding versatility for equine and livestock operations. Improvements include seven well-designed 3-stall run-in sheds, a comfortable 3-bedroom, 3.5-bath manager's residence, and two 2-bedroom, 2-bath employee homes. Accessed through a private gated entrance, the property is fully fenced for horses and is currently utilized for both equine and cattle operations. Featuring gently rolling pastureland and excellent infrastructure, this tract is well suited for a variety of agricultural or equestrian pursuits.

LEGADO FARM

Professionally developed horse farm on desirable Mt. Horeb Pike, adjoining historic Castleton Lyons, just minutes from the Kentucky Horse Park, with over 1/4 mile of frontage on scenic Elkhorn Creek. Extensive improvements over the past two years include two matching 150' x 250' ebb and flow arenas with 70' round pens, new board-and-batten siding and metal roofs on four barns, additional fencing, a custom security gate, and a fully renovated owner's residence. The farm features 78 stalls in six barns, a Kraft walker, equipment building. In a private park-like setting overlooking Elkhorn Creek, the main residence offers 4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, plus a lower level with a private entrance, 5 rooms, and 1.5 baths. Also included are a 2-bedroom employee house and a 1-bedroom employee cottage. Legado Farm is an exceptional income-producing opportunity in the heart of the Bluegrass. Suitable for any discipline.

OAK LODGE FARM Adjoining the world-renowned Adena Springs and located across the road from Brandywine Farm, this 101 +/- acre turn-key horse farm is known for producing stakes horses, including Medaglia d’Oro. Improvements include a magnificent 4-bedroom, 3 full bath, and 2 half bath main residence with a 3-car attached garage; a 2,185 sq. ft., 3-bedroom, 2½ bath manager’s home; and an exceptional guest house. Horse improvements include four horse barns with 48 stalls, three large run-in sheds, a horse exerciser, and a well-appointed farm office with a full bath.

1700 FOX DRIVE Luxurious gated equestrian estate just 10 minutes from Sandy Ridge Quarter Horse Racetrack and Casino. The 2½-story brick home offers 4 bedrooms, 2 full and 3 half baths with sweeping views over 38 acres. Features include an updated gourmet kitchen, spacious living and dining areas, a private primary suite with study, and a third-floor home theater.Outdoor living shines with a fully equipped kitchen, fireplace, and a custom pool with waterfalls and fire pits. The property also includes a 2-car attached garage, 3-car detached garage with apartment, a 4-stall Morton barn, covered riding arena, and six paddocks.

COBRA

FRITZ FARM, LEXINGTON, KY

859-456-2755

119 Clay Avenue Lexington, Kentucky stuartmercer.com 859.309.0357

This fall the Cup returns to Keeneland.

Be ready.

Painting by

André Pater

LEARN MORE

A.E.Bye Hardscape Design 1974-1986, Joseph Hillenmeyer Garden Design, Planting Design and Enhancements

j h i l l e n m e y e r. c o m

LEGACY GARDENS: +

Enhancing the past; envisioning the future +

Lasting landscapes begin by seeing what is already there: the land, the architecture, the history held in its past, and the life it is meant to hold. Joseph Hillenmeyer Garden Design seeks to inspire timeless grace with each project. Whether we are creating a space from scratch or enhancing an existing landscape, we invoke a sense of permanence and ease, relying on a devotion to horticulture and history, with a vision for the garden to come. For fine equine estates, this means creating gardens that belong to the farm itself. As we build for the generations ahead, we respect its story and the hands that came before us. In all projects, we seek to honor the past and create something new, lush, and inviting that grows for years to come.

CONTENTS FALL 2026

F E AT U R E S

52

74 Star Shines Bright by Tom Pedulla Twenty-five years after its inception, Fall Stars Weekend has only gotten better.

Cup Runneth Over

90

by Lenny Shulman Godolphin, the leading Breeders’ Cup owner, goes from strength to strength.

90 and Counting Photos chronicle Keeneland’s journey through the decades.

110 Painting the Town by Kevin Nance Lexington has become a showplace for murals, with walls throughout the town serving as canvases for a wide range of artwork.

128 Sweetheart of the Cup by Cynthia Grisolia Long after her racing career, Zenyatta remains immensely popular in her retirement at Lane’s End Farm.

146 Kentucky Crafted

ON OUR COVER Down at the Start Oil, guache, pencil on canvas, 13” x 11” by Katie O’Sullivan (Irish, b. 1959) Katie O’Sullivan’s immersion in the equestrian and sporting worlds began at a young age. Growing up in rural Ireland, O’Sullivan was surrounded by animals and was devoted to horses and riding. With her artistic talent evident, she attended Chelsea School of Art, receiving the highly acclaimed Biddulph Painting Scholarship.

14 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

After the runaway success of her first London exhibition in 1981, O’Sullivan returned to Ireland and successfully painted and exhibited for 11 years. Today, she lives and works in Lambourn, in the heart of English racing country, with her four children and her husband, racehorse trainer and former top jump jockey, Jamie Osborne. O’Sullivan has worked on numerous prestigious commissions and has an extensive list of international, public, and private collectors. She is the 2026 Breeders’ Cup artist.

by Jarrett Van Meter With goods ranging from halters worn by future Kentucky Derby winners to luggage tags and belts, Quillin Leather in Paris is the country’s largest custom leather shop.

164 Winning Concept by Rob Bolson Successful culinary partners bring foodcraft and hospitality to Black Squirrel in Versailles.

CRESTWOOD FARM Family operated for over fifty-five years

The McLean family has owned and operated their full service, 1,000 acre Crestwood Farm since 1970.

Since then, Crestwood has bred and/or raised multiple Hall-of-Fame inductees, Champions and 310+ stakes horses.

2026 STALLION ROSTER CARACARO

IL MIRACOLO Gun Runner – Tapit’s World

Awesome Again – La Gran Bailadora

Pioneerofthe Nile – Stage Magic

TDN Rising Star – G1 3YO 2025 Sales: $250K, $200K, $160K...

Millionaire by GUN RUNNER out of a TAPIT mare

2YO Stakes Winner Belmont G1W Millionaire

SW Half–Brother to JUSTIFY By PIONEEROF THE NILE

Uncle Mo – Peace Time

SIR WINSTON

STAGE RAIDER

Pope McLean | 1946 North Yarnallton Pike | Lexington, KY 40511 | 859.252.3770 | www.crestwoodfarm.com

CONTENTS FALL 2026

36 D E PA R T M E N T S 20 PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE 22 CONTRIBUTORS 26 NEWS / 30 CONNECTIONS

36 SPOTLIGHT ON Cherie DeVaux, the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakeswinning trainer, puts the horse first. by Amy Gregory

16 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

182 MAKING

A DIFFERENCE The Retired Racehorse Project showcases the versatility of Thoroughbreds beyond racing. by Liane Crossley

NEVER STOP ARRIVING

2026 ESCALADE VISIT

QUANTRELL

CADILLAC

WWW.QUANTRELLCADILLAC.COM

©2026 General Motors. All Rights Reserved. Cadillac® Escalade®

T O D AY

K EENELAND celebrating bluegrass traditions

The offi cial magazine of Keeneland Association, Inc. published by Blood-Horse LLC 821 Corporate Dr., Lexington, KY 40503 (859) 278-2361/FAX (859) 276-4450 KeenelandMagazine.com BloodHorse.com

Editor: Jacqueline Duke Artists: Catherine Nichols (Art Director), Philip Truman Copy Editor: Judy Marchman Visuals Director: Anne M. Eberhardt Creative Services: Jennifer Singleton (Director), Forrest Begley Account Executive: Katherine White Sales Support: Catherine Johnston CORPORATE OPERATIONS Circulation Accounting Manager: Lauren Glover General Manager: Scott Carling PUBLISHED BY Blood-Horse LLC BOARD OF DIRECTORS Everett Dobson, James L. Gagliano, Carl Hamilton, Ian D. Highet, Brant Laue, Dan Metzger, David O’Farrell

KEENELAND ASSOCIATION, INC. 4201Versailles 4201 Versailles Road P.O. Box 1690 Lexington, Kentucky, U.S.A. 40588-1690 Tel: (859) 254-3412 (800) 456-3412 Keeneland.com © 2026 Keeneland Association, Inc.

To order Keeneland magazine and additional copies, call 1-800-582-5604 TO SUBSCRIBE OR TO SEND A GIFT SUBSCRIPTION to Keeneland magazine, visit BloodHorse.com/KeenelandOffer

18 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

CENTRAL KENTUCKYS FINEST FARMS Hill & Regan Parker (859)608-8039

www.LexHorseFarms.com 2600 Paynes Mill Road, Versailles, KY

$2,450,000

Spectacular location and setting! Located just behind Keeneland. This wonderfully, rich soiled farm is a prime palate to develop a world class horse farm. Across the street from Windstar and next to Brittany and Ashbrook. This farm is an original land grant to the family, circa 1783. The main house, a brick home, was completely renovated and beautifully cared for. Surrounded by stately trees. The guest house, circa 1920, is as charming as they come. The 38 acres of land is mostly level to very gently rolling. Seller would consider dividing.

3600 Briar Hill Rd, Lexington, KY If you're looking for space to relax, entertain, pursue your hobbies, or keep horses & other animals, this exceptional 10-acre property offers endless possibilities. The versatile shed-row barn is ideal for horses, a workshop, hobby space, storage, or the perfect "she shed." Completely remodeled by Creative Kitchen & Bath, the home showcases beautiful hardwood floors, custom moldings, new kitchens on both levels, updated bathrooms, new windows & doors, central vacuum, a security system, a home theater,& custom walk-in closets throughout. The walkout lower level features a private entrance, making it ideal for a guest suite, in-law quarters, private apartment, or multi-generational living. Offered fully furnished and priced $540,000 below its recent appraisal, this remarkable property presents an exceptional value. Located just minutes from Hamburg & directly across from Hisle Farm Park, you'll enjoy immediate access to more than 280 acres of scenic trails for horseback riding, hiking, and outdoor recreation—all while being just minutes from Lexington.

$1,650,000

595 Moores Mill Rd, Midway, KY

$3,950,000

This expansive, private country farm property covers, 35.8 acres, divided into 4 pastures. Property is well-suited for equestrian activities & rural living. Prime, secluded location, immediately adjacent to world-class thoroughbred foaling/boarding/breaking/training facility, Margaux Farm. Spectacular remodel done by Crawford Builders, features gourmet kitchen, with high-end appliances, open to the great room with 18 ft ceilings. The primary suite is impeccable, including his & hers closets, fabulous bathroom, private sitting area, & exercise room. The home also features another first floor en-suite bedroom. Two bedrooms upstairs are also en-suite, private Office, Butler's pantry, laundry room, covered porch, entertainment room & full bar w/game room. There are 15 deluxe stalls, 2 barns, hay storage, manager's house, run-in sheds, and gated & treelined driveway.

2900 Winchester Rd, Paris, KY

255 Shryocks Ferry Rd, Versailles, KY Turn-key horse farm offering exceptional equestrian amenities & beautifully situated home in an outstanding location. The property features 7, 4-board fenced paddocks, automatic waterers, 3 run-in sheds, & equipment barn. The impressive 12-stall barn includes, wash rack, loft storage, & heated tack room designed for year-round convenience. The charming residence has a renovated kitchen, insulated windows, hardwood floors, & includes an attached apartment ideal for guests or potential rental income. Additional highlights include a private electronic iron gate entrance, an inground pool. The perfect blend of comfort, functionality, & country elegance!

$1,650,000

$2,300,000

This established boarding & training farm for sport horses offers steady monthly income in a prime location w/easy access to Lexington, Paris, & Winchester. Featuring road frontage on two sides, the 78+ acre property offers division potential & includes 36 stalls in 3 barns, a 78' x 170' indoor arena, an 80' x 200' outdoor arena, equipment & hay storage buildings, run-in sheds, four-board fencing, creek frontage, wooded riding trails, productive soils, & newer 3BR/2BA modular home. Surrounded by premier equine neighbors, including Stone Farm, the property offers exceptional building sites with beautiful views and is located on the Bluegrass Equine Driving Tour.

PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE FALL 2026

Making Every Word Count Have you ever met someone who uses too

global Thoroughbred marketplace.

many words? And you wonder why they feel the

We work hard to earn and retain

need to use so many words to express them-

your confidence. The remarkable

selves? We’ve come up with a term for that

horses that pass through our sales

around here: word salad.

ring and compete on our racetrack

When someone serves us a word salad, we

reinforce Keeneland’s unique role

often wonder what the AI version would be. I

at the intersection of commerce,

believe Winston Churchill had it right: “A vocabu-

sport, and stewardship as well as

lary of truth and simplicity will be of great service

our aspiration to offer unparalleled

throughout your life.” Recently, I was handed a

hospitality.

lengthy report that called to mind another favor-

We have been communicating

SHANNON ARVIN President and CEO

ite Churchill-ism: “This report, by its very length,

more than ever about exciting

defends itself from the risk of being read.” My

upcoming events starting with the September yearling

advice: Get to the point succinctly and directly.

sale, which cataloged 4,635 horses that share a Jan. 1, 2026,

There are many I know in business, industry,

birthday; followed by the 17-day fall race meet, with 22

and my personal world who do this exquisitely.

stakes races worth $10.7 million; the third Championship

My dad was one of the best I’ve ever known at

Sale two days before the Breeders’ Cup World Champion-

this. He was not one who had to speak at every

ships, which then will be hosted at Keeneland Oct. 30-31;

opportunity, and he never spoke just to hear him-

the November breeding stock sale, where we will sell many

self talk. But when he did speak, it was truthful,

horses that have competed on our racetrack; the November

authentic, succinct, and people listened.

horses of racing age sale of promising racehorses; and final-

Our Keeneland team works hard to engage you and our fans through truth and authenticity. We work hard to communicate earnestly through our

ly the closing act to our long and exciting fall: the Sporting Art Auction on Nov. 12. In a world overflowing with information, the most effec-

conversations with you, through social media,

tive communicators aren’t those who speak the longest;

articles, and through your experience here,

they’re the ones who make every word count. By the time

where we showcase world-class competition at

November ends, we at Keeneland will have worked to make

our races while celebrating traditions that make

every word count to engage and connect with all of you this

Keeneland a destination unlike any other.

fall. I believe one of the greatest acts of leadership is clarity.

We also work hard to communicate and prove

When we communicate with precision, we respect people’s

anew each year that our auctions are a true

time, sharpen our thinking, and increase the likelihood that

reflection of the confidence that owners, breeders,

our message will be remembered long after this fall ends.

consignors, and buyers place in Keeneland as the

20 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

Cheers to blue skies ahead. KM

BE OUR GUEST STALLION COMPLEX TOURS | SHUTTLE TOURS

Join us for our Special Events, including Mahjong and Private Experiences! March - November Available through visithorsecountry.com Book your Experience today!

lanesend.com | t: 859.873.7300

CONTRIBUTORS FALL 2026

ROB BOLSON (Winning Concept) is a freelance writer residing in Lexington, who regularly writes about food and culture. He has spent the past three decades writing about people, places, and products. Follow him on Instagram at @robbiebolson.

First) retired in 2025 as the longtime director of communications at Keeneland. She began her career in racing as a feature writer for The Thoroughbred Record and has held media relations positions with Breeders’ Cup and Churchill Downs.

LIANE CROSSLEY

CYNTHIA GRISOLIA

(All-Around Athletes) has spent her career in Thoroughbred racing-related jobs in barns, press boxes, and offices. A seasonal member of Keeneland’s media team, she has had her work appear in BloodHorse, Daily Racing Form,Thoroughbred Daily News,ThoroughbredTimes, and other publications.

AMY GREGORY (Putting the Horse

(Sweetheart of the Cup) is originally from NewYork, but now lives in Versailles, Kentucky, where she works as a freelance editor and journalist. Her articles have appeared in Keeneland, BloodHorse, Kentucky Monthly, Equestrian Quarterly, and others.

KEVIN NANCE (Painting the Town) is a journalist, photographer,

22 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

and poet in Lexington. His journalism has appeared in many newspapers and magazines, including the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, and Poets & Writers magazine. He’s also the author of three poetry collections, most recently “Smoke.”

AMY OWENS (Keeneland News/ Connections) is Keeneland Communications Associate.

TOM PEDULLA (Star Shines Bright) wrote for USAToday from 1995 until 2012 and has contributed to the NewYorkTimes, the Los AngelesTimes, America’s Best Racing, and BloodHorse among other outlets. He co-wrote Hall of Fame jockey

Jerry Bailey’s critically acclaimed autobiography “Against the Odds: Riding for My Life.”

LENNY SHULMAN (Cup Runneth Over) is a senior correspondent for BloodHorse and the author of “Head to Head: Conversations with a Generation of Horse Racing Legends,” “Justify: 111 Days to Triple Crown Glory,” and “Ride of Their Lives:TheTriumphs andTurmoil ofToday’sTop Jockeys.”

JARRETT VAN METER (Kentucky Crafted) grew up in Lexington and lives in Paris, Kentucky. His writing has appeared in such publications as Garden & Gun,Texas Monthly, Oxford American, and Bitter Southerner.

WHERE WILL YOU BE WHEN HISTORY IS MADE? tric a finish. Don’t miss y W ay

or you to

our spot at K

L E X I N G TO N , K Y

O CT

1

GET YOUR TICKETS NOW! ts

KEENELAND NEWS COMPILED BY AMY OWENS

ANNE M. EBERHARDT

FALL 2026

The $1.25 million Coolmore Turf Mile is the season’s richest race and a centerpiece of Fall Stars Weekend.

KEENELAND TURNS 90 DURING LUCRATIVE FALL MEET

B

efore Keeneland hosts the Breeders’ Cup World Championships for the fourth time, the track will celebrate its 90th birthday with a 17-day fall meet Oct. 2-24, featuring 22 stakes worth $10.7 million. The track, which was developed on property owned by John Oliver “Jack” Keene, opened Oct. 15, 1936, for nine days of racing that drew tremendous fanfare from Lexington and beyond. Today, Keeneland is an international leader in Thoroughbred racing and sales. “This is a special year for Keeneland,” said Keeneland Vice President of Racing Gatewood Bell. “Celebrating our 90th anniversary gives us an opportunity to reflect on the rich history of this place while also looking ahead to hosting the

26 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

Breeders’ Cup World Championships for the fourth time. With Fall Stars Weekend and a strong stakes schedule throughout the meet, fans can expect to see some of the best racing anywhere in the sport.” During the fall meet, 12 stakes will be run on the turf and 10 will be on the dirt. The Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund is contributing more than $2.5 million to the purses, pending approval from the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation. The fall meet will begin with the signature three-day Fall Stars Weekend, featuring 11 stakes worth $6.35 million. Eight of those races are Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” Challenge Series events that award the winners automatic starting positions and free entry to the Oct. 30-31

World Championships at Keeneland. On Saturday, Oct. 3, Keeneland will hold the richest event of the season, the $1.25 million Coolmore Turf Mile (G1). The winner will earn a berth to the $2 million FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1). Another highlight of the fall meet is the 44th running of the $750,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1) Presented by Dixiana on Saturday, Oct. 10. The internationally recognized invitational features 3-year-old fillies racing 11⁄8 miles on the turf. Among the popular special events during the season are College Scholarship Day Presented by Lane’s End, Make-AWish Day, and Sunrise Trackside. Visit Keeneland.com for more information.

“WE ARE, AND WILL REMAIN, THE BREEDERS’ FARM.” Eric Gustavson

KEENELAND NEWS

KEENELAND LIBRARY RECEIVES PRESTIGIOUS AWARD

KEENELAND PHOTO

K

Keeneland Library Director Roda Ferraro (center) accepts the Thomas D. Clark Award from Scott Alvey and Sheila Mason of the Kentucky Historical Society.

eeneland Library has received the prestigious Thomas D. Clark Award of Excellence from the Kentucky Historical Society to recognize outstanding achievement in preserving, sharing, and promoting Kentucky’s rich heritage. An agency of the Kentucky Tourism, Arts and Heritage Cabinet, the Kentucky Historical Society is an affiliate of the Smithsonian, has full accreditation from the American Alliance of Museums, and is a founding member of the History Relevance Campaign. The award, which is granted to one standout Kentucky entity each year, is significant in the world of history, research, education, and

AHP HONORS KEENELAND MAGAZINE

HORSE RACING LEAGUE TO LAUNCH IN 2027

28 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

Keeneland magazine received two BRINK & BACK first-place honors from American Horse Publications at the 2026 AHP Equine Media Awards held May 16 during the AHP Equine Media Conference in Lexington. baby First place in the catsteps egory of self-supported publication equine media personality profile single article (print or online) went to “To the Brink and Back,” by Lenny Shulman about noted horseman Arthur B. Hancock III. The article appeared in the winter 2025 issue. First place in the category of self-supported publication equine media editorial design (print or electronic publication) went to “Baby Steps,” featuring images of Mathea Kelley and Amy Lanigan with Catherine Nichols, art director, and Jacqueline Duke, editor. The photo essay appears in the summer 2025 issue. TO THE

Stone Farm owner ARTHUR HANCOCK chronicles his turbulent, adventuresome early years and his road to redemption in the compelling memoir “Dark Horses”

2027 will feature three race days, the first in February at Santa Anita, the second in March at Gulfstream Park, and the third April 18 at Keeneland. Participating teams are BVP Racing (Gary Barber, Vinnie Viola, and Chris Pulcillo), Godolphin, and WinStar Farm. “Since Keeneland’s founding, we have continually looked for ways to showcase the very best of Thoroughbred racing while introducing new fans to the sport,” Keeneland President and CEO Shannon Arvin said. “As the industry evolves, it is important that we continue to explore opportunities that support both objectives.” For more information, visit thehrl.com.

By Lenny Shulman / Photos by Pat McDonogh

Arthur Hancock’s early love of music did not win him paternal approval, but his passion for singing and songwriting has endured.

46 WINTER 2025 K KEENELAND.COM

A Justify—Dawn of Hope filly peeks shyly over her dam.

90 SUMMER 2025 K KEENELAND.COM

KEENELAND.COM

AMY LANIGAN

Greg Maffei, who was a prominent figure behind Formula 1 auto racing’s rise in popularity, and Danny Epstien, founder of the incubation and investment firm Skylark, on July 9 announced a new venture called the Horse Racing League with a key component scheduled for Keeneland’s 2027 spring meet. Inspired by Formula 1, the HRL is a team-based horse racing series designed to create an engaging experience for fans. Teams, led by prominent owners, trainers, and jockeys, will compete across a series of events designed to create compelling storylines and new opportunities for fan engagement. The format is intended to make it easy for fans to follow teams and competitors throughout the season. The HRL’s inaugural season in

cultural heritage stewardship. “This award is a tremendous honor,” Keeneland Library Director Roda Ferraro said, “and affirmation of an impactful year of record-setting excellence across Keeneland Library’s research services and education and outreach initiatives, which — in collaboration with 70 community organizations and 62 horse industry organizations — freely reached nearly 200,000 industry stakeholders, researchers, members of the media, and community learners from every state and 39 countries.” On June 6, Ferraro received the Clark award on behalf of Keeneland Library to kick off Kentucky History Day, a celebration of the state’s role in America’s 250th anniversary.

IN CENTRAL KENTUCKY PASTURES, THOROUGHBRED RACING’S FUTURE STARS TAKE THEIR FIRST STEPS TOWARD THE STARTING GATE

K WINTER 2025 47

Aaron Jones

Killora Stud

Albaugh Family Stables

Lakland Farm

Alfred A. Pais

Linda Juckette

Ann Mudge Backer

Maggie Gieseke

Arika Everatt-Meeuse

Mallory Mort

Ashview Farm

MAMAS Thoroughbreds

Axle Ahlschwede

Marc Keller

Barry S. Golden

Marie Jones

Bellary Bay Bloodstock

Martin Wygod

BG Stables

Mike Pietrangelo

Breed First

Miklin Stables

Brian Kahn Clarkland Farm Colts Neck Stables Crosshaven Bloodstock CWC Investments 2 Dermot Joyce Don Alberto Corporation Donamire Farm Dr. Carolin Von Rosenberg DVM

Dr. Rodney Orr Five Fillies France Weiner Frankfort Park Farm Gabriel Duignan Hidden Lake Farm

Mitch Haynes Nancy Shuford Newell Thoroughbreds Nimet Arif Kurtel Pam Wygod Patrick H. Payne Pollock Farms Ramspring Farm Ron Stolich RPM Thoroughbreds Runnymede Farm Sequel Stallions New York Shadow Pond Stable Silverton Hill

Hunt-Steeple-Hill

Skyfall Thoroughbreds

International Equities Holding, Inc.

Springhouse Farm

Irwin Weiner

Stephen Crestani Jr.

J Stables James Everatt

Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings

James W. Terdik

Summer Wind Equine

Janeane Everatt

Taylor Brothers Properties

Jesse Korona

The Elkstone Group

Joel Politi

Three Chimneys Farm

John C. Oxley

Warrior’s Reward LLC

John Liviakis

Westwind Farms

John R. Penn

William B. Harrigan

Juddmonte

Wind Hill Farm

Karen Mort

Wolverton Mountain Farm

KatieRich Farms

Woods Edge Farm

Khalid Mishref Alkahtani

Zimmer Ridge Ranch

Smitten Farm

CONN E C T I O N S

Napoleon Solo

Magnitude

COGLIANESE PHOTO

Counting Stars

COGLIANESE PHOTO

BILL DENVER/EQUI-PHOTO

Always a Runner

COADY MEDIA/STEPHEN IBANEZ

Recent grade 1 winners sold at the Keeneland September yearling sale include Kentucky Oaks winner Always a Runner, Acorn and Coaching Club American Oaks winner Counting Stars, Woody Stephens winner Englishman, Dubai World Cup and Stephen Foster Stakes winner Magnitude, and Preakness winner Napoleon Solo.

CHRISTINE HAYDEN

SOLD IN SEPTEMBER

Englishman

Bacio

Nola Soul (middle)

EDWARD WHITAKER/RACING POST

COADY MEDIA/CADY COULARDOT

ROYAL WINNERS At Royal Ascot in England, Keeneland sales graduate Nola Soul won the June 18 Chesham Stakes the day before Keeneland-based Bacio took the Palace of Holyroodhouse Stakes. Wesley Ward, who trains Bacio, has 13 Royal Ascot wins.

MOTOR CITY

30 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

BILL COOMER PHOTO

The 23rd Keeneland Concours d’Elegance on July 18 welcomed fans of another brand of horsepower: collector vehicles ranging from antiques to future classics. The event raised funds for the Kentucky Children’s Hospital (now Golisano Children’s at UK).

Breed Shaper 14 Grade 1 Winners and 20 Millionaires

Inquiries to Rebecca Nicholson 859.873.7053 • www.threechimneys.com LGB, LLC 2026 / Photo: EquiSport

The World Watches as

FUTURES ARE FOUND. HISTORY IS WRITTEN. CHAMPIONS ARE CROWNED. AND LEGACIES ARE CEMENTED.

Keeneland Fall 2026 September Yearling Sale | Sept. 14–26 The Keeneland Fall Meet | Oct. 2-24 Championship Sale at the Breeders’ Cup | Oct. 28

Breeders’ Cup World Championships | Oct. 30-31 November Breeding Stock Sale | Begins Nov. 3 November Horses of Racing Age Sale | Nov. 11

Be here for every moment.

Good MaGic - The classic sire In the history of the American Turf, only three stallions have sired a Classic Winner in each of their f irst two crops. Man o’ War Gallant Fox Good Magic

SIRE OF FIVE SONS AT STUD IN HIS FIRST TWO CROPS 2YO G1 Stakes Winner

Blazing Sevens

LGB, LLC 2026 / Photos: Adam Coglianese / Mathea Kelley

Classic Winner

Mage

Classic Winner

Dornoch

G1 Stakes Winner

Mixto

2YO & 3YO G1SW

Muth

www.hillndalefarms.com

111 Clay Ave. Lexington, KY 40502 | 859.252.2004 carlmeyers.com | carllmeyers@gmail.com

SPOTLIGHT ON CHERIE DeVAUX

Putting the Horse First CHERIE D e VAUX’S APPROACH TO TRAINING PAYS OFF WITH KENTUCKY DERBY AND BELMONT STAKES VICTORIES By Amy Gregory / Photos by Anne M. Eberhardt

Cherie DeVaux oversees her racing operation from her Keeneland home base.

36 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 37

SKIP DICKSTEIN

W

Cherie DeVaux’s patient approach with Golden Tempo paid off when the Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable colt won the Kentucky Derby in a dramatic last-to-first surge. DeVaux and co-owner Daisy Phipps Pulito (center) embrace after the victory. The trainer greets winning jockey Jose Ortiz after the race.

WHEN GOLDEN TEMPO rallied from last to first to capture the Kentucky Derby on May 2 and then won the Belmont five weeks later, trainer Cherie DeVaux became the first female trainer to win the Derby, the second to capture the Belmont, and the first to win two Thoroughbred classics. Rare air indeed for the colt and DeVaux, who with the victories not only wrote their names into racing lore but catapulted themselves into the national lexicon.

38 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

Fans of racing and beyond have embraced DeVaux and Golden Tempo with a fervency not often enjoyed by the sport. For her part, DeVaux has more than met the moment, fielding an avalanche of requests for photos, interviews, appearances, and well-wishes with unfailing patience and grace. With the national spotlight also have come accolades and oncein-a-lifetime experiences for DeVaux: She (along with winning jockey Jose Ortiz) threw out the ceremonial first pitch at Yankee Stadium; has appeared on the “Today” show; collaborated with Woodford Reserve on a bourbon initiative to benefit her passion, Thoroughbred aftercare; was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated and ranked among Time magazine’s inaugural “100 Most Influential People in Sports” list; and became a 2026 inductee into the National Cowgirl Hall of Fame. “It’s definitely been a whirlwind,” DeVaux said on a recent morning at her barn at Keeneland. “The past few months have been incredibly busy, but they’ve also been filled with experiences I never imagined I’d have.” There are so many feel-good aspects to this story that it’s easy to see why Golden Tempo and DeVaux have created such an emotional connection with the public. The colt’s electrifying, come-frombehind stretch runs amplified by DeVaux unabashedly cheering her colt home. The shared charisma of team Golden Tempo and

SKIP DICKSTEIN

ALEX EVERS

“

the pure joy as they celebrate their achievethe last 10 years with aftercare programs, with ments. Then there’s the subtle swagger of oversight, with safety, with medication rules. DeVaux. She is a woman achieving success The industry itself has done this. I just get to at the highest level of her chosen sport, on be the messenger,” DeVaux said. “I always said MORE THAN her own terms, and with unflinching authenI try to keep my integrity. That’s my number ANYTHING, I’M ticity, recently prompting one fan on social one as far as character is my integrity with how media to praise her as a “bad ass.” I run my barn, how I take care of my horses. PROUD THIS HAS “More than anything, I’m proud that this And to be able to be a positive voice in what BEEN A POSITIVE has been a positive moment for our sport,” we’re doing, I do hold that in high regard.” DeVaux said. “Racing has faced a great deal MOMENT FOR of scrutiny over the past several years, and PUTTING THE HORSE FIRST OUR SPORT.” it feels like the story of Golden Tempo and DeVaux’s career trajectory has been likmy journey as a female trainer has resonated ened to a “rocket ship,” as she has achieved — CHERIE DeVAUX with so many people, both inside and outside historic milestones less than a decade after of racing. If we’ve been able to bring new fans taking out her trainer’s license. Her stable has into the sport and give people something uplifting to rally around, amassed more than 300 wins and over $38 million in earnings to that’s something I’ll always be proud of.” date, boosted by such stars as 2025 champion turf female She Feels More importantly, DeVaux has become one of racing’s most Pretty; Breeders’ Cup Mile winner More Than Looks; and grade 1 articulate and influential voices, one that has the attention and winners Vahva and Englishman as well as dual classic winner respect of non-racing audiences, particularly young women. As a Golden Tempo. student of racing history, she appreciates her place now within that Keeneland is home base for DeVaux’s year-round training opcontext and readily accepts her responsibility in this new role. eration, and she described the track in an article in the Lexington “[Racing] has gone in such a positive direction, especially in Herald Leader as “an integral part of my career and our business.”

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 39

SPOTLIGHT ON CHERIE DeVAUX

DeVaux, with groom Jose Hernandez, gives Golden Tempo a kiss outside her Rice Road stables. Right, the Derby-winning trainer meets the media at Keeneland.

SKIP DICKSTEIN

Below, Golden Tempo proves his Derby victory is no fluke with a dominating performance in the Belmont Stakes.

40 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

DeVaux and husband David Ingordo, a prominent bloodstock agent (see sidebar), are fixtures at the track’s annual spring and fall race meets and globally important Thoroughbred sales. “Keeneland has some of the best facilities, and we’re right in the middle of horse country,” she said. “Keeneland and their team have always been super supportive and receptive if there’s something to talk about, say, the track condition, an issue of safety, or how something is done. They’re here for the horses. They want to grow the sport. They want to be an advocate for horse racing. It’s special to be in a place like that.” Her training philosophy stresses quality over quantity, and she prefers to keep stable numbers around 120 horses. Selectivity allows DeVaux to remain hands-on in the development and care of her horses. “One of the best things I ever did was in the beginning, I wrote down my core values, and at the forefront of those is the horse comes first,” DeVaux said. “Our goal is to develop each horse to their full potential and give them time to do that. We treat every horse as an individual. We try to keep our finger on the pulse of every little nuance so that something small doesn’t turn into something big. Their safety comes first.” Those aren’t just words but values embodied by DeVaux’s team and shared by her clients. “It’s not for everybody, but that’s OK,” she said. “We’ll give [the horse] all the time in the world from 2 to 3, and then sometimes we have to have other conversations. Do we want to give the horse more time or do we want to try to breed or rehome them? But we give them the time to get there in a responsible, fiscal way.” Putting the horse first, in this case to allow ample time for Golden Tempo to recover after the Derby before his next race, compelled DeVaux and the colt’s breeders and owners, Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable, to skip the Preakness and focus on the Belmont rather than pursue the Triple Crown. Daisy Phipps Pulito, the racing manager for Phipps Stable, described it as “a joy to work with Cherie. She is a very hard worker. She is kind, compassionate, and caring to all animals, and I think she has that ‘thing’ that lets her have a really good feel and read on her horses.” Pulito cited DeVaux’s smaller stable and her “comfort with getting to know each horse and develop them the right way” as the keys to her success.

the Power of Conformation

Repeat Winner of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1) - $3,775,711

Look for outstanding first crop yearlings at the upcoming sales.

Contact: Aaron West (501) 766-5906 | awest@juddmonte.com

www.juddmonte.com

Curlin - Broadway’s Alibi Two Time Champion Sprinter LGB, LLC 2026 / Photo: Eclipse

SPOTLIGHT ON CHERIE DeVAUX

I’m so lucky and thankful that I get to be around him.” In June Golden Tempo’s connections announced that he will stand at the Farish family’s Lane’s End Farm near Midway, Kentucky, at the conclusion of his racing career.

GROUNDWORK FOR SUCCESS DeVaux, 44, is a lifelong horsewoman who developed the fundamentals along with mental toughness and a strong work ethic while working as a young girl with her family’s Standardbred racing operation. Born in Saratoga Springs, New York, DeVaux is a thirdgeneration horseperson. Her parents met when her father, Adrian “Butch” DeVaux, who trained Standardbreds for 47 years, began working for her maternal grandfather, also a Standardbred trainer, early in his career. Horses are still the family business. DeVaux’s older brother, Jimmy, has won 8,000 races as a harness driver/trainer. Her younger sister, Adrianne, worked for Cherie for four years before taking out her own Thoroughbred training license in September 2024. The morning after the Belmont, DeVaux greets her champion and, below right, takes questions from the press.

“When St. Elias and I were discussing different trainers to send our colts to, we thought that Golden Tempo would be a good fit for Cherie because he was a later-developing colt,” she explained. “When he shipped into her barn at Keeneland at the end of October 2025, he still had a lot of baby fat on him. He just needed someone who was going to be patient and take their time with him. “His first race was six furlongs at the Fair Grounds and he won that and then the Lecomte,” Pulito continued. “When he finished third in the Risen Star and Louisiana Derby, [Cherie] never got discouraged because she treated them as prep races for the big day like they should be treated. “That whole time she and her team were around him daily and could see that mentally and physically he was maturing and doing all the right things,” she said. “I think when he shipped back to Keeneland after the Louisiana Derby is where the magic started to happen. I have been around a lot of good horses, but I have never been around a horse that blossomed the way he did in the six weeks leading up to the Derby and continued into the Belmont.

42 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

SPOTLIGHT ON CHERIE DeVAUX

DeVaux moved with her famiwhen she stepped on a nail while ly from Saratoga to Monticello, in walking back to the barn following the Catskill Mountains, and then her win in the Belmont Oaks Invito southwest Florida. She said that’s tational. DeVaux is widely credited where she grew up, becoming inwith nursing the difficult filly back to volved in rodeos and barrel racing. health and an Eclipse Award-winning She followed her family when campaign following a 13-month laythey moved back to Saratoga and off from racing. initially studied premed in college. “She was very tough, very temperBut when she interviewed for a amental about who was around her,” job with trainer Chuck Simon at DeVaux remembered. “Chad wanted Saratoga Race Course, she recalled to keep her in the barn. The clinic was thinking, “I can make this my life. right across the street. I literally sat on Now, I didn’t really think I was a bucket for three days inside her stall going to be a trainer. I wanted to be with her. I watched her go from critan exercise rider. But then I broke ical to OK to making her comeback. my leg, badly. And Chuck put me DeVaux signs limited edition bottles of Woodford Reserve It was super special, and I got to have bourbon, with proceeds from their sale benefiting the in a management role. a bond with her at the time that not “He took me under his wing and Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance. many did.” he really mentored me to be where I DeVaux said her experience with am now,” added DeVaux, who spent Lady Eli taught her important lessons six years as an assistant to Simon. “He that shape her training philosophy gave me purpose and direction and today. guidance, like a big brother, really. I “You’ve got to give them time,” she was kind of at a crossroads in life.” said. “We had to put her in the posiSadly, Simon didn’t live to celetion, through medical care, through brate DeVaux’s history-making Dertraining. But she’s the one that took by win, having passed away from herself there. We had the best team. cancer in September 2024. DeVaux Nobody panicked. You just take it poignantly remembered his impact step by step.” on the course of her career by leaving a rose at Simon’s former barn at READY TO GO SOLO Churchill Downs on Derby Day. Not long after Lady Eli’s return to DeVaux joined Chad Brown’s stathe races, DeVaux said she began to ble in 2010 for what was supposed Daisy Phipps Pulito, with husband David, thought think about what the next chapter to be a summer job before she went DeVaux would be the right trainer for the late-developing of her life would look like. back to school. Instead, she spent Golden Tempo. “I immersed myself in that job eight years as his assistant. [with Brown], and that’s why at the “I made the choice that that was going to be my last assistant end I wasn’t sure what I was going to do,” DeVaux said. “David trainer job,” DeVaux said. “I wasn’t going to be a career assistant and I were casually dating, and he was not going to idly sit by trainer. Chad had won a Breeders’ Cup and he was on the upswing and not push me to at least try to train. Not that I didn’t think I in his career. I thought, ‘I’m just going to put my life’s work into this could be successful at training horses, but this is a business. It’s the and I’m going to learn.’ ” business of training. We talked about that and he acknowledged he Brown offered DeVaux the opportunity to work with a barn full of was there to help me.” elite equine talent, though possibly few as gifted and testing as Lady Their origin story is indicative of how DeVaux and Ingordo Eli. In July 2015, the superstar suffered a near-fatal case of laminitis complement each other in marriage and in business. Though

44 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

POWER COUPLE

D

avid Ingordo and Cherie

National Museum of Racing

DeVaux are racing’s

and Hall of Fame this year.

power couple. And while the

At 14, Ingordo began working

spotlight is currently focused

for Hall of Fame trainer Bobby

on DeVaux, Ingordo, also a

Frankel and rose through the

lifelong horseperson, enjoys

ranks to become one of the

his own prominence within

youngest assistant trainers in

racing as a respected blood-

the country at age 18.

stock agent.

After graduating from col-

Like DeVaux, Ingordo was

lege, he worked for Juddmonte

born into a racing family. His

Farms and Walmac Internation-

father, Jerry, managed such

al before establishing his own

Hall of Fame jockeys as Laffi t

bloodstock management and

Pincay Jr., Sandy Hawley, and

acquisition agency, Ingordo

Patrick Valenzuela. His mother,

Bloodstock LLC.

Dottie Ingordo-Shirreffs, is

Among the many out-

a respected racing manager.

standing horses Ingordo has

His stepfather, the late John

selected and purchased are the

Shirreffs, trained 2010 Horse

aforementioned Zenyatta and

of the Year Zenyatta and 2005

champions Accelerate, Stellar

Kentucky Derby winner Giaco-

Wind, Honor Code, Lady Eli,

mo and was inducted into the

and Uncle Mo.

Successful bloodstock agent David Ingordo has encouraged wife Cherie DeVaux in her training career.

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is knowing it doesn’t belong in a fruit salad.

Need attention? We provide complete equine, farm, and liability coverages.

NEUMAN EQUINE INSURANCE Alex Neuman | 859. 231. 0213 equineinsuranc e.com

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 45

SPOTLIGHT ON

DeVaux’s other top runners have included champion She Feels Pretty (left), winner of the 2024 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland, and 2024 Breeders’ Cup Mile winner More Than Looks.

both have high-octane careers within the same industry, she yourself three years. And it was like 2½ years when things started said they are learning to set boundaries around their personal to really take off,” DeVaux said. life. Family, which includes Ingordo’s daughter, Reagan, “is A catalyst was the formation of Belladonna Racing, a highly number one. What we do is second.” successful partnership launched in 2019 by Paul Manganaro, a “We need a partner in third-generation horse owner; life,” DeVaux said. “[David] Ingordo, who served as manager; knows when to push and and DeVaux as head trainer. Bellawhen to step back. He’s one donna comprised family, friends, of the top bloodstock agents. and associates who wanted to We did not stock my barn participate in racing at the highest with the greatest horses. I levels, and the partnership often had to earn this. We had to teamed with prominent estabevolve as a couple, but also as lished owners. One such collaboa business.” ration produced multimillionaire The wins did not come and grade 1 winner Vahva, who immediately when DeVaux finished second in the 2025 Breedopened her stable in 2018. It ers’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint and took a little more than a year sold for $3.1 million at Keeneto record her first victory, land’s November breeding stock with Traveling in a maiden sale three days later. claiming race at Gulfstream “[Belladonna] was a big stepin March 2019. pingstone that [David and I] could “When things were not do that together,” DeVaux said, going according to plan, our “that put me in a position to be plan in our heads, instead able to validate what I’m doing.” of panicking or adding to Beginning in 2021, significant DeVaux rewards Englishman with a kiss after his victory in the grade 1 Woody Stephens Stakes at Saratoga. it, [David] said, just give markers of success began to fall

46 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

MATHEA KELLEY

JAVIER MOLINA

CHERIE DeVAUX

“

WE’RE INCREDIBLY EXCITED TO HAVE THE BREEDERS’ CUP AT KEENELAND.” — CHERIE DeVAUX

into place. Gam’s Mission gave DeVaux her first graded stakes win with a victory in the Regret at Churchill, and stable earnings topped the million-dollar mark. DeVaux describes Keeneland as “an integral part of my career and our business.” In 2023, She Feels Pretty took the Natalma at Woodbine to secure DeVaux’s first grade 1 stakes win. rare for a horse to go out and run a race like her every single time. She Stable earnings exploded to $10.2 million in 2024, driven by was super fun to train, just so classy. A joy to be around.” wins with She Feels Pretty in the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge When the Breeders’ Cup World Championships return to KeeneCup at Keeneland and the American Oaks at Santa Anita; Vahva land this fall, DeVaux said she looks forward to being represented by a in the Derby City Distaff; and More Than Looks’ breakthrough powerful contingent of runners, chief among them 3-year-olds Goldvictory in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. en Tempo and Englishman. Englishman confirmed his status as one When More Than Looks of the nation’s top sprinters injured a tendon in a stall inciwith a track record-equaling, dent in March 2024, DeVaux’s 5¾-length win in the Woody expert management of the Stephens on Belmont Day. colt’s campaign that resulted “We’re incredibly excited in his Breeders’ Cup win garto have the Breeders’ Cup nered attention and hinted at at Keeneland,” DeVaux said. her skill as a horsewoman. “Lexington is our home, Last year, She Feels Pretty and there’s nothing quite became DeVaux’s first Eclipse like competing for a world Award winner after victories championship in your own in the E.P. Taylor, New York, backyard. Being able to leave and Modesty, concluding the home in the morning and season with a second in the head straight to the BreedBreeders’ Cup Filly and Mare ers’ Cup is a special feeling. Turf at Del Mar. Our goal is simple: to bring “She Feels Pretty was one a strong, competitive team that came in, and I won’t and give each horse the opsay there were low expectaportunity to perform at its tions, but she just changed so Before completing a recent work at Keeneland, Golden Tempo and work very best on racing’s biggest much,” DeVaux said. “It’s very rider Ameth Gonzalez stopped along the rail to greet fans. stage.” KM

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 47

Equine Law & Beyond Jones Walker LLP is a full service law firm and our equine law team offers strategic counsel to local, national, and international thoroughbred and sport horse clients.

Scan QR Code To Learn More About Our Equine Industry Practice

Sales. Syndications. Racing and USEF Regulatory Guidance. Litigation. Operations. Gaming. Laura D’Angelo Partner, Equine Law Industry Leader ldangelo@joneswalker.com

838 East High St | #304 Lexington, KY 40502-2107 859.552.7923

Zachary T. Montgomery Partner zmontgomery@joneswalker.com

201 St. Charles Ave | Suite 5100 New Orleans, LA 70170-5100 504.582.8000

ALABAMA | ARIZONA | DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA | FLORIDA | GEORGIA | ILLINOIS | KENTUCKY | LOUISIANA | MINNESOTA | MISSISSIPPI | NEW YORK | TEXAS Attorney Advertising. No representation is made that the quality of legal services to be performed is greater than the quality of legal services performed by other attorneys.

joneswalker.com

48 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

842 E High Street Lexington, KY 40502 (859) 646-5193

SOUTHERN HOSPITALITY

DOWNTOWN DINING

Creative, chef-driven menus, the freshest local ingredients, an award-winning wine program, and exceptional hospitality come together for an unmatched Lexington dining experience. Reservations now available on OpenTable • 859.266.9000 • www.coles735main.com

Street Cry, a foundation stallion for Godolphin’s American operation, is memorialized in bronze while a likeness of Affirmed (background) honors that stallion’s legacy during an earlier era at the Lexington farm.

52 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

Cup

Runneth Over GODOLPHIN, THE LEADING BREEDERS’ CUP OWNER AND BREEDER, GOES FROM STRENGTH TO STRENGTH By Lenny Shulman Photos by David Coyle

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 53

Cup

Runneth Over

The trophy cases leave no doubt that Godolphin has won nearly every major race in North America.

B EDWARD WHITAKER/RACING POST

Y ITS VERY NATURE, horse racing is cyclical. A racehorse reaches peak performance for a time, then regresses. Historically, a trainer like D. Wayne Lukas or Bob Baffert wins a brace of Triple Crown races for a couple of years, only to hit a dry patch. An owner with a deep stable of top runners one season struggles to win races the next.

Sheikh Mohammed of Dubai founded Godolphin and its worldwide operations.

54 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

All of which makes the run that Godolphin is experiencing even more impressive. The American division of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum’s global operation has taken down the last five Eclipse Awards as North America’s top Thoroughbred breeder and the past six (and eight overall) as the continent’s premier owner. This dual domination is unique in the Eclipse Award era (1971 to the present). It harkens back to the

halcyon days of Calumet Farm when that outfit dominated the American classic races with homebred runners Citation, Whirlaway, Pensive, and Ponder eight decades ago. The most recent highpoint of Godolphin’s current run came on a magical weekend in 2025 when homebreds Good Cheer and Sovereignty won the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby, respectively, on consecutive days. Godolphin also has dominated the Breeders’ Cup as leading owner and breeder in recent years, with earnings of $36,501,735, and $19,150,000, respectively. “Godolphin’s remarkable success at the Breeders’ Cup World Championships is a testament to their overall approach to international competition,” said Drew Fleming, president & CEO of Breeders’ Cup Limited. “Their global program sets the standard, and their achievements are a great credit to Sheikh Mohammed’s vision and to the efforts of the men and women who manage his farms, training centers, and racing stables.

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 55

Cup

Runneth Over “Fans throughout the decades have been thrilled by performances from top contenders under the royal blue. Equally significant is Godolphin’s sustaining commitment to the Breeders’ Cup program through stallion and foal nominations.”

EMPHASIS ON HOMEBREDS

Caption

Sheikh Mohammed acquired Jonabell Farm from the Bell family in 2001, making it the base for Godolphin’s U.S. stallions. An old water tower bridges past and present.

Godolphin’s achievements in North America, although substantial over the last 30 years, had until this decade lagged well behind its successes in England and at its home jurisdiction in Dubai. Although Sheikh Mohammed devoted hundreds of millions of dollars to sales purchases, the results on these shores did not match the significant outlay of resources. More recently, however, a change of philosophy and subsequent further tweaks have delivered to Godolphin the prominence it has long sought here. After decades of accumulating stock through the commercial market, the operation began relying more on breeding its own runners. In this, Godolphin is somewhat similar to the powerhouse breed-to-race outfits of the 20th century — Phipps, Vanderbilt, Whitney, King Ranch, Darby Dan, and Elmendorf. All raced their own produce to great effect. Godolphin is now enjoying the offshoots of female family branches it has nourished over generations. The list of Godolphin’s homebred grade 1 winners over the past half-dozen years is beyond impressive. Last year, besides the aforementioned Good Cheer and Sovereignty (who also took home 2025 Horse of the Year honors after additional victories in the Belmont Stakes and Travers), Notable Speech captured the Breeders’ Cup Mile and Woodbine Mile and international star Rebel’s Romance won the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic.

56 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

In 2024, Rebel’s Romance won the Breeders’ Cup Turf; Immersive took the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, Darley Alcibiades, and Spinaway; Highland Falls scored in the Jockey Club Gold Cup; Nations Pride in the Arlington Million; Measured Time in the Manhattan Stakes; East Avenue in the Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity; Master of The Seas in the Maker’s Mark Mile; and Cinderella’s Dream in the Belmont Oaks Invitational. These results are not flukes or attributable to just a temporary surge courtesy of one or two outstanding crops. Godolphin’s homebred horses have displayed excellence over time. Pretty Mischievous in 2023 annexed the Kentucky Oaks, Test Stakes, and Acorn; Cody’s Wish won the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile, Metropolitan Handicap, and Churchill Downs Stakes; Master of The Seas proved best in the Breeders’ Cup Mile and Woodbine Mile. Matareya, Mawj (in Keeneland’s Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup Stakes), and Wet Paint also won grade 1 events that year. In 2022, Godolphin homebreds won an unbelievable four Breeders’ Cup races: Rebel’s Romance in the Turf, Modern Games in the Mile, Cody’s Wish in the Dirt Mile, and Mischief Magic in the Juvenile Turf Sprint. In 2021, “only” three Breeders’ Cup events fell to Godolphin: the Turf (Yibir), Mile (Space Blues), and Juvenile Turf (Modern Games). Essential Quality, today a top stallion for the operation, won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in 2020.

Runneth Over

Homebred Good Cheer began a memorable weekend for Godolphin when she won the 2025 Kentucky Oaks.

LEXINGTON HERLAD-LEADER

Cup

58 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

The next day, Sovereignty gave Godolphin its first Derby winner.

COGLIANESE PHOTO

Sheikh Mohammed, the ruler of Dubai and prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, is a lifelong horse lover. He raced his first Thoroughbreds in the late 1970s in England and in the 1980s purchased farms in England and Ireland. He founded an equine operation in the UAE in 1992 and established a beachhead in Central Kentucky later that decade, buying Raceland, a 650-acre parcel in Bourbon County that had served as Claiborne Farm’s yearling division. In 2001, he purchased 800 acres near Blue Grass Airport that had been the Bell family’s Jonabell Farm. Godolphin’s U.S. stallion division, known as Darley America, is based at Jonabell. Following the death of his brother Sheikh Maktoum in 2006, Sheikh Mohammed assumed the operation of Gainsborough Farm in Woodford County. In 2008, Robert and Janice McNair, who owned the National Football League’s Houston Texans, sold their Stonerside Farm in Bourbon County to Sheikh Mohammed. Gainsborough and Stonerside today are home to the outfit’s broodmare band. Godolphin has further divisions in Australia, Ireland, and Japan. Godolphin’s notable early successes came from its European and Dubai divisions, courtesy of top performers such as Lammtarra, Daylami, Fantastic Light, Sulamani, Dubawi, and Dubai Millennium. Street Cry, a homebred, won grade 1 events in Dubai and the U.S., marking a significant shift toward domestic racing. Bernardini, a son of leading sire A.P. Indy, delivered to Godolphin its first American classic victory when he won the 2006 Preakness Stakes. He would go on to take the Travers Stakes and Jockey Club Gold Cup before being retired to stud at Darley. For years Godolphin bred an overwhelming percentage of its mares to its own stallions, and thus it has benefited in a grand manner because horses such as Bernardini, Medaglia d’Oro, and Street Sense have lodged themselves at or near the top of the broodmare sire list. Their daughters and granddaughters have not only risen to prominence on the racetrack, but also as producers whose progeny have excelled as runners. Bernardini, although having died in 2021 at age 18, today sits atop the broodmare sire list, while Medaglia d’Oro (now retired from stud duty) is 12th and Street Sense, 25th. Bernardini is not only the broodmare sire of Sovereignty, but also of this year’s Derby

LEXINGTON HERALD LEADER

BROODMARE POWER

Rebel’s Romance helped Godolphin achieve an outstanding 2025 when he won the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic among other races.

and Belmont Stakes victor Golden Tempo. Godolphin has, among its 125 American-based broodmares, a wealth of this top blood coursing through its ranks. The pipeline of prominent racehorses emerging from these families figures to continue to flow freely into the foreseeable future. However, genetics demanded that Godolphin look outside its own stallion ranks as well.

LATHAM COMPANIES LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY

Designed in-house, our pieces are thoughtfully developed to create high-quality gifts & clothing for children.

bisbykids.com

littleenglish.com

3marthas.com

124 VENTURE COURT, SUITE 1, LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY 40511 | AVAILABLE ONLINE & IN FINE BOUTIQUES NATIONWIDE

“About 10 or 11 years ago, we started diversifying how we bred our mares, breeding them to more outside stallions,” said Dan Pride, chief operating officer of Godolphin’s U.S. operation. “We tweaked our philosophy, and that really helped catapult the racing program — getting that outside blood, finding the best match physically and genetically for each mare. It takes four or five years until you get the results, from mating to racetrack, and around 2019 things really got rolling, and our model to race what we breed has really kicked in.” Also, many of the horses bought at auction by Godolphin were ticketed to race in Europe, with a more modest grouping kept here for training. As the influence of turf sires such as Kingmambo and Danzig waned domestically, many of Godolphin’s turf mares crossed the ocean, leaving more dirt-strong broodmares in the U.S. “The more dirt mares we maintained here, the more reason we had to keep more dirt horses in training in America,” noted Michael Banahan, Godolphin’s director of bloodstock in the U.S. “Also, when COVID hit, there was no movement of horses across the ocean, so we had more staying here in America. At that time, we were given more of a free hand as to what stallions to use for our mares. So, we had fewer mares going in-house to one or two particular stallions. They were more evenly divided

ANNE M. EBERHARDT

Runneth Over

Recent Breeders’ Cup winners include Immersive (right), who took the 2024 Juvenile Fillies, and Cody’s Wish (below), who won the Dirt Mile in 2022 and ’23.

SKIP DICKSTEIN

Cup

up and sent to the right stallions we needed to get classic American dirt horses. Several things came together to conspire in our favor, and we’ve reaped the rewards the past five or six years.”

TEAM APPROACH

The late Bernardini became Godolphin’s first U.S. classic winner when he captured the Preakness Stakes in 2006. He became an influential sire.

60 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

It is a considerable task to plan the matings for a broodmare band of this size, and Godolphin employs a decision-bycommittee philosophy to pick the right partner for each of its mares. That team consists of Banahan; Michael Youngs, who has a vast knowledge of both American and European racing; Danny Mulvihill, who oversees the management of both Stonerside and Gainsborough; Ben Lynch, a manager at Stonerside; and Pride. Eventually, they get together and go through one another’s suggestions, but the process starts long before that. “We’re not just latched into a certain time of the year; you’re thinking about it all year round,” Banahan noted. “You look at your stock — mares, foals, yearlings — and you’re thinking about the right things to do. ‘What stallion is a better fit for this mare?’ You consciously think about it as you’re doing your dayto-day work, so it’s a constant job.”

LIBERTY HILL

ANTIQUES & FINE FURNISHINGS

Bill Fletcher

“ December’s Quiet Mirror”

Oil On Linen

2026

934 WINCHESTER ROAD, LEXINGTON, KY 40505 TELEPHONE: 859-258-2232 • LIBERTYHILLANTIQUES@GMAIL.COM

Cup

Runneth Over

Above, the nowretired Medaglia d’Oro also has left his mark on the breed as a top broodmare sire. Left, Dan Pride, chief operating officer of Godolphin’s U.S. operation, credits Godolphin’s team approach to the organization’s success.

the filly had developed an issue after winning her maiden and retirement was being considered. Burke thought she could continue to train, and although he was new to Godolphin his opinion was respected. Music Note remained in training, and she ended up winning five grade 1 races and $1.6 million. When Sovereignty developed a fever last fall and had to miss the Breeders’ Cup Classic, he was sent to Burke. “Is there more pressure with horses like that? Let me put it this way: For the 69 days Sovereignty was here, I didn’t take a day off,” Burke said. “On New Year’s Day, we put him on a van to Florida with Good Cheer and Immersive. That is quite a valuable load.” Everyone who works with the Godolphin horses benefits

ANNE M. EBERHARDT PHOTOS

Godolphin has put in place a team that stays on top of each horse, from mating to racetrack to retirement, and all stations in between. Paul Seitz, an assistant manager at Raceland, receives foals after they’ve been weaned at Gainsborough and Stonerside. “They are like kids,” he said of his pupils. “I consider myself a high school principal, and the grooms are teachers. When we get them, they’re coming out of grammar school. When they leave a year later, they’re ready for a job. Working for Godolphin, every one of these horses has quality and the potential to be a champion. You can see in handling them how smart they are, just their attitudes.” Johnny Burke trained more modest stock at The Thoroughbred Center on Paris Pike in Lexington before joining Godolphin 20 years ago. He is charged with rehabbing horses after they’ve had setbacks, ranging from fevers to bone bruising that is common in young horses to more serious injuries. His barn on Rice Road at Keeneland has seen many of the horses who have already been or who have gone on to become stars. “I don’t make it complicated,” Burke said. “I have a lot of tools at my disposal because the diagnostics have improved by leaps and bounds over the years. We try to put back into them what they’ve missed, utilizing the tracks here at Keeneland.” When Burke received Music Note as a 2-year-old in 2007,

Danny Mulvihill, with the mare Dance Card (dam of Cody’s Wish) and her Not This Time foal, oversees the Stonerside and Gainsborough divisions. Other top mares include Delightful Quality (center), dam of Essential Quality, and Pretty Mischievous (right) with her Street Sense colt.

62 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

TASTE EXTRAORDINARY EXCITING, SHARABLE SMALL PLATES. HAPPY HOUR. WEEKEND BRUNCH. PRIVATE EVENTS.

BOOK YOUR TABLE AT WWW.EPPINGSONEASTSIDE.COM OR ON OPENTABLE.

ON EASTSIDE

264 Walton Avenue Lexington, KY 40502 859.971.0240

Cup

Runneth Over WISH FULFILLED ven with those remarkable victories over the 2025 Kentucky Derby SKIP DICKSTEIN

E

weekend, no episode represents the ascension of Godolphin on these shores better than the almost mythical tale of Cody’s Wish, a homebred son of Curlin out of the Tapit mare Dance Card. As a foal, he was not the pick of the crop, but on a fateful day at Gainsborough, he was the pick of farm manager Danny Mulvihill, and that decision created the best story put forth by the Thoroughbred industry since American Pharoah’s Triple Crown run in 2015. Godolphin had been active with the Make-A-Wish Foundation when it heard about Cody Dorman, a youngster with Wolf-Hirschhorn syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that confined him to a wheelchair. Cody’s original wish was

Cody’s Wish gently greeted Cody Dorman, for whom he is named, outside trainer Bill Mott’s barn at Saratoga. to go fishing on the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri. It had absolutely nothing to do with horses. But Mary Bourne, an office manager at Godolphin, suggested a farm tour since the Dorman family, who live in Richmond, Kentucky, would be driving past the Bluegrass for the fishing expedition. “We got his bio from the Make-AWish Foundation and we wanted to bring out a foal who we thought could get up close to Cody,” said Mulvihill. “As a foal, Cody’s Wish was so laid-

from a knowledge of the equine families with whom they are dealing. Today, in many cases, they have seen three generations, which makes it easier to identify personality and physical traits and common denominators. “It certainly helps now having familiarity with the families,” noted Banahan. “You understand them from a temperament standpoint. The horses must have good minds and heads to do what we need them to do. If they can’t handle that part of it, it doesn’t matter how much God-given talent they have. We have made plenty of mistakes, but rectifying those mistakes is the challenge presented to us every year when we do our matings.” The entire Godolphin team certainly had a lot of fun during the Oaks/Derby weekend at Churchill Downs in 2025. Good Cheer had already prevailed in the 2025 Fair Grounds Oaks and Rachel Alexandra Stakes by daylight before she annexed the Kentucky Oaks by 2¼ lengths. Her dam, Godolphin homebred Wedding Toast (by Street Sense), was a multiple grade 1 winner

64 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

back and easygoing that I felt he was our best shot. That was an easy call. But you couldn’t script what happened next.” The five-month-old foal walked out of the barn, approached Cody Dorman’s chair, and laid his head on the boy’s lap, forming an instant and lasting bond. Two years later, when it came time to name the colt, Bourne suggested they call him Cody’s Dream or Cody’s Wish. After clearing it with the Dorman family, the Curlin colt became Cody’s Wish. In the throes of the COVID era of

Paul Seitz, an assistant manager, works with foals and young horses.

ANNE M. EBERHARDT PHOTOS

Cody Dorman and his family witnessed Cody’s Wish’s last race, a victory in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile. Today, Cody’s Wish is a popular stallion at Darley. runner to earn that honor. One day after witnessing Cody’s Wish win his final race at the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita Park in 2023, Cody Dorman died. “The Cody’s Wish story added a palpable human element to our industry,” said Katie LaMonica, charities manager at Godolphin. “We all know that horses are good for humans, but you have to think something bigger than us brought that horse and that boy together to go on that ride. We have participated with Make-AWish for 15 years — we participate in their day at Keeneland — and we’ve had many Make-A-Wish kiddos through our barns. But that was just magic.” Cody’s Wish now stands as a stallion at

ANNE M. EBERHARDT PHOTOS

2020, Cody Dorman, at high risk for the disease, could not leave his home for therapy. Out of his routine he grew depressed, so the family reached out to Godolphin to see if they might come visit Cody’s Wish. “I said we’d be happy to do that,” remembered Godolphin USA COO Dan Pride, “but told them that he was no longer a foal. He now weighs 1,200 pounds and you may not have the same experience.” Cody’s Wish had not yet gone to the racetrack, as he had some growth issues and was with Johnny Burke at Keeneland. When the Dorman family arrived, the now-imposing 2-year-old Cody’s Wish came out toward his namesake — and again stuck his head in the boy’s lap. If the story ended there, it would be a heartwarming chapter. But it didn’t. Cody’s Wish became a phenomenal racehorse, specializing in distances up to one mile. “When people ask me when I knew he was going to be good, my answer is, ‘When he kept winning,’ ” said Mulvihill. “They assume I knew the day I pulled him out of the barn for the Dormans, but that wasn’t the case.” Cody’s Wish kept winning to the tune of 11 victories from 16 starts and earnings of $3.1 million. He took consecutive runnings of the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile and in 2023 was named champion older male and Horse of the Year, becoming the first Godolphin

Trainer Johnny Burke looks after Godolphin runners at his Keeneland barn on Rice Road.

Jonabell and his first foals have sold extremely well. He is also a major attraction for fans and tourists coming to visit the farm. “The ‘Cody Effect’ is real,” stated LaMonica. “We’ve had about 60,000 fans through our gates the past couple of years, and Cody’s Wish is a major part of the tour. We have also partnered with Make-A-Wish where they auction off an enhanced experience so people can get up close and personal with the horse when they come here.” “As special as last year was with the Derby/Oaks double,” said Pride, “for me personally, and I think for a lot of our team members, nothing will take the place of the Cody’s Wish journey. That touched us in a way you can’t describe. It transcends everything else.”

herself. Mother and daughter both earned millionaire status on the racetrack. Sovereignty continued the memorable weekend for Godolphin by delivering the outfit’s first victory in the Kentucky Derby. The son of Into Mischief went on to win the Belmont Stakes and Travers, the latter by 10 lengths, and was named champion 3-year-old colt and Horse of the Year. Godolphin bloodstock agent John Ferguson had bid $1.2 million to secure Sovereignty’s dam, Crowned, out of the 2014 Keeneland September yearling sale. “The most gratifying thing about that Oaks/Derby weekend last year was how many team members we had there,” said Pride. “We were fortunate to get a number of tickets because we had two runners [East Avenue being the other] in the Derby, so we had more than 40 people there, including many who had never been to the Derby. To wind up in the winner’s circle was very special for all of us. But to see receptionists and members

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 65

Cup

of the grounds crew share that with the rest of the team was unbelievable. That’s a memory I will always take from that.” The team concept is one that most organizations seek to nurture, but Godolphin has seemed to readily achieve buyin from its staffers, many of whom have been in its employ for decades. They have grown through less fertile times and thus appreciate the operation’s recent achievements all the more. Emma Browne Lovatt assists Banahan and Pride and helps manage the Godolphin racing office. Over her 23 years with Godolphin, she has worked on multiple continents. “We have our eyes on these horses all the time; we have weekly meetings with all our racetrack trainers and go over each horse,” Browne Lovatt said. “Those two days [at Churchill Downs], to see it all work, it was tears, elation, the culmination of so many years of doing things, changing things. For our boss, our team, our staff, and to have so many peo- Top, dozens of Godolphin staff celebrated Sovereignty’s 2025 Kentucky Derby ple there to experience it, that weekend victory. Above, key staff, from left, include Emma Browne Lovatt, Michael Banahan, Dan Pride, Katie LaMonica, and Kate Galvin. was the best thing I’ve ever done.” Kate Galvin, a graduate of the Godolphin Flying Start Program that provides a worldwide edufor so long. We know how difficult it is to win the Kentucky cation in the horse industry for a dozen young people anDerby. So, it was jubilation for Sheikh Mohammed and the nually, is the operating manager at Godolphin who handles organization overall. We in America are excited to represent nominations and sales. She has been with the company Godolphin blue [the color of Godolphin’s silks] at the highest 20 years. “I remember sitting at the Derby and thinking, level. To have the Oaks and Derby winners, and two Horses of ‘It’s happening. He’s passing them. He’s there.’ There was a the Year in the past couple of years…you couldn’t dream this.” moment of silence in my head, even though obviously it was bedlam all around.” NURTURING AND REWARDING EXCELLENCE Added Katie LaMonica, Godolphin’s charities manager, Initiatives that assist and recognize participants in the “We have all worked here for many years and we’ve been Thoroughbred industry have become a Godolphin hallmark. through seasons when we barely had a maiden winner. We The widely recognized Godolphin Flying Start program is in reshuffled and restrategized our breeding, racing, and chariits 23rd year, annually graduating a dozen young men and table programs, so what happened last year was very special, women from its two-year curriculum. Wholly funded by as was being able to share it with others who have been here Godolphin, Flying Start provides participants with hands-on

66 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

SKIP DICKSTEIN

Runneth Over

NYQUIST ESSENTIAL QUALITY

STREET SENSE

New and established stallions make up the Darley roster.

experience working with horses as well as completing a stringent academic syllabus. Participants travel to several continents during the course, working in various aspects of the industry. An overwhelming percentage of its graduates have taken jobs throughout the Thoroughbred industry around the globe. Godolphin instituted the Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards in America over 10 years ago. Its purpose is to recognize and reward those who work in relatively unpublicized positions throughout the Thoroughbred world. Grooms, exercise riders, barn personnel, night watchmen, managers, newcomers, chaplains, aftercare workers, farriers, gate crew, vet techs, and administrators are just some of the people eligible for recognition. For its horses, Godolphin runs a lifetime care program that finds homes for its retirees. Burke evaluates the horses coming off the track, who are then given time off for R&R at Jonabell. People wanting a horse can apply and Godolphin then tries to match horses to people, screening

potential homes to make sure they are good fits. Godolphin is also active in the Fayette Alliance and the Bluegrass Land Conservancy, both of which help preserve agricultural land in the Bluegrass region. Whether it’s having Sovereignty and Immersive hopefully competing in this year’s Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland, or continuing the excellence of its breeding program, stallion division, and community engagement, there is a lot going on at Godolphin. The enthusiasm of its staffers reflects the pursuits. “There is extra excitement when we’ve had a big win or when the stallions are doing well,” Galvin said. “But we’ve worked hard to have a positive vibe around here no matter what, and we’ve built a great team to support what gets done every single day.” Added Mulvihill, “To see this level of success is fantastic, because I don’t think anybody will match the level of investment from the boss — not just financial, but total investment in the industry.” KM

SUCCESS AT KEENELAND

G

odolphin has enjoyed tremendous success racing at Keeneland. Its stable ranks second to Claiborne

Farm and partners in the most stakes wins by an owner, with 26 to date. Its graded stakes wins have earned

prestigious MilestoneTrophy Program. Godolphin has won seven leading owner titles, most recently this past spring. A longtime sponsor of the Darley Alcibiades Stakes

Godolphin the KeenelandTray in fall 2021 and the

for 2-year-old fillies, Godolphin won this event with

Keeneland Pitcher in spring 2024 as part of Keeneland’s

homebred Immersive in fall 2024.

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 67

A SPIRITED HOTEL IN LEXINGTON’S HISTORIC DISTILLERY DISTRICT

Come stay a while. We’ve got soft beds, strong drinks, fine Southern fare, and a swanky rooftop drinking parlor. 941 Manchester Street, Lexington KY 40502 www.themanchesterky.com 859-785-3900

A MICHELIN ONE KEY HOTEL IN LEXINGTON, KY

SOUTHERN CUISINE REIMAGINED FOR BRUNCH, LUNCH & DINNER Book ahead on OpenTable or call 859-785-3905

A ROOFTOP B AR S E RVI N G LATIN- INSP IR E D S H AR E PLATES & T RO P ICAL DR I N KS Book ahead on OpenTable or call 859-785-3906

THINKING OF HAVING A PRIVATE EVENT? We’ve got the perfect space for you. Ceremonies, receptions, birthdays, corporate functions, working lunches, cocktail parties and more — we’ve got gorgeous venues, ready to meet your technology needs and top-notch catering. Call 859-785-3900 to learn more

THE GRAND HALL 7,500 sq. ft. AV capable, full bar, private dressing suite (customizable audio, lighting, projection), up to 300 guests seated, and up to 450 guests standing.

THE FOUNTAIN HALL 1,900 sq ft indoor, 900 sq ft outdoor, AV capable (audio, large screen display), up to 75 guests seated, and up to 100 guests standing.

FIND US AT 941 Manchester St. Lexington, KY 40508 www.themanchesterky.com Ring Us: +1 859-785-3900 Follow Us: @themanchesterky

Old Colony Insurance Service Strongest in the field for over 50 years.

Full Service Equine, Farm, Horseman & Commercial Insurance Agency www.oldcolonyinsurance.com | (859) 255-3355 | equine@oldcolonylexky.com

Alan Hutchison

John David Christman

Lauren Cowley

Liam Benson Anne M. Eberhardt Photo

70 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

LEXUS OF LEXINGTON

Luxury, at home in the Bluegrass

Experience Amazing L E X U S O F L E X I N GTO N .C O M | 8 5 9 -2 3 3 -2 0 0 0 1264 E New Circle Rd. Lexington, KY 40505

W

TWENTY YEARS OF CALLING KENTUCKY OUR HOME

Most people know Kentucky for the thunder of hooves. We find its greatest beauty in the quiet that follows. We're grateful to illuminate the farms where heritage, craftsmanship, and generations of care continue long after sunset.

72 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

REDOAKOUTDOORLIGHTING.COM

The

World’s Buyers WILL BE STEPS AWAY

November Breeding Stock Sale BEGINS TUESDAY, NOV. 3 | LEARN MORE AT NOVEMBER.KEENELAND.COM

74 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

Star shines bright Twenty-five Twenty-fi ve years after its inception, Keeneland’s FALL STARS WEEKEND has only gotten better

ANNE M. EBERHARDT

By Tom Pedulla

The grade 1 Coolmore Turf Mile headlines a prestigious weekend of stakes races.

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 75

K

That kind of outside-the-box thinking explains how then-Director of Racing Rogers Beasley conceived what became one of the sport’s prime events — Fall Stars Weekend — 25 years ago. “You cannot just sit there and say, ‘We’ve always done it this way,’ ” Beasley said. “That’s not going to fly.” As Keeneland turns 90, current Vice President of Racing Gatewood Bell sees that risk-taking nature as a major reason for the track’s success through changing times. “That’s the beauty of being privileged to work at Keeneland. You are able to attempt to be innovative or forward-moving while still keeping the traditions which we love here,” he said. “You are able to try new things or rearrange things because we are here just for the betterment of the sport of horse racing.” In Beasley’s case, he thought long and hard about what could be done to make

76 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

KEENELAND PHOTO

KEENELAND’S LEADERS HAVE long been encouraged to reach beyond the status quo, to never fear failure, to paint the future with big, bold strokes that might lead to something brilliant.

As director of racing, Rogers Beasley envisioned Fall Stars Weekend as a way to put the focus on Keeneland and Lexington in the fall.

good races great, to make Keeneland and the Lexington area more of an autumn destination. “We really wanted to get people from all over the United States to come, for us to be a focal point,” he recalled. “How do we attract the best horses all at one time?” He found his answer by lumping together prestigious races and attracting loyal sponsors over time. The sponsors’ commitment allowed purses to increase dramatically. Money, smart marketing, and administrative support proved to be quite the trifecta. “It wasn’t a one-man show. I don’t want anybody to think that,” Beasley emphasized. “You can have the idea, but you’ve got to have the support of everybody to make it work.”

Marketing was key. There is everything in a name. Super Bowl games have Roman numerals attached. The nation annually embraces the Final Four of the NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournaments. Jim Williams, Keeneland’s then-director of communications, and Lexington advertising guru Kip Cornett were charged with finding the best way to present Beasley’s concept. One might assume all kinds of consumer research was done. Not so. “It was one of those really crazy things. It kind of fell together by itself,” Cornett said. “When you think about it, it’s the fall, there’s a bunch of really great horses. Why not call it Fall Stars Weekend?”

ANNE M. EBERHARDT

Competitive fields and exciting finishes are hallmarks of Fall Stars Weekend.

ANNE M. EBERHARDT

MATHEA KELLEY

Vice President of Racing Gatewood Bell, center, says Fall Stars Weekend appeals to consumers’ desire for big events.

Kip Cornett came up with the name and helped market the event.

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 77

Star shines

78 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

Keeneland’s idyllic setting, top-class racing, and beautiful weather draw large crowds for Fall Stars Weekend.

COADY MEDIA/RENEE TORBIT

Last year’s opening weekend helped Keeneland achieve a record fall season for all-sources wagering.

The Juddmonte Spinster Stakes, once run later in the fall meet, is now an important fixture of Fall Stars Weekend.

ANNE M. EBERHARDT

Discussion ended there. “I think it was developed, approved, and created in a day,” Cornett said. “And then we started working on the graphics.” The growth of Fall Stars Weekend, of course, involves so much more than a name. It’s also about a can’t-miss setting. “It’s the best. The weather is usually so nice. It’s crisp. The leaves are starting to change,” Bell said. “Lexington, Central Kentucky in October, is just magical.” The inaugural Fall Stars Weekend featured six graded stakes and totaled $3.77 million in purses. This year’s edition features 11 stakes — five grade 1s — worth $6.35 million. The extravaganza sets the tone for a boutique meet that will offer 22 stakes worth $10.7 million before it concludes Oct. 24. Opening weekend last year generated an all-sources handle of $48.9 million. That provided momentum for a historic meet that produced a season record $217 million in total all-sources wagering. The goal of increasing Lexington’s appeal was realized. According to Mary Quinn Ramer, president of VisitLEX, the average annual occupancy rate for Fall Stars Weekend is more than 86% compared with the average annual occupancy rate of 61%. While other racing festivals followed, Keeneland was clearly ahead of its time in anticipating what customers sought amid intense competition for the entertainment dollar. “People are looking for big experiences now,” Bell said. “One big weekend or big event is more appealing than 12 days of something.” Ben Huffman, Keeneland’s longtime racing secretary, noted of Fall Stars Weekend, “People always know where they’re going to be on the calendar, long before the condition book is out, long before the stakes schedule is released.”

COADY MEDIA/MEGAN DEVINE

bright

. b

Tha ’s why our advisors hav v ad or a w suppor s– y lanning and mor og o solv xw h manag v yda s. .com

y:

502-233-1970 |

on: 859-

o F

, which is av

n abo

v

dvisors, LL v

.

o

gov).

v v

v

o o

hr v

’s F

V

.

Star shines

80 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

Racing Secretary Ben Huffman (left, with Gatewood Bell at a Breeders’ Cup post position draw) says Fall Stars Weekend has established its place on the racing calendar.

ANNE M. EBERHARDT

land sponsor since 1988 but Fall Stars sponsor since 2022), Darley (since 2003), Juddmonte (2005), Stoll Keenon Ogden (2011), and Claiborne (2014). “Fall Stars Weekend showcases some of the best racing in North America and our sponsors play an important role,” said Sponsorship Director Bonnie Senft. “Their support helps fund our purses, allowing us

CHAD B. HARMON

Consider the clout of the stakes in this year’s lineup: Friday, Oct. 2: $650,000 Darley Alcibiades (G1), 2-year-old fillies, 11⁄16 miles on dirt; $400,000 Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix (G2), 3-year-olds and up, six furlongs on dirt; $400,000 Jessamine (G2) Presented by Keeneland Sales, 2-year-old fillies, 11⁄16 miles on turf. Saturday, Oct. 3: $1.25 million Coolmore Turf Mile (G1), 3-year-olds and up, one mile on turf; $800,000 First Lady (G1), 3-year-olds and up, fillies and mares, one mile on turf; $650,000 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity (G1), 2-year-olds, 11⁄16 miles on dirt; $400,000 Thoroughbred Club of America (G2), 3-year-olds and up, 6½ furlongs on turf; $400,000 Woodford (G2) Presented by FanDuel, 3-year-olds and up, 5½ furlongs on turf. Sunday, Oct. 4: $650,000 Juddmonte Spinster (G1), 3-year-olds and up, fillies and mares, 11⁄8 miles on dirt; $400,000 Castle & Key Bourbon Stakes (G2), 2-year-olds, 11⁄16 miles on turf; $350,000 Indian Summer (G3) Presented by Keeneland Select, 2-year-olds, 5½ furlongs on turf. The winners of eight of those races earn automatic, fees-paid berths in the Breeders’ Cup as part of its “Win and You’re In” Challenge Series. Those contests, with the accompanying Breeders’ Cup race in parentheses, are the Darley Alcibiades (Juvenile Fillies); Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix (Sprint), Jessamine Presented by Keeneland Sales (Juvenile Fillies Turf), Coolmore Turf Mile (Mile), Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity (Juvenile), Thoroughbred Club of America (Filly and Mare Sprint), Juddmonte Spinster (Distaff ), Castle & Key Bourbon Stakes (Juvenile Turf). The ability to attract horses from far and wide, domestically and internationally, is connected to the extraordinary loyalty of major sponsors such as Coolmore (Keene-

RICK SAMUELS

bright

Trainer Mark Casse used the Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity as a springboard for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile for Classic Empire, top, who won both races.

to attract the sport’s top horses and horsemen year after year.” According to Huffman, Fall Stars Weekend essentially sells itself. “The bottom line is it’s Keeneland, the prize money is great, people have confidence in both [racing] surfaces, and when the Breeders’ Cup is at Keeneland, it’s advantageous to stable there and race there,” he said. Owners and trainers view Fall Stars Weekend as offering ideal Breeders’ Cup prep races, which has proven an added benefit to consolidating the most important races at the beginning of the meet. Previously, major stakes were scheduled throughout the meet, with the Spinster taking place the last weekend. With the Breeders’ Cup typically happening three to four weeks after Keeneland’s opening weekend, the change created the perfect time frame — especially given the increasing importance of the World Championships, which have nearly doubled in size in the last 25 years, going from eight to 14 races that carry more than $34 million in purses and awards. This year, of course, racing’s brightest stars will return to the Bluegrass, to the place where many of them were born, as the Breeders’ Cup comes home for the fourth time on Oct. 30 and 31. After hosting in 2015, 2020, and 2022, Keeneland is better equipped to roll out the red carpet than ever before. Its three-level Paddock Building will provide Cup fans with premium seating for the first time as the centerpiece of the largest capital project in Keeneland Association history.

From first sketch to final fence board, Benezet & Associates Construction Services builds places where Kentucky’s finest traditions live. Whether you’re envisioning a signature residence, an exceptional barn or an expansive working farm, our commercial and residential teams deliver craftsmanship without compromise—at every scale. Working alongside designer Kate Lossen of Pinhook Design, each home is meticulously envisioned to capture the enduring spirit of Kentucky Horse Country through a sophisticated, modern lens. Blending timeless architecture with thoughtfully curated interiors, every detail is tailored to create a home that is both unmistakably elegant and uniquely yours.

One trusted partner. Every detail. Every structure. Every acre. 141 PROSPEROUS PLACE, SUITE 23 B LEXINGTON KY, 40509 (859) 219-0295 BENEZETANDASSOCIATES.COM

Star shines bright

ANNE M. EBERHARDT PHOTOS

There is no doubting Keeneland’s value as a steppingstone for the ultimate success in the Breeders’ Cup. Sixty-seven winners have made their final starts ahead of the Cup during the fall meet, and Fall Stars Weekend has played an integral part in those victories. No one can speak to that with greater authority than Mark Casse. The Hall of Fame trainer said he absolutely needed to see Classic Empire redeem himself in the 2016 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity after the green youngster took a right turn out of the Hopeful starting gate at Saratoga and unceremoniously dumped jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. Casse’s crew worked extensively with the colt and added blinkers, which made all the difference in the Breeders’ Futurity and gave his connections the confidence to advance to the Breeders’ Cup. Classic Empire

KEENELAND/COADY MEDIA

For trainer Todd Pletcher, right, the two turns of the Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity helped prepare Ted Noffey for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. The colt won both races.

Keeneland’s alley of maples provides an inviting entrance to the track.

82 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

capitalized on the opportunity with a flawless Juvenile to secure the Eclipse Award as North America’s leading 2-year-old colt. The Breeders’ Futurity and Alcibiades are invaluable to trainers for the two-turn test they provide. Accomplished trainer Ken McPeek has long valued them as key measuring sticks. “If you can get a horse to go long by the fall,” he said, “you’re in good shape.” He should know. He’s won the Futurity three times and the Alcibiades on five occasions. Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher is another who can attest to the importance of those 2-year-old preps. After he sent Ted Noffey to take the Futurity last year, the colt rolled in the Juvenile to close a perfect fourrace campaign, securing the Eclipse Award as leading 2-year-old colt for owner Spendthrift Farm and its general manager (and the colt’s namesake), Ned Toffey. Fall Stars races often point the way for horsemen. In 2015, Casse debated whether he should ask the filly Tepin to race against the boys in the Breeders’ Cup Mile at Keeneland. Then he watched her deliver an authoritative seven-length victory in the First Lady — and had his answer. “I was shocked at how easy she ran,” he

said. “I knew then I was going to do it.” Tepin justified Casse’s gamble in the always-salty Mile as she defeated male rivals by 2¼ lengths. Trainer Chad Brown and owner Steve Laymon had no thought of going to the Breeders’ Cup when they entered Dayatthespa in the 2014 First Lady. They would have been happy to participate in Fall Stars Weekend, relish their surroundings, and watch her close her campaign with a grade 1 score. “It’s such a prestigious weekend,” Laymon said. “No one does things more first class than Keeneland. They take care of the owners. You never have any issues.” After Dayatthespa sat a stalking second for jockey John Velazquez before pouncing in the First Lady, Laymon received an unexpected but welcome call from Brown during a celebratory dinner. “We need to go to the Breeders’ Cup,” the trainer told him. More beautiful words were never spo-

ANNE M. EBERHARDT PHOTOS

ken to Laymon. They opted to test her high cruising speed in the 11⁄4-mile Filly and Mare Turf at Santa Anita. As they suspected, she was as ready as she could be. She jumped to a lead she never relinquished in dispatching stablemate Stephanie’s Kitten by a length and a quarter. It never would have happened if she had not touted herself in the First Lady. “It was the ideal prep to set her up to be the controlling speed in the Filly and Mare Turf when we went to Santa Anita,” Laymon said. If one horse could be viewed as the face of Fall Stars Weekend, it would be the great gelding Wise Dan. His popularity was enormous. “He was the hometown boy,” said trainer Charles LoPresti of owner Morton Fink’s homebred. “I don’t know if there ever was a horse at Keeneland that meant as much as Wise Dan did. He lived there. He came off layoffs there.” And, man, was he special in sweeping Horse of the Year honors in 2012 and 2013 and going on to enshrinement in the National Museum of Racing’s Hall of Fame in 2020. He was always the center of attention at Fall Stars Weekend. In 2012, fans roared their approval when he prevailed in the Shadwell Turf Mile by 2¼ lengths in a perfect setup to repel Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. LoPresti did not want to disappoint either his owner or another huge crowd the following year when a deluge prompted the Turf Mile to be moved to the all-weather surface. Although Wise Dan fought for all he was worth and placed second, he got exactly what he needed out of that prep to repeat in the Breeders’ Cup Mile. LoPresti has provided Wise Dan with a wonderful retirement at his farm. The gelding and his brother Successful Dan are fussed over daily and spend their time frolicking in the field. Could another hometown hero emerge from this year’s Fall Stars Weekend to shine on the Breeders’ Cup stage? The answer remains to be seen, but there’s no doubt the stakes-rich weekend will be primed to achieve

Longtime Spinster Stakes sponsor Juddmonte won the race in 2023 and 2024 with homebred two-time champion Idiomatic, who in 2023 next took the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

Victories on Fall Stars Weekend often draw large celebratory groups such as those gathered for Locked’s trophy presentation on the turf course after the 2023 Breeders’ Futurity. Stakes presentations now take place in the new stakes winner’s circle next to the saddling paddock. Hometown hero Wise Dan was an early poster boy for Fall Stars Weekend, winning two runnings of the Shadwell Turf Mile, in 2012 and 2014.

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 83

Julee Albina

Stapleton Arnold

Jennifer Bell

Robert Bratton

Bridgett Collier

Fred Copeland

Ken Donworth

Lauren Downs

John Scott Durbin

Whitney Durham

Dan Elkinson

Barb Farrell

Marcus Hammond

Betsy Herrington

Karen Hollins

Jenny Jaco

Pepper Johnstone

Abby Jones

Susan Kennedy

Andrew Klein

Steve Klein

Kitty Lane

Meredith Lane

Ben Laskey

Alex Lennon

Mansour Martha

Gwen Mathews

Mina Mattone

Jim McKeighen

Michael McNeill

Emily Miller

Chris Mitchell

Steve Moore

Sara Morken

Mike Morrison

Daniel Porter

Meredith Price

Bradford Queen

Bill Ransdell

Erin Raymond

Becky Reinhold

Steve Roberts

Dawn Scott

Jenn Seitz

Amber Siegelman

Pam Stilz

Ashley Teater

Jimmy Turek

Mary Gardner Turner

Meredith Walker

Corey Watson

Bryan Wehrman

Preston Welch

Chris Wells

Carolyn Wheeler

Niki Wiley

Jake Wiseman

Kristol Yeager

Barb Farrell REALTOR® 859.361.1620

A huge thank you to everyone in our wonderful Lexington community! We are so incredibly grateful to have been voted as the ‘Best Residential Real Estate Brokerage in Lexington for 2026’ by Smiley Pete’s Best of LEX. This wouldn’t have been possible without the amazing support of our clients, friends, and family. We love being a part of your journey, helping you find home in this beautiful city. Thank you for your votes and your continued trust. We are honored to serve you!

“Barb is an exceptional realtor that provided me service above and beyond, in the purchase of my new home. She is the type of person and consummate professional you will go to over and over again.” RECENT CLIENT TESTIMONY

Distinctive Homes. Exceptional Representation.

204 S HANOVER AVENUE

100 LAFONTAINE COURT

377 WESTON PARK

4848 CHELMSBURY LANE

STEVE KLEIN, CRS, GRI 859.983.3468

352 ALBANY ROAD

CUSTOM HOMESITES

ANDREW KLEIN 859.621.7683

$799,000

$1,945,000

$653,900

$1,329,000

in Lexington

$2,300,000

1999 Richmond Road, Ste. 400, Lexington, KY 40502 859.268.0099 | bgsir.com Each Office Is Independently Owned and Operated.

Turn-Key 20 Acre Farm 1368 KEENE SOUTH ELKHORN ROAD

MINA MATTONE 859.420.1135

At the end of a quiet country lane, this home welcomes you with a wraparound porch, soaring two-story foyer, handsome poplar-paneled study, formal living and dining rooms, and a spacious kitchen featuring reclaimed hardwood floors, an Aga stove, oversized island, walk-in pantry, and breakfast nook. The first-floor primary suite offers comfort and convenience, while two upstairs bedrooms each include en-suite baths and walk-in closets. The finished lower level includes a theater room, bar, sauna, home gym, office, guest suite, and abundant storage. Outside, you’ll find a detached two-car garage, heated and cooled dog kennel, and a 12-stall Amish-built barn with a 40x40 arena, tack room, wash stalls, hay loft, and equipment storage. Seven paddocks, new four-board fencing, Varnan waterers, a recently paved driveway, and a vineyard with a variety of fruit trees complete the property. Just minutes from Keeneland, shopping, dining, and renowned horse farms including Darley, Shadwell, and Mill Ridge, this is an exceptional offering in the heart of the Bluegrass.

ALEX LENNON

859.608.8025

Professional. Discreet. Responsive. 1830 JACKS CREEK PIKE

Lexington, KY 40515 15 Acres 2.5 Acre Stocked Pond Horse Barn 4 BR/3 BA House Inground Pool

305 BEECH STREET

Monticello, KY 42633 23 Acres 5 BR/4 BA House Formal French Garden Shady Creekside Setting Near Lake Cumberland

JENNIFER BELL 859.221.4857

Representing buyers, sellers, and investors in Central Kentucky.

AMBER SIEGELMAN 859.948.0068

1999 Richmond Road, Ste. 400, Lexington, KY 40502 859.268.0099 | bgsir.com Each Office Is Independently Owned and Operated.

Bryan Wehrman

Betsy Herrington

REALTOR® 859.509.7513

REALTOR® 859.699.2655

“Bryan is the absolute best! Very knowledgeable about the area, about the process and understood what our needs were very quickly. He is extremely communicative and willing to go the extra mile! We have truly enjoyed working with him!”

“We really enjoyed working with Betsy. She was knowledgeable, supportive, not at all pushy, and helped us figure things out as first-time buyers. We would happily work with her again and recommend her to others.”

RECENT CLIENT TESTIMONY

RECENT CLIENT TESTIMONY

Buying and Selling Made Easy Worldwide As an affiliate of Sotheby’s International Realty, we have access to a global network of experienced real estate professionals who can assist you when buying or selling property anywhere in the world.

Call Us Today to Learn More! 859.268.0099

THANK YOU! Ken Donworth Broker Associate

859.983.9933 kdonworth@gmail.com

Current Listings

2775 PARIS PIKE

310 IRONWOOD CIRCLE

$699,000

211 CHENAULT ROAD

$849,900

3044 BOBWHITE TRAIL

$2,375,000

415 S UPPER STREET

$897,500

3200 FISHERS MILL ROAD

$2,680,000

$1,400,000

601 DELONG ROAD

$2,795,000

PLEASE CALL ME FOR EXCLUSIVE FARM LISTINGS! 1999 Richmond Road, Ste. 400, Lexington, KY 40502 859.268.0099 | bgsir.com Each Office Is Independently Owned and Operated.

offer an unmatched competitive edge with investment backed by the industry’s most robust incentive program. Purses in 2025 hit an

ALL-TIME HIGH OF

$239,484,417

Kentucky is one of the leading racing jurisdictions, averaging the highest purses per race at $118,674 and an average field size of 8.8. While Kentucky’s five racetracks accounted for just 6.8% of the total races in the United States in 2025, they accounted for 19.6% of the total purses paid and 17% of total wagering. And of the 405 graded stakes in the U.S. that attracted the highest caliber of horses, 93—a staggering 23%—took place in Kentucky.

The historic 90th anniversary Fall Meet at Keeneland Oct. 2-24 will feature 22 stakes races worth a total of $10.7 million, including 8 Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” races for the Breeders’ Cup, which will be held at Keeneland Oct. 30-31.

Find your Kentucky-bred at the

Keeneland September Sale Sept. 14-26

KTBIF has provided more than a

QUARTER-OF-ABILLION DOLLARS

to breeders of Kentucky-breds winning eligible races worldwide since the program was implemented in 2005.

A contemporary aerial shot of Keeneland offers a dramatic contrast to what originally was a personal training track. Right, full fields, packed stands, and idyllic weather combine for a perfect day of racing.

90 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

90

& COUNTING

K

KEENELAND PHOTOS

EENELAND RACE COURSE opened Oct. 15, 1936, to great fanfare in a community that had gone without Thoroughbred racing since the 1933 closure of the Kentucky Association track. Through the decades, Keeneland has recorded countless milestones on the racetrack and in the sales ring. The following photographs highlight Keeneland’s achievements from its earliest days to the present.

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 91

KEENELAND LIBRARY COLLECTION PHOTOS

KEENELAND PHOTOS

PHOTO CREDIT

1930s

Mule teams helped build the racetrack.

Top and above, construction begins on the grandstand and the paddock.

A 1935 aerial shows Jack Keene’s training center before it became Keeneland.

92 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

Maj. Louie Beard, left, and Hal Price Headley, right, were instrumental in getting Keeneland built and off the ground.

KEENELAND ASSOCIATION

Fencing won the first Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland.

KEENELAND LIBRARY/MEADORS COLLECTION

Champion Myrtlewood won the 1936 Ashland Stakes and two other races during the inaugural meet.

Royal Raiment won Keeneland’s first race.

William T. Bishop served as Keeneland’s first general manager.

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 93

KEENELAND LIBRARY PHOTOS

JULIAN WILSON/HERALD-LEADER

1940s

Shut Out became the first horse to win the Blue Grass Stakes and the Kentucky Derby, in 1942.

KEENELAND LIBRARY COLLECTION PHOTOS

Whirlaway won the Breeders’ Futurity in 1940 and the Triple Crown the following year.

Keeneland held its first tent sale in 1943.

94 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

Above, Olympia was the first horse to travel by air to Keeneland, arriving to win the Breeders’ Futurity in 1948. Below, Bewitch won the 1948 Ashland Stakes.

KEENELAND LIBRARY MEADORS COLLECTION

1950s

KEENELAND LIBRARY MEADORS COLLECTION

Draft horses move the starting gate in 1950.

Trainer Ben Jones won four stakes races in a single season at Keeneland in 1948, a record that stood for decades.

Guy Huguelet was Keeneland’s second president.

KEENELAND LIBRARY COLLECTION PHOTOS

BLOODHORSE LIBRARY

Keeneland’s third president, Louis Haggin; his wife, Alma, center; and Mrs. Duval Headley bundled up on a chilly opening day. Alma Haggin played a large role in creating the Keeneland “look.”

Above, champion Nashua made a farewell appearance at Keeneland in 1956. Left, future champion Round Table won the 1957 Blue Grass Stakes in trackrecord time.

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 95

KEENELAND LIBRARY

GEORGE FEATHERSTON

Clockwise from above left, construction took place in 1963 to connect the grandstand and the clubhouse; Alice Chandler, daughter of Keeneland founder Hal Price Headley, sold future Epsom Derby winner Sir Ivor at the 1966 Keeneland July yearling sale. His classic victory helped spur international interest in the Keeneland sales; helicopters delivered racing programs to the infield to ensure timely arrival.

TONY LEONARD/KEENELAND PHOTO

KEENELAND LIBRARY MEADORS COLLECTION

1960s

96 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

KEENELAND LIBRARY

KEENELAND ASSOCIATION

Clockwise from above left, Northern Dancer won the 1964 Blue Grass Stakes and and later became an influeninfluential sire at Keeneland sales; Kelso appeared at Keeneland to help raise awareness for equine research; the Keeneland sales pavilion was completed in 1969.

KEENELAND LIBRARY WYATT COLLECTION

KEENELAND LIBRARY MEADORS COLLECTION

Canadian Bound was the first yearling to sell for more than $1 million.

Renowned auctioneer George Swinebroad, left, conducts a Keeneland sale with future broadcaster Tom Hammond.

MILT TOBY

1970s

KEENELAND LIBRARY

Champion Spectacular Bid won the 1979 Blue Grass Stakes and then the Kentucky Derby.

KEENELAND ASSOCIATION

ANNE M. EBERHARDT

BLOODHORSE LIBRARY

Champion Forego paraded at Keeneland in 1978.

Left, trainer D. Wayne Lukas bought many future champions from the Keeneland yearling sales. Right, James E. “Ted” Bassett became Keeneland president in 1970.

Jockey Jorge Velasquez guided Alydar to the rail to greet owner Lucille Markey, third from right, before the Calumet Farm colt won the Blue Grass Stakes in 1978.

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 97

BILL STRAUS/KEENELAND

BILL STRAUS/KEENELAND

1980s

Champion John Henry paraded at Keeneland in 1986 after retiring to the Kentucky Horse Park.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and his brothers became a force at Keeneland sales.

98 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

ANNE M. EBERHARDT PHOTOS

Julie Krone became the first female jockey to win a stakes race at Keeneland, with Gaily Gaily in the 1989 Bewitch.

BILL STRAUS/KEENELAND ASSOCIATION

Queen Elizabeth II visited Keeneland in 1984 and presented the trophy in a race named in her honor.

Kentucky Derby winner Winning Colors sold at Keeneland in 1989 as part of the Gene Klein dispersal.

William C. Greely was president of Keeneland from 1986 to 2000.

BILL STRAUS/KEENELAND

ANNE M. EBERHARDT PHOTOS

1990s

Calumet Farm conducted a dispersal of its horses at neighboring Keeneland in 1991.

BILL STRAUS/KEENELAND

Jockey Donna Barton Brothers won five stakes races among other victories during the 1990s.

Fusaichi Pegasus sold for a record $4 million in 1998 and won the 2000 Derby.

ANNE M. EBERHARDT

Kurt Becker became Keeneland’s first race caller in 1997.

The 1997 Kentucky Derby winner Silver Charm paraded at Keeneland in 1999.

MATT GOINS

Hall of Fame jockey Pat Day, who dominated the Keeneland jockey colony in the 1980s and ’90s, holds the all-time records at Keeneland for the most career wins (918), the most stakes victories (95), and the most leading rider meet titles (22).

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 99

KIRK SCHLEA

2000s ANNE M. EBERHARDT

ANNE M. EBERHARDT

Above, the new Keeneland Library opened in 2002.

Nick Nicholson became Keeneland’s president in 2000.

KEVIN THOMPSON

2010s

Above, hometown favorite and Horse of the Year Wise Dan won two runnings of the Shadwell Turf Mile, including here in 2014. At right, champion and Horse of the Year Zenyatta paraded at Keeneland in 2010 on her way to retirement.

100 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

Left, Take Charge Lady won the Alcibiades, Ashland (pictured), and two runnings of the Spinster Stakes for a rare triple of the track’s three dirt stakes for females.

ANNE M. EBERHARDT

KEENELAND LIBRARY

Barbaro, trained by Michael Matz, prepared at Keeneland for victory in the 2006 Derby.

ANNE M. EBERHARDT

COADY MEDIA

Key scenes of the movie “Seabiscuit” were filmed at Keeneland in 2002, including the legendary match race with War Admiral.

Bill Thomason became Keeneland president in 2012.

Keeneland’s longtime head starter Robert “Spec” Alexander died in 2019.

KEENELAND/PHOTOS BY Z KEENELAND PHOTO

ANNE M. EBERHARDT

KEENELAND PHOTO/COADY MEDIA

Triple Crown winner American Pharoah won the Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2015.

Rosie Naprvanik was the leading rider of the 2013 and 2014 fall meets.

Ken and Sarah Ramsey are Keeneland’s all-time leading owners. KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 101

KEENELAND PHOTO/COADY MEDIA PHOTOS

2020s

COVID-19 forced Keeneland to cancel its 2020 spring meet and conduct a summer meet instead. Bugler Steve Buttleman played to an empty grandstand.

Rusty Arnold and Bill Mott are Keeneland all-time leading trainers to date with 315 and 314 wins, respectively.

Horses parade past Keeneland’s new Paddock Building, which opened in 2026. The construction project also included new saddling stalls and a stakes winner’s circle.

102 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

Far left, Authentic won the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Classic when Keeneland hosted the event for the second time.

EDWARD WHITAKER/RACING POST

ANNE M. EBERHARDT

Left, Shannon Arvin, granddaughter of Keeneland’s first general manager, William T. Bishop, became Keeneland president in 2021.

KEENELAND PHOTO

Flightline kept his record perfect with a victory in the 2022 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Keeneland.

ANNE M. EBERHARDT

Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Golden Tempo (inside), based at Keeneland, worked recently for his next anticipated start.

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 103

2745 COLEMAN SPRINGS PATH 17.5+ ACRES | SCOTT COUNTY

Beautifully maintained, thoughtfully appointed, and ideally situated on over 17.5 acres, this classic equine estate is an enviable offering. From its North Elkhorn Creek frontage to its dramatic, private approach at the end of a dead-end road, the farm proves an idyllic setting for both horse & rider in the heart of Central Kentucky. Inquiries Zach Davis 859.576.8195

SOLD Historic DUFONT 248 acres | Woodford County Dating from 1748, this heritage farm includes acres of fine soils and a modern residence with timeless craftsmanship.

510-612 QUISENBERRY LANE 145+ ACRES | CLARK COUNTY

Set on 145.6± acres in the historic Lower Howard’s Creek region of Clark County, this heritage farm features an 18th-century American chestnut log cabin, 4,000 square foot party barn, two additional barns, and guest quarters. Adjoining conserved land, the farm includes gated stone entrances, innumerable native trees, & grazing land. Inquiries Zach Davis 859.576.8195

Law, Put to Practice. Stoll K

oo

From transac estate, to ta intellec na

sk

DV

yment, r , SK

com

S NG

106 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

,r eal

.

AWARD WINNING SPIRITS FROM

The Birthplace of Bourbon Hospitality® Castle & Key Distillery

Please drink responsibly and share with care.

castleandkey.com

Castle & Key Small Batch Bourbon 101 Proof/50.5%ABV • Castle & Key Roots of Ruin Gin 106 Proof/53% ABV

E LIZABETH L OCKE J EWELS T RUNK S HOW K EE E

R RY

4201 Versailles Road • Lexington, KY

Tuesday and Wednesday, November 3 -4 10:30 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. daily 20% of all sales will support equine research funded by

GR YS -J RESE R H

KEY

contactus@grayson-jockeyclub.org 859.224.2850 If you cannot make the sale contact Elizabeth Locke Jewels elockej@gmail.com • 540.837.2215 to support equine research through your purchase

Omakase Omakase Sushi Sake Bar Sushi & Sake Bar

C Chevy hevy C Chase hase

EXPERIENCE IKK E YYOU'VE E XXPERIENCE P E R IEE N C E SSUSHI U S H I LLIKE O U 'VV E NNEVER E V E R HHAD A D BBEE OORE RE Reservation at OmakaseLex.com 108 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

859-269-9291

CENTRAL KENTUCKY’S

LEADING CUSTOM HOME BUILDER

Serving the Construction Needs of the Equine Industry for over 40 years 1501 Nicholasville Rd., Lexington, Kentucky 859.276.1200 • www.padgettconstruction.com

PAINTING

THE TOWN Lexington has become a SHOWPLACE FOR MURALS, with walls throughout the town serving as canvases for a wide range of artwork

By Kevin Nance Photos by Kirk Schlea

Wylie Caudill’s “The Horse on High Knoll” decorates a wall of the High Knoll Wealth Advisors building.

S 112 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

STROLL AROUND DOWNTOWN Lexington on a clear day and you will see wonders. On walls that were once just bare bricks and mortar, you’ll encounter large-scale murals full of human faces and creatures familiar and fantastical. On the vast rear wall of the Kentucky Theatre, a brooding Abraham Lincoln towers over Vine Street against a Technicolor

backdrop that suggests both a rainbow and a circus tent. On the wall of Crossings facing Short Street, a wood sprite takes refuge in a nook inside a tree, its canopy of branches and leaves spreading up and out like an umbrella. And all within a block away, a giant pair of young people have fallen asleep at their patio table; beautiful women show off their luscious lipstick; and a tall pink horse stretches its impossibly long legs. And around the corner on Limestone Street, the late Sweet Evening Breeze,

Left, a mural of a sleeping couple decorates a wall on Short Street while the artist Gaia’s “Mother of Us All — Sweet Evening Breeze” gazes down from North Limestone.

Lexington’s legendary Black crossdresser who promenaded here for decades in a wig and a long white tunic, serves tea from a silver goblet. You’re in a sort of outdoor art gallery, one that has been filling up over the last 15 years and increasingly encompasses other areas of Lexington and other Central Kentucky cities, including Paris, Richmond, Georgetown, Winchester, and elsewhere. “It does seem like Lexington has a higher saturation of murals than a lot of other

Wylie Caudill’s two-wall mural at the Kentucky Horse Park’s International Museum of the Horse is his largest project to date.

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 113

PAINTING THE TOWN cities our size, especially downtown,” said local muralist Wylie Caudill, creator of several downtown standouts including the pink horse. “Murals are one of the most important forms of art because of its accessibility and the way it can really become such an identity of a town, which has happened in Lexington. It’s become part of the makeup of the place.” Kate Savage, director of Arts Connect, a Lexington-based arts organization that sponsors downtown art-walk tours that include stops at some of the murals mentioned above, agrees. “It took me a long time to come around to murals, because for me, street art was always synonymous with graffiti,” she said. “Over time, I’ve changed my thinking and come to appreciate murals as a bona fide art form that adds another layer of appeal for Lexington. Murals also provide a very public opportunity for valuable conversation for people, discussing why they like it or not. And it provides a voice and a canvas for artists who may never be part of the mainstream.” Much of Lexington’s mural explosion is directly due to PRHBTN, an arts festival run by the husband-and-wife team of John and Jessica Winters. Since its founding in 2011, PRHBTN — the name is an abbreviation of the word “prohibition,” referring to street art’s roots as an unauthorized, often frownedupon form — has facilitated more than 40 new murals. Most of the artists they’ve brought to town are internationally renowned painters including Phlegm, the London-based creator who painted the Crossings mural; Dragon76, the Japanese artist who created two cyberpunk masterpieces on Sixth Street and Newtown Pike in 2018; Gaia, the Baltimore-based creator of “Mother of Us All,” featuring Sweet Evening Breeze, in 2021; and Eduardo Kobra, the Brazilian artist who painted “Lincoln,” PRHBTN’s first and most popular mural, in 2013.

114 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

Above and left, Gaia’s untitled equine mural decorates a wall of West Sixth Brewing’s exterior.

John Winters, in front of “Mother of Us All,” co-founded PRHBTN with his wife in 2011. The organization has facilitated more than 40 new murals, most created by internationally renowned painters.

Rooted in Kentucky. A Tradition of Excellence. Built to Last. Aristides Capital LLC is a Registered Investment Adviser founded on integrity and innovation. Named after the Kentucky Derby’s first champion, we embrace speed and flexibility to find opportunity and manage risk in today’s markets. Our multi-strategy longshort equity hedge funds seek to deliver capital appreciation while minimizing volatility and correlation to the S&P 500.

118 E Main Street, Suite 600, Louisville, KY 40202 Office (502) 694-8001 info@aristidescapital.com Funds available only to Qualified Clients. Alternative investment strategies are not suitable for all investors. Alternative investments are speculative and involve a high degree of risk. Risk management cannot eliminate risk. There can be no guarantee that any investment strategy will be successful. Past performance is not indicative of future results or a guarantee of future returns.

PAINTING THE TOWN

“LOVE LETTER TO LEXINGTON” The seed for PRHBTN was planted in early 2011 when Jessica Winters, an attorney who was traveling for work, watched “Exit Through the Gift Shop,” a documentary film by the artist Banksy about his and other artists’ often furtively produced work on the streets of London. She was entranced and suggested that she and her husband start a street art festival. John Winters, a Connecticut native and stay-at-home dad without any art background, had long admired the murals painted under overpasses that he saw on bus and train rides to New York City and Boston, and later came to admire Shepard Fairey, creator of the iconic “Hope” poster image of then-presidential candidate Barack Obama. After moving to Lexington, Winters had become curious about the small-scale murals of robots, called “Drones,” by the prolific punk-rock street art collective known as Dronex Inc. PRHBTN

116 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

MARK MAHAN

“It’s the undisputed king of murals in Lexington, and nothing else we’ve done has risen to that level of almost universal appreciation and love,” John Winters said. “Eduardo was doing historical figures almost exclusively at the time, so it’s part of a series, but it’s also part of his concept of a global community. He was a guy from Brazil painting an American president in Kentucky, which we all loved.” Winters recalled being on the site one evening just before the mural was completed. (The mural was so large that Kobra was forced to work on it day and night, assisted by lights provided by the Lexington Fire Department.) “There was a UK basketball game that night, and when the game let out, Vine Street was just packed with cars. Someone said, ‘Look at that!’ I turned around and saw that every single car had its windows down and everyone was looking at the mural. And I thought, ‘We’ve hit on something really cool here.’ ” The Brazilian artist Eduardo Kobra painted “Lincoln,” PRHBTN’s first and most popular mural, in 2013.

Local artists Alexandrea Pangburn and Geoff Murphy serve as cocoordinators of PRHBTN’s upcoming project to create four new murals this October.

3 2 1 E . V I N E S T. • L E X I N G TO N

3 6 2 E A S T M A I N S T. • L E X I N G TO N

3 4 5 0 TO D D S R D. • L E X I N G TO N

3 4 5 0 TO D D S R D • L E X I N G TO N

PAINTING THE TOWN

four new works. The artists include Smug One, who is based in Glasgow, Scotland, and known for large-scale photorealistic portraits; Emily Ding and Kiptoe, both based in Los Angeles; and Louisville’s Kacy Jackson, who paints in a vivid, colorful style often featuring images of African Americans. “I convinced them to bring it back this year because murals bring a lot of culture and tourism to Lexington,” said Pangburn, a

CHARLES F. MORELAND PHOTO

mounted its first annual indoor art show at the Lexington Art League’s Loudoun House that year (a series that still runs in the same venue, with the next show scheduled to open Oct. 9) and presented its first batch of murals two years later, funded largely by private donors and sponsorships. “PRHBTN has always been our love letter to Lexington,” Winters said. “We love living here, we love the people here. Our goal has always been to bring an artist that we think is amazing, put them in a spot that fits for them, and allow them to create something. We give them no input, no rules, no nothing. They get to choose what to create, and I think that gets the best art out of them. And we’ve been lucky that people have stood behind it.” After the 2021 festival, the couple were “a little burnt out,” Winters acknowledged, and they have coordinated few new murals since then. But after recruiting local artists Alexandrea Pangburn and Geoff Murphy as coorganizers this year, PRHBTN is bringing in a fresh crew of muralists Oct. 9-18 to create

Joe King created “The Pythia In Agate” at Fourth and Jefferson streets.

118 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

Winchester native who has organized mural festivals in Denver and elsewhere. (Her Lexington murals include one of a fox at Jefferson and Fifth streets and another on Upper Street in collaboration with the artist Aerosol Kingdom, “Till the Cows Come Home,” featuring a handsome pair of bulls, a nod to the Kentucky cattle industry.) “The more opportunities we can create for artists, the more life we can bring to the community.”

Graham Allen painted an 18-by-20-foot mural of a train on the Bluegrass Barrel House in Richmond.

Alexandrea Pangburn’s murals of a fox and cows (“Till the Cows Come Home” in collaboration with artist Aerosol Kingdom) loom large near downtown Lexington.

Murphy, who recently collaborated with Pangburn on a mural in Winchester, is stoked about PRHBTN’s return. “Paintings in a gallery setting might be seen by a few people,” he said, “while large-scale murals, no matter who commissioned them, belong to the community as a whole.”

As important as PRHBTN has been to Central Kentucky’s mural scene in recent years, it’s not the whole story. Several local artists have made strong impressions, including the city’s busiest muralist, Caudill, who at age 30 has created about 15 large-scale murals and dozens of smaller ones in Lexington and his hometown of Cynthiana. His best work includes a verdant, jungle-like scene at The Grove, a downtown Lexington beer garden; a mural commissioned by VisitLEX at The Summit at Fritz Farm featuring city mascot Big Lex in a scene inspired by a famous tapestry at The Cloisters in New York City; and his largest work yet, a recently completed pair of 40-by-80-foot murals at the Kentucky Horse Park’s International Museum of the Horse. Another standout is Joe King, whose surrealist “The Pythia in Agate” at Fourth and Jefferson streets appears to depict the

CORRIE McCROSKEY

LOCAL TALENT

Jaime Corum’s “Secretariat” charges from a wall in downtown Paris.

famous Oracle of Delphi in mid-prophecy against a swirling, ornate background inspired by Kentucky agate. “I was getting a lot of inspiration from Greek mythology at the time,” King explained. “I like the idea of a place where people come for guidance, to find paths to where we’re going and discover that what’s being revealed was in ourselves the whole time.” While Central Kentucky’s mural movement is most visible in Lexington, it’s also in full swing in nearby cities. Graham Allen, best known for his “Inspirations” series of murals in Lexington featuring monochromatic portraits of Harry Dean Stanton, Tom Waits, Hunter S. Thompson, Muhammad Ali, John Prine, and other icons, is increasingly creating new work in Richmond, where he lives. One of his latest pieces there is an 18-by-20-foot mural of a train, commissioned by a local pub, the Bluegrass Barrel House. “It’s right next to the railway that runs through town,” Allen explained. “It looks like the train is coming off the tracks through the wall. Pretty cool.” And in Paris, the city has gone all-in on a series of Thoroughbred racing murals by equine artist Jaime Corum of Middlesboro. In something like the manner of Allen’s speeding train in Richmond, Corum’s giant image of Secretariat explodes off a threestory wall into a downtown park. “He’s galloping straight at you,” Corum said proudly, “which seems perfect.” Unlike many area murals featuring stylized or abstract depictions of horses, Corum’s — including Secretariat, Sunday Silence, and Curlin, as well as a new one of Ruffian planned for this fall — are all painstakingly lifelike. “You have to be so careful that their conformation is accurate,” she said. “People in Paris know their horses, so if you get it wrong, you’re in big trouble.” KM

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 119

+

TWO LEGACIES, ONE FUTURE +

Generations in the soil +

For decades, the Hillenmeyer and Ray families have shared a devotion to building legacy landscapes. After years of friendship and collaboration, Hortus Gardens now welcomes Carl Ray Landscape into its growing family of businesses. Together, we carry forward two Kentucky-born horticultural legacies. With generations of experience and skilled hands, we share a deep respect for time-tested traditions. Thoughtful execution is the key ingredient in building timeless gardens. With this next chapter, Hortus expands its ability to serve clients from both the flagship Lexington office and our new Louisville location, each founded with the care, craft, and expertise needed to render beautiful landscapes.

Hortusgardens.com

LEARN MORE

LEARN MORE

A FUTURE WITH MORE GROUND TO GROW +

Crafting legacy landscapes +

A mature tree changes everything. It brings shade, structure, and resonance. It conveys the sense that a garden has belonged for a lifetime. It serves posterity. Hortus Gardens shapes elegant landscapes through thoughtful design, skilled installation, and long-term horticultural care. With the acquisition of Carl Ray Landscape, our work expands in scale, capability, and the range of services we offer. With large-tree transplanting, spade transport, and installation, we have strengthened our capacity to serve the region with efficacy and precision. This expansion brings new expertise, new team members, and enhanced possibilities to our work, fortifying the hands-in-the-dirt discipline that has always defined it.

HORTUS IS HIRING!

Hortus Gardens is seeking motivated team members as we continue to grow. We are currently hiring Gardeners, Installers, Installation Foremen, and Production Managers in Lexington and Louisville.

Hortusgardens.com | Lexington: 859.270.8205 | Louisville: 502.266.5333

Non-Invasive Facial & Body Contouring & Physical Therapy Regenerative Medicine We i g h t L o s s Hair Restoration IV Therapy (859) 346-8707 lexenhance@lexenhance.com Mon - Fri: 9am - 5pm Sat - Sun: By Appointment 2 5 0 Wa l t o n Av e S t e 1 1 0 Lexington, KY 40502 w w w. l e x e n h a n c e d . c o m

124 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

2026 Fall Meet Stakes O CTO B E R 2-24

$650,000 Darley Alcibiades (G1)

2YO fillies, 1 1/16 miles | $150,000 KTDF Contribution

FRI

Oct 2

$400,000 Jessamine (G2) Presented by Keeneland Sales 2YO fillies, 1 1/16 miles (turf) | $100,000 KTDF Contribution

$400,000 Stoll Keenon Ogden Phoenix (G2)

3YOs & up, 6 furlongs | $100,000 KTDF Contribution

SAT

Oct 10 SUN

Oct 11

$1.25 Million Coolmore Turf Mile (G1)

3YOs & up, 1 mile (turf) | $250,000 KTDF Contribution

$650,000 Claiborne Breeders’ Futurity (G1) SAT

Oct 3

2YOs, 1 1/16 miles | $150,000 KTDF Contribution

$800,000 First Lady (G1)

3YOs & up, F&M, 1 mile (turf) | $150,000 KTDF Contribution

$400,000 Thoroughbred Club of America (G2)

3YOs & up, F&M, 6 1/2 furlongs | $100,000 KTDF Contribution

$400,000 Woodford (G2) Presented by FanDuel

3YOs & up, 5 1/2 furlongs (turf) | $100,000 KTDF Contribution

$650,000 Juddmonte Spinster (G1)

SAT

Oct 17 SUN

Oct 18 FRI

Oct 23

3YOs & up, F&M, 1 1/8 miles | $150,000 KTDF Contribution

SUN

Oct 4

$400,000 Castle & Key Bourbon (G2)

2YOs, 1 1/16 miles (turf) | $100,000 KTDF Contribution

$300,000 Indian Summer (G3)

Presented by Keeneland Select 2YOs, 5 1/2 furlongs (turf) | $100,000 KTDF Contribution

$750,000 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup (G1)

Presented by Dixiana 3YO fillies, 1 1/8 miles (turf) | $150,000 KTDF Contribution By invitation only

$400,000 Franklin (G2)

3YOs & up, F&M, 5 1/2 furlongs (turf) | $100,000 KTDF Contribution

$400,000 Lexus Raven Run (G2)

3YO fillies, 7 furlongs | $100,000 KTDF Contribution

$350,000 Perryville (G3)

3YOs, 7 furlongs | $100,000 KTDF Contribution

$350,000 Rood & Riddle Dowager (G3)

3YOs & up, F&M, 1 ½ miles (turf) | $100,000 KTDF Contribution

$400,000 Bank of America Valley View (G2)

3YO fillies, 1 mile (turf) | $100,000 KTDF Contribution

$300,000 Dean Dorton Myrtlewood (L)

2YO fillies, 6 furlongs | $100,000 KTDF Contribution

$400,000 Bryan Station (G2) SAT

Oct 24

3YOs, 1 mile (turf) | $100,000 KTDF Contribution

$350,000 Hagyard Fayette (G3)

3YOs & up, 1 1/8 miles | $100,000 KTDF Contribution

$250,000 Bowman Mill FRI

Oct 9

$400,000 Sycamore (G2)

2YOs, 6 furlongs | $75,000 KTDF Contribution

3YOs & up, 1 1/2 miles (turf) | $100,000 KTDF Contribution

EVERY RACE. EVERY WAGER. ONE APP Download Keeneland Select and bet from your phone. Sign up with code FALL2026 to earn $100 after wagering $300 in your first 30 days. Purses Powered by the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund

Turf

Breeders’ Cup Win & You’re In Races

* KTDF (Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund) contributions are subject to approval of the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation.

At 22, Zenyatta is an imposing and charismatic presence.

128 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

SWEETHEART OF THE CUP LONG AFTER HER RACING CAREER, ZENYATTA REMAINS IMMENSELY POPULAR IN HER RETIREMENT AT LANE’S END FARM By Cynthia Grisolia Photos by Anne M. Eberhardt

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 129

PHOTO CREDIT

SWEETHEART OF THE CUP

Zenyatta’s victory against males in the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic remains a defining moment in horse racing.

130 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

T

THE BREEDERS’ CUP World Championships return to Keeneland in late October. With this, the fourth time the Lexington oval has hosted the two-day spectacular, one can’t help but recall some of the event’s most heart-thumping moments: the first and only “dead heat” between Johar and High Chaparral in winning the 2003 Breeders’ Cup Turf; Triple Crown hero American Pharoah sending the Keeneland crowd wild winning the 2015 Breeders’ Cup Classic and delivering racing’s first “Grand Slam”; Flightline winning the 2022 Classic, also at Keeneland, to retire undefeated.

Above, Zenyatta displayed her prerace prance as she paraded in Keeneland’s sales pavilion on her way to retirement. Left, owner Ann Holbrook regularly visits Zenyatta at Lane’s End Farm.

But as fans revel in such remember-whens, there may be no more indelible moment in Breeders’ Cup history than Zenyatta’s win in the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita in Southern California. Already a champion older mare (2008), Zenyatta came into

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 131

SWEETHEART OF THE CUP the Classic undefeated in 13 career starts. Her connections — the late Jerry Moss, his then-wife Ann Moss (now Holbrook), and the late trainer John Shirreffs — opted to forego the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (at the time called the Ladies’ Classic) and instead had their valiant race mare face off against a deep field of 12 males in the Classic, including such superstars as Belmont Stakes and Travers winner Summer Bird. The daughter of Street Cry had already captivated fans thanks to her come-from-behind running style, her prerace ballets, and her penchant to, well, never lose. Launching her career late in her 3-year-

old season to capture her first two starts, Zenyatta began racking up graded stakes wins all through her 4- and 5-year-old seasons, including the grade 1 Apple Blossom Invitational, Vanity Handicap, and Lady’s Secret Stakes, among others. She ended her 4-year-old season with a sweeping victory in the 2008 Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic. To her growing multitude of admirers — some of whom had never watched a horse race before — she wasn’t just good; she was perfection. “No one else did what she did — and she’s a girl,” said owner Ann Holbrook from her home in Washington state. “It’s like Cherie DeVaux being the first woman to win the Kentucky Derby, breaking the glass ceiling and all that. It was just

celebration and inspiration.” But when the gates opened in the soonto-be historic Classic, Zenyatta broke slowly. Under jockey Mike Smith, she trailed the field by nearly 15 lengths. More than halfway through, she was still nine lengths behind. But when the Amazonian mare finally did cut loose, her monstrous stride propelled her forward, and she swept past leader Gio Ponti in the final furlong to not only win the Classic but make history by being the first female to do so. The performance was mind-boggling. Even race caller Trevor Denman was gobsmacked. “Zenyatta is flying on the grandstand side!” he exclaimed. “This. Is. Un-believ-able! What a performance; one we’ll never forget!”

Zenyatta fans, including Dianne Higdon (top left), Kelly Higdon (top right), and Brooke Faust (above), visit their idol at Lane’s End Farm.

132 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

SWEETHEART OF THE CUP It’s been 17 years and her fans sure haven’t. Neither has Denman, who said he never doubted Zenyatta’s talent. “She was far back,” said Denman, who retired from calling races at Santa Anita in 2015 and at Del Mar in 2025. “But that wasn’t writing her off by any means.” Having called many of Zenyatta’s previous races, Denman noted, “I knew what she was capable of, but in my head, I was thinking, man, if she wins this, she’s a superstar. You can’t give those kinds of horses that much start — not in the Breeders’ Cup.”

back,” Haskin recalled. “I had my doubts she could do against these colts what she had done against fillies. But then I heard Trevor Denman’s voice rise several octaves. And there she was coming like the proverbial freight train.” In 2010, Zenyatta would return to defend her Classic title, this time at Churchill Downs. With her record now an undefeated 19, the racing world wanted nothing more than to see the queen of the Sport of Kings conclude her career with a perfect record. As fate would have it, her last race would be her only falter, as she lost by a stride to Claiborne Farm homebred Blame. But

defeat she captured the soul.” Upon her retirement, Zenyatta was paraded Dec. 6, 2010, under frigid conditions in the Keeneland sales pavilion. More than 1,000 fans, many of whom had driven all day, greeted the champion who did not disappoint when displaying her trademark prerace prance. Zenyatta was honored with the 2010 Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year and champion older mare — which she added to her previous two champion older female trophies — and in 2016, she was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

BENOIT PHOTO

LIFE REALLY IS SWEET

Above left, Zenyatta’s son Ziconic, finishing third in his debut at Santa Anita, raced 12 times before transitioning to a sport horse career. Above, grandson Shuggy most recently finished second in his third start.

Denman’s call is now considered as iconic as Chic Anderson exclaiming “He is moving like a tremendous machine” as Secretariat charged home in the 1973 Belmont Stakes. “She really only broke loose fairly close to home,” remembered Denman. “And by sheer luck the ‘unbelievable’ matched her stride — un…be…liev…able. Each time I mentioned another vowel she took another stride,” he said with a laugh. Hall of Fame journalist Steve Haskin, who covered the race for BloodHorse, has similar memories. “I was standing on the track so all I knew was that she was far

134 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

in the agony of defeat, many thought she seemed to gain something more. “It might be strange, but I think she earned some real respect in that race,” noted Holbrook. “She had sometimes been written off as just a West Coast horse — she’s never run against anybody. But what horse could have done what she did?” Holbrook added, “I don’t think it was a loss for her.” The industry agreed. “Her head defeat will be remembered as an affirmation of her greatness,” Haskin wrote on secretariat.com in 2025. “In victory after victory she captured the heart. In her lone

On a sticky day this past June, the now 22-year-old Zenyatta was turned out in her 20-some-odd-acre pasture at the Farish fammily’s Lane’s End Farm near Versailles, Kentucky, where she has resided since retirement. One of her paddock mates is an old racetrack neighbor: Life Is Sweet, whose victory in the 2009 Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic was overshadowed by her stablemate’s triumph. On the far edge of the paddock is a small grove of maple trees, added by Holbrook when Zenyatta first arrived. “When she was racing, John Shirreffs always had a little pad of grass at the track for her,” said Holbrook. “She would stand there under her tree every afternoon, and she just loved that. So I wanted her to have shade trees.” The copse will one day serve as a tribute to the great mare, and Holbrook added that a commemorative statue has already been commissioned from Washington-based sculptor Matthew Gray Palmer. She’s a bit shaggy now from age, but Zenyatta still looms large. At 17.2 hands and upward of 1,400 pounds, her frame still echoes her once powerful athleticism. And, apparently, she’s still very much the queen. “I wouldn’t say she’s bossy,” said Lane’s End mare and foal manager Chase Mullins, “but

WELCOME, BREEDERS’ CUP FANS!

Deanbuilds is honored to have built the new Paddock building on Keeneland’s storied grounds.

General Contracting | Design-Build | Construction Management www.deanbuilds.com

SWEETHEART OF THE CUP I would say that she still knows she’s special.” In most of these past 16 years, Zenyatta has been a broodmare, sent to the most highly regarded stallions in the industry (War Front, Tapit, Into Mischief, just to name a few), and given birth to seven foals. While fans and the industry craved Zenyatta 2.0, her breeding career instead was fraught with bad luck. Two of her foals, a 2014 War Front filly and a 2016 War Front colt, died soon after birth (from a paddock accident and complications of meconium aspiration syndrome, respectively). Two others, sadly, aborted early on. Of her living offspring, none, so far, have exhibited the racing prowess of their extraordinary mother. Her second colt, Ziconic, had the most successful run: 12 starts and earnings of just over $70,000. Ziconic and her first foal, Cozmic One, did find some success in the show ring. Two unraced daughters — Zellda and Zilkha — also now reside at Lane’s End as broodmares. But, as Yoda might say, there is another: Zenyatta’s last foal, a War Front filly named Nymue (pronounced “Nim-a-way”), and she represents one final hope for racing grandeur. So far, the now 3-year-old has exhibited plenty of parallels to her dam. “Nymue looks very much like her mother. They’re both big, imposing, and incredibly strong,” said Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes-winning trainer Cherie DeVaux, who’s in charge of the filly’s career. “She definitely commands your attention the moment she walks into the barn. There’s an aura about her that’s hard to ignore.” Also not unlike like her mom, Nymue’s exceptional size has played a role in her training schedule, which has been slow and steady. “Horses of that stature can take more time physically, so we’ve been patient

136 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

Lane’s End assistant broodmare manager Daniel Villalobos leads Zenyatta to her field after her visit with fans.

and allowed her to develop at her own pace,” noted DeVaux. (See p. 36 for a profile of DeVaux in this issue.) While the filly’s first start is not yet scheduled, DeVaux added that she is looking toward a debut sometime in the mid to late fall. “The expectations are high,” said DeVaux. “But from our perspective, we have to treat Nymue as an individual and give her every opportunity to become the best version of herself.” “She is her own being, of course, and she has her own journey,” added Holbrook. “But we’re excited. She thinks she’s great. She’s got all that mama-tude.” Meanwhile, DeVaux is also training Zenyatta’s grandson, Shuggy (by Twirling Candy out of Zellda). Also 3, he has had three lifetime starts, most recently finishing second July 15 at Horseshoe Indianapolis. “Like many young horses, he’s still learning,” said DeVaux, “but each week he’s becoming more professional.”

Withdrawn from breeding in 2023, Zenyatta, aka Zenny or sometimes just Z, is now just the ultimate retiree: She’s not fussed over like she was on the track, but rather left to live a natural life. “Her paddock is right next to a barn, but she stays outside,” said Mullins. “She does come up sometimes in bad storms or for her podiatrist. We used to bring her around more often during storms. But I think it was worse having her inside. She really prefers to just live like a horse.”

ONE WE’LL NEVER FORGET It’s been 16 years since Zenyatta captured her 19th win (surpassing records set by the “invincible” Cigar and Triple Crown winner Citation) and suffered her only loss. Still, her popularity has barely waned. Having once been the subject of such media as “60 Minutes,” W magazine, and Oprah Winfrey’s O magazine, Zenyatta still attracts the press for regular check-ins, retirement videos, and Breeders’ Cup remembrances. And there is

no shortage of social media pages lauding Z and her offspring. More impressively, her fans are still, well, fans. As luck would have it, lightning storms on that sticky June day meant Zenyatta had been brought up for the night. So when a special Lane’s End “meet and greet” tour of eight admirers arrived on an even stickier June morning, the massive mare was waiting for them outside her barn. Daniel Villalobos, Lane’s End’s assistant broodmare manager, could barely contain her ebony frame as she pawed impatiently (the dance!) and whinnied to her paddock mates. In addition to Life Is Sweet, Zenyatta shares her space with 2004 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies winner Sweet Catomine. “I thought that was just amazing because Sweet Catomine is owned by Marty and Pam Wygod, and Pam and I were fashion models together in the ’70s,” Holbrook laughed. “Now our girls are hanging out together!” Seduced by a gift of carrots, Zenyatta regained her calm as each visitor made their way to her for photos and the rare opportunity to lay a hand on her massive neck. “I’ve never seen her before — just on TV, so I’m so excited,” said Dianne Higdon, who traveled from Louisville with her daughter Kelly especially for the visit. “It’s long been on my bucket list. She was just such a special horse.” Maddison Walsh from Indiana was just a child when Zenyatta was racing. “She was my first Breyer Horse,” said Walsh, referring to the popular collectible model horses. “I’ve watched her on Facebook all these years, but it’s still so cool to just see her in person.” One thing all the visitors had in common is their enduring memories of her Breeders’ Cup races — win or lose. “As a woman, it was just such a feeling of girl power,” said Walsh. “It was a little harder when she lost to Blame, but she went up against a harsh field and it only speaks to her credit that she was able to

still come up from behind to get second.” Neha Konduru, also from Louisville, recounted Zenyatta’s 2010 race. “We had friends over for dinner, and it was during race time,” said Konduru. “I made everyone get up from the table and watch!” “Every time I watch her Breeders’ Cup win I always tear up,” said Brooke Faust of Lexington. “I send the YouTube videos to my parents, who don’t know a whole lot about horse racing.” Faust added that it was Zenyatta and horses like her that inspired her to pursue a career in the horse industry. She is now a groom at one of the Godolphin farms near Lexington, where she works with mares and foals. “She’s definitely one that makes me the most excited about working with horses,” she added. “It’s one of the main reasons I get excited to get in there for my babies.” Since her retirement, Zenyatta has become

a regular on public and private shuttle tours offered by Lane’s End (booked via visithorsecountry.com), making her more accessible to fans than ever. And in this place where stallions generally rule, Queen Zenyatta clearly still holds court. Holbrook, for one, is not surprised by the continued outpouring of adoration. “I think she’s more than just a horse,” she said. “She’s put so many people together and given them hope and inspiration. And for the racing industry to get a boost — that was really important at that time. And Zenyatta showed up for it all. When you are around her you sense greatness.” As that day’s tour wrapped up, Villalobos at last set Zenyatta free. Happy to be reunited, all three mares turn on their heels, and just like when the starting gates once swung open, they were off — with one difference. This time, Zenyatta was on the lead. KM

From left, Breeders’ Cup winners Life Is Sweet, Sweet Catomine, and Zenyatta share a field — and maybe stories of their glory days.

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 137

Frames F rames QUALITY CUSTOM FRAMING nMain OnMain O Gallery G aller y BOBBY SHIFLET, PROPRIETOR • 859-987-0172 630 MAIN STREET • PARIS, KENTUCKY 40361 HOURS: MONDAY-FRIDAY 10-6 • SAT 10-4 F R A M E S O N M A I N G A L L E R Y. C O M

44 Years On Main Street

HOTEL THOROUGHBRED

Still Stitching On Century-Old Machines. No Shortcuts. Small Batches Only. Built By Hand And Built To Last.

Paris,

hors s. his or . hospi ali

.

A Kentucky Tradition.

ho

l horo ghbr d. om

138 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

Quillin Leather & Tack • Paris, Kentucky Tours Available • Quillin.com • 859-987-0215

.

BOOK YOUR STAY AT HOUSTONDALE.COM

OPEN YEAR- ROUND Monday - Saturday | 9am - 5pm Clayton & Crume Leather Wrapped Rocks Glass Set $90 | Carats Mixing Glass $35

When you need high-stakes commercial real estate counsel, trust RCSM. Commercial real estate transactions demand more than just legal knowledge—they require strategic problem-solvers who can manage multiple parties and complex issues. At RCSM, our attorneys bring proven experience to every transaction to achieve optimal results for our clients.

Business Transactions Commercial Real Estate Estate Planning Litigation

“In my 24+ years of real estate development, RCSM is the most responsive and competent law firm I’ve ever hired.” STEVE SISSON, RCSM COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE CLIENT

326 South Broadway Lexington, KY 40508-2592 (859) 721.2100

rcsmlaw.com

Central Kentucky Farm Listings Indian Mound Farm 5335 Russell Cave Road, 420 Acres Located on the corner of Russell Cave Rd and Old Lemons Mill, this is one of the most iconic properties in Central Kentucky. The land and soils are excellent, consisting entirely of federally rated Prime Farmland. Amenities include 2 large feed barns, a barn dedicated to the working of cattle complete with individual pens, cattle chute with scales, over 9 large fields and 5 paddocks and two bedroom apartment, 2 equipment storage barns, a large concrete pad and retention for compost operations and 2 nearly new 3 bedroom/2 bath employee residences. Listing Price $9,500,000

Marlendale Farm 2680 Newtown Pike, 197 Acres Over 197 acres in two tracts in one of the most sought after locations in Lexington, KY, adjacent to FasigTipton Co., 3 miles to the KY Horse Park, 1/2 mile to I-75, 1 mile to the Mar te Resort. Amenities include 32 stalls in 3 barns, a 3500 sqft brick residence, 2 employee residences, plank fences, paved roadways, and city water throughout all fields and paddocks. In addition, there is a 10 bent tobacco/ hay barn, nearly 50 acres of undisturbed pasture land on the east side, and importantly, an owned access lane to Iron Works Pike. Marlendale Farm is a generational opportunity to purchase 197 acres of great land in a truly spectacular location. Listing Price $8,500,000

Royal Oak Farm 613 Hutchison Road, 283 Acres Royal Oak farm is a well located 283 acre turn-key Horse Farm between Lexington and Paris KY, just aris Pike. Amenities include a lovely 2 story brick main residence and pool, built in 2005 with over 5,500 sqft of living space that includes 5 bedrooms, 4 full baths, large kitchen, expansive great/family room, formal living and dining rooms, lovely fireplaces, all with 10ft ceilings and antique hardwood floors. Farm improvements include 70 stalls in 6 barns, over 20 paddocks and 8 large fields, a maintence and hay storge area, employee residence, employee barn apartment and much more. Listing Price $5,950,000

Westin Osborn Lesley Ward Mark Dixon Jessica Hogan

BiedermanRealEstate.com

1076 Wellington Way Lexington, KY 40513 (859) 277-2030

Featured New Listing

Payson Stud, 4434 Paris Pike, 142 Acres

We are honored to present historic Payson Stud for purchase. This legendary farm gained international recognition under the Whitney family and later, Charles and Virginia Kraft Payson, some of the most respected owner-breeders in the sport. The property consists of 142± acres along the famed Paris Pike in Lexington, Kentucky, and is the epicenter of the Central Kentucky Bluegrass region. Anchored by the iconic 1850 John McMurty built Greek Revival Mansion, the 2 ½-story 8,200 square foot home is currently undergoing a total renovation that thoughtfully blends modern luxury with meticulous preservation and restores the unique history of the property and outbuildings. Included in the 10± acres curtilage surrounding the Mansion is a beautifully restored 1,550 square foot, 2-story brick residence (c.1850) with additions, and The Cottage, an elegantly renovated 1,660 square foot brick residence long favored by the former property steward, Virginia Kraft Payson. The 132± acre improved horse farm surrounding the curtilage has a secure place in the history of Kentucky’s signature horse industry as the former home of champions from several breeds, including Classic and Kentucky Derby winners throughout the years. With 4 excellent barns housing over 77 stalls, 2 large run-in sheds, 4 large fields, and 16 paddocks, the property is well designed and equipped for raising top quality horses. This is a generational opportunity to purchase a property steeped in the history of the Thoroughbred industry and one that has been completely and thoroughly renovated to present a truly unique turn-key offering to a discerning new steward. Inquiries to Tom Biederman.

1076 Wellington Way Lexington, KY 40513 (859) 277-2030

BiedermanRealEstate.com

Tom Biederman Broker/Auctioneer (859) 312-0606

Thirsting for the perfect location?

With R&D, high-capacity production and very low cost for business, Kentucky’s Bluegrass Region is home to more than 30 global and national food and beverage companies. Like Town Branch® Distillery, part of Lexington’s rich distilling tradition. You’ve set the bar high for your next location. So have we.

There’s no place greater.

locateinlex.com

A TRADITION

SINCE 1981

WORTH BUILDING ON.

|

The right guide does more than

KENTUCKY

remodel a home. They understand

LEXINGTON,

what makes it worth preserving.

For 45 years, BACK Construction has helped Central Kentucky homeowners improve the homes they already know and love. Our employee-owned team brings architecture, design, and construction together under one roof, balancing the home’s original character with the way its owners want to live today. The result is a home that feels familiar, functions better, and still belongs exactly where it is.

PLAN YOUR PROJECT

WITH CONFIDENCE. BACKCONSTRUCTION.COM 859-225-2225

EXPLORE OUR WORK

DESIGN • BUILD • REMODEL 100% EMPLOYEE-OWNED

KENTUCKY

CRAFTED With goods ranging from halters worn by future Kentucky Derby winners to luggage tags and belts, QUILLIN LEATHER & TACK in Paris is the country’s largest custom leather shop

W

By Jarrett Van Meter / Photos by Rick Samuels

hen Ralph Quillin was a junior at Lexington’s Sayre School in 1968, his mother paid for him to take an aptitude test. His family hoped he would follow in his father’s footsteps and become a physician. Yet it was becoming clear that their son’s talents were more artistic in nature. Sure enough, the test, which was more like a battery of tests, deemed he was best suited to be a musician. That itself was a surprise. Quillin had taken piano lessons as a boy and played the saxophone in the Sayre School pep band but had never pursued music seriously or even learned to read sheet music. In a broader sense, though, the results lent confirmation to everyone’s suspicions: His path would, and should, be different. Quillin enrolled at Transylvania University in 1969. After his freshman year,

146 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

he decided to take some time off from his studies and work at The Leather Shop on the second floor of 343 South Limestone. The Leather Shop was run by a young artist couple, Edgar and Brenda Hume, who lived in an adjacent apartment. It wasn’t a music career, but it felt like a fit for Quillin. He liked the mix of technicality and creativity, the total focus required, and the peace that resulted. Edgar Hume became a mentor and together they made sandals, vests, barrettes, and belts.

Longtime Quillin employee Mike Mullins assembles a stallion halter.

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 147

KENTUCKY

CRAFTED

Caption

Ralph Quillin learned the fine leather trade from several masters before opening his own store in downtown Paris in 1982.

Off the clock, the Humes were also renowned for their work in leather sculpture, with pieces included in the Third Spring Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Kentucky Arts Commission’s traveling show, and the Thomas Jefferson Invitational Fair in Louisville. Edgar Hume made soughtafter mugs and flasks, but his specialty was bust-like head statues. The pieces won multiple statewide competitions and commanded sale prices of up to $2,000. They were unique, a niche, and showed Quillin

148 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

what was possible in the form. “He wasn’t a crazy artist, but he was an artist,” Quillin said of Hume. “It kind of suited me, because my mind kind of works the same way. I think artists are all just engineers that weren’t good at math.” Quillin stayed at The Leather Shop for about a year before returning to school. He earned a biology degree from Transy in 1974, then promptly shut the book on a medical career. In short order after graduation he was accepted into the Lexington

Fire Department, got married, and moved to Bourbon County. Quillin worked for the fire department for 23 years, during which his schedule often amounted to one 24-hour shift followed by 48 hours off. Of the two rest days, one was for sleeping, the other went to leather work. It was a means of meditative focus, a nice counterbalance to the stress and stimulation of his shift. In addition to the items he had learned how to make from Hume, his new home in

“

THERE’S NOBODY ELSE THAT MAKES HALTERS THAT CAN SAY PARIS, KENTUCKY; BOURBON COUNTY; BLUEGRASS.” — RALPH QUILLIN

Bourbon County inspired him to try making halters. For the new challenge, he sought out another mentor. This time it was respected leather craftsman Bobby Clem. “The rumor is that he was left as a baby in front of a tack shop in Lexington,” Quillin said jokingly of Clem. “He was beyond a mechanical genius.” For several years in the mid to late 1970s, Quillin used his off days to visit Clem’s shop on Stone Road in Lexington, an old garage that was so small and jampacked that sideways shuffling was the only means of navigating from one side to the other. Just as he had with the Humes on Limestone, Quillin once again felt at home. “There’s some craftsmen that are really neat and organized, the engineers, and then there are the artistic people where it’s like, ‘Well, I think it’s in that pile over there,’ ” he said. “We kind of let our filing system be dictated in layers.” Clem was warm and welcoming, allowing his new protégé to watch over his shoulder as he told stories and pointed out the processes and technical maneuvers that made him, according to Quillin, “probably

the best halter maker we’ve ever had in Kentucky.” Quillin bought a heavy-duty Campbell Bosworth stitcher and went to work on his own, using the 250-pound machine to make halters, backs for needlepoint belts, portfolios, and checkbook covers in the dining room of his house. Like all young businesses, he had to hustle, setting up a booth at events like the Kentucky Three-Day Event and dropping in on downtown shops like Graves, Cox and Company to hawk armfuls of samples. Slowly, steadily, the orders trickled in and his workload increased. By 1982 it was time to move out of his dining room and into a brick-and-mortar location. That September he opened for business on the 800 block of Paris’ Main Street. You can take a walking tour along the timeline since then without making a single turn: five different buildings, all on Main Street. He went from two employees on move-in day in 1982 (his sister, Donna, helped with bookkeeping) to 16 today and from hustling for clients to working relationships with the likes of trainer Kenny McPeek and major horse farm operations Godolphin and Claiborne Farm. Quillin Leather & Tack now receives orders from around the world, including, once, a dog collar from the North Pole. In 2023, the business moved into its current location at 716 Main St., where the front door leads into a showroom lined with displays of halters, dog collars, portfolios, and belts. There are several framed models hanging on the wall, including the casting halter used by Jocelyn Russell for the statue of Secretariat that stands two blocks over in Secretariat Park. Through the sliding glass doors behind the register desk, stretching all the way back to Pleasant Street, is the cavernous workroom.

Quillin Leather & Tack has occupied space on Main Street in Paris for 44 years.

Halters come in six style-specific models that can be modified for individual preferences and needs.

Wallets, catalog covers, and other personal items are made from these leather rolls.

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 149

KENTUCKY

CRAFTED

Clockwise from above left, leather half moons will form part of Quillin stallion halters. Juan Savilla fashions leather straps. Attaching leather to the halter rings requires careful stitching as does working the stitching along the leather straps.

The floor is crowded with work desks, five century-old Campbell Bosworth harness stitchers (there are five more, including Quillin’s first, in storage), three computerized engraving machines, sewing machines, strap cutters, creasers, and gang punchers. It is much larger than Bobby Clem’s shop on Stone Road, but with the exception of the engravers, he could walk in the doors and recognize everything on the floor.

150 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

Quillin often gives tours of the space to friends and visitors. Paris native Buck Woodford, who has been purchasing halters, dog collars, and belts from Quillin for decades, remembers seeing the workroom for the first time and marveling at the analog nature of the operation. “He uses extremely old equipment,” said Woodford. “In almost any business, it seems like they change from the old style of doing things to new modern equipment

that’ll make things better and faster and all that, but he’s built his business on using really old machinery.” Analog machinery and commitment to handcraft remain the business’s bedrock, but the processes around them have modernized thanks in large part to general manager Rob Windels. In 2019, Quillin hired Windels as a bartender at his former Lexington restaurant venture, Oscar Diggs. Only a few months in, Windels moved

www.pariskytourism.com

Experience ce it ALL! L! Horses H orses History History Hospitality ty &

Charm m

806

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 151

KENTUCKY

CRAFTED

Above, nameplates dry under a heat lamp before they are affixed.

Luke Johnson gets ready to dip halters into mineral oil.

into a managerial role, streamlining Oscar Diggs’ offerings from a more seasonal menu to a set roster with a few specials mixed in. He headed up specialty bourbon nights in tandem with Buffalo Trace and ran popular promotions during Pride Month and St. Patrick’s Day. His capacity for both creative thinking and technical execution impressed Quillin, who, in 2020, called Windels with another offer, this time to come work in Paris. Windels started at Quillin Leather & Tack that September, and like at Oscar Diggs, he came armed with ideas. “The restaurant and the horse business are two completely different things, but I kind of had a little insurance from the good

152 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

Left, a nameplate gets some final tooling.

suggestions that I made at the restaurant, so he was willing to embrace some of the ideas,” said Windels. They included weekly and biweekly inventories, a new organization system, and specific product offerings with the option for modification rather than a complete bottom-to-top build. Before Windels’ arrival, customers would call in for a halter order and a customer service team member would

ask a series of questions: Did they want a lined nose? Did they want an English or a standard chin? Did they want a throat snap? “All these different options that were kind of like an à la carte way to order a halter,” Windels said. They decided to expand the baseline offerings from the two original halters (sale and turnout) to six style-specific models (four sales, two turnouts), then allow

Thursday, November 12th, 2026 In affiliation with Keeneland and Cross Gate Gallery Featuring Fine Sporting Art, American Paintings and Sculpture KEENELAND RACECOURSE | LEXINGTON, KY For more information, visit:

www.thesportingartauction.com

KENTUCKY

CRAFTED customers to modify those based on specific needs and preferences. The four current sale models are the Kentucky (lined nose, English chin), the Claiborne (double buckle crown, stationary chin), the Old Friends (lined nose, adjustable chin), and the Classic (double buckle crown, adjustable chin). The two current turnout models are the Bourbon (double buckle crown, stationary chin) and the Quillin (double buckle crown, adjustable throat). (Additionally, noted Quillin, they offer base track and stallion halter models.)

“

I THINK ARTISTS ARE ALL JUST ENGINEERS THAT WEREN’T GOOD AT MATH.” — RALPH QUILLIN

The new system makes it easier for both customers and staff, said Windels. “They can pick whatever size they want in that particular style and hopefully it makes what they’re looking for a little easier to navigate to,” he said. “From an operation standpoint, it makes running inventory a lot more manageable. We can run it by style versus by just making up a whole bunch of different halters and hope that they have a certain amount of this one or a certain amount of that one.” Hundreds of finished halters hang

154 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

Quillin uses old-fashioned sewing machines and other vintage equipment to create his halters and other products. Above, he keeps a parts catalog for the equipment he uses.

Clockwise from above, Lisa Reed works on a belt; belt loops; catalog covers and other personal leather goods; a belt pattern stamp.

from the wall at the front of the workroom. Each style has its own row, each size its own column. This idea was part of Windels’ “visual inventory” system. It allows employees to look at the wall and develop a pretty good idea of what they might be working on that week and in future weeks because if one style is running low, they can make more. If there is a surplus of another, they can run a promotion. The result has been what Quillin says is between an 8% and a 10% growth rate year

over year. Other modernizations, like, say, an answering machine, will have to wait. “You’re always going to talk to a human,” he said. The purposeful lack of voicemail is symbolic of his commitment to customer service, but also to being part of a small community where everyone knows where to find you. Since his first advertisement in BloodHorse magazine in the early ’80s, he has always been quick to tie his business to Paris. The reasons are manifold. It is not uncommon for customers on

their way to one of the nearby breeding outfits to pull into the parking lot, occupied horse trailer in tow, for short-order nameplate items. But beyond commercial practicality, Bourbon County is part of the shop’s story. It’s where Ralph Quillin began making halters five decades ago, where he built his life and his business, and where he has stayed. For that, he has been rewarded. “There’s nobody else that makes halters that can say Paris, Kentucky; Bourbon County; Bluegrass,” he said. “There’s nobody.” KM

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 155

Estate Homes

Equine Farms & Facilities

859-229-0180

Historic Restorations

@heller_built

heller-built.com

Online Auction BIDDING STARTS THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22 @ 12 NOON

and ends

SUNDAY, OCToBEr 25, 2026 @ 7 P.M. ALL PROCEEDS BENEFIT

FOR MORE INFORMATION VISIT WWW.BGFCKY.ORG or call (859) 219-0910

AUCTION POWERED BY

Experience E Kentucky entucky ExperienceKentucky xperience K WineCountry W ine C ountry Wine Country

Visit isitTalon TalonWinery Winery VisitTalonWinery V inLexingtonorShelbyvillefor n Lexington iin Lexington or or Shelbyville Shelbyville for for award-winningwines, ward-winning w aaward-winning wines, ines, bbeautifulvineyardviews, eautiful vineyard beautiful vineyard views, views, &unforgettableexperiences. & unforgettable unforgettable experiences. experiences. Lexington 086TaatesCreekRoad ates tes C Creek Road oad Lexington|7086T L exington | 77086 reek R Shelbyville Gordon Lane SShelbyville|400GordonLane helbyville | 4400 00 G ordon Lane

Open Daily forTastings 158 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

Mention ention tthe he word word E Equestrian MentionthewordEquestrianateither M questrian aatt eeither ither locationtoredeemyourexclusive ocation ttoo rredeem llocation edeem your your exclusive exclusive Keenelandoffer. K ffer. Keeneland eeneland ooffer.

Melinda D ake Featu ed P ope ties

LEXINGTON | LOUISVILLE bluegrasshospitality.com

Subscribe to

K EENELAND MAGAZINE

for just $20/year keenelandmagazine.com

St. Hubert’s Episcopal Church Experience the beauty of traditional Anglican liturgy and hymns in a peaceful church surrounded by the rolling countryside of Lexington. Sunday Service — 10:30 a.m. Coffee hour follows the service.

1436 Grimes Mill Rd. Lexington, Kentucky 40515 sthubertsky.org

162 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

ESTABLISHED 1881

·

VERSAILLES, KENTUCKY

TAKE THE WHOLE HOUSE. Opened in 1881 by a chartered Kentucky stock company, its proprietor a turfman whose partner John Rodegap trained Spokane — the fastest Kentucky Derby winner at the race’s original distance. Eight suites sleep twenty-four under one key — and around the corner, the Amsden Bourbon Bar pours in the building where the first shareholders collected their stock certificates.

Eight minutes from Keeneland · Now booking the 2027 Spring Meet and Derby Week.

THE WOODFORD HOTEL 112 NORTH MAIN STREET · VERSAILLES, KY 40383 (502) 717-1657 · WOODFORDHOTELKY.COM

Photography © Diane Deaton Street

BOOK DIRECT

164 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

Winning CO NCE PT

Successful culinary partners bring foodcraft and hospitality to BLACK SQUIRREL in Versailles By Rob Bolson Photos by Pat McDonogh

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 165

PHOTO CREDIT

Winning

Executive chef Cole Arimes brings culinary chops to Black Squirrel.

In 166 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

DOWNTOWN VERSAILLES, where historic brick buildings line Main Street and horse country tradition runs deep, a new restaurant is drawing diners from across Central Kentucky. Located at 175 North Main St., Black Squirrel is more than just the latest “must visit” dining destination — it is the newest expression of one of the region’s most respected culinary partnerships. Black Squirrel, which opened in February, is the latest concept by the Caliber Group Dining family of restaurants owned by acclaimed chef Cole Arimes and his business partner and uncle, Richard Turnbull. Together, the

duo has spent more than a decade building some of Lexington’s most celebrated dining establishments. Now they are bringing their passion for hospitality, Kentucky heritage, and exceptional food to Woodford County with a concept that

Left, customers enjoy breakfast, lunch, or brunch. Above, Richard Turnbull is Arimes’ business partner in several restaurant endeavors.

is generating excitement among breakfast, brunch, and lunch enthusiasts. For Arimes, Black Squirrel represents both a return to the fundamentals of hospitality and an opportunity to create something distinctly Kentucky.

CELEBRATED CHEF Few chefs have had a greater impact on Lexington’s dining scene over the past decade than Arimes. The Lexington native honed his craft through years of culinary experience in Cincinnati at places such as the high-end steak-

house Chester’s Roadhouse, the upscale casual Trio, and Embers, a steak, seafood, and sushi restaurant. When Arimes got the opportunity to head his own restaurant in his hometown, he returned to open Coles 735 Main in 2012. The restaurant quickly established itself as one of the city’s premier dining destinations, known for its creative cuisine, impeccable service, and commitment to local ingredients. The restaurant’s wine program has earned recognition from Wine Spectator. Arimes’ reputation continued to grow

with the subsequent success of Epping’s on Eastside, a stylish and innovative restaurant named after the former John G. Epping Bottling Plant where the restaurant is located. Known for imaginative menus, elevated comfort food, and a welcoming atmosphere, Epping’s has become a favorite among locals and visitors alike. Over the years, Arimes has been repeatedly recognized among Lexington’s top chefs, earning praise for his ability to blend sophisticated culinary techniques with approachable Kentucky hospitality. The accolades attest to Arimes’ deep family connections to the culinary world. His uncle was Major Douglas, who owned and operated two long-ago Lexington restaurants: Grecian Gardens and the downtown diner Brandy’s Kitchen. His grandfather owned and operated a neighborhood market, Arimes Market, on the

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 167

Winning CON C O N CEP CE C E PT PT corner of Cramer and Walton avenues in its day. Arimes’ philosophy has always centered on quality ingredients, thoughtful preparation, and creating memorable guest experiences. That approach has helped him establish a loyal following that eagerly anticipates every new project he undertakes. Case in point is his involvement in The V at The Vine, a recent addition to Lexington’s upscale restaurant scene. Managing four high-profile eateries can be demanding. Arimes notes that he divides his time as the demands of the day dictate. “I wake up in the morning, and I go to wherever the first fire is and depending on how long that fire takes to put out, that is how I spend the rest of my day,” he said.

PARTNERSHIP BEHIND THE SUCCESS While Arimes often receives much of the public attention, the success of his restaurants is equally a reflection of the enduring partnership he shares with Turnbull. Turnbull has been an integral part of every major venture the pair has undertaken, starting with Coles 735 Main. Their collaboration combines Arimes’ culinary creativity with Turnbull’s operational expertise and deep understanding of hospitality. Their shared commitment to hospitality has helped create restaurants known not only for outstanding food but also for genuine warmth and service. That same philosophy is evident at Black Squirrel. Guests are welcomed into a beautifully restored historic building that feels simultaneously elegant and approachable — the hallmark of the

168 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

Shanda Toadvine takes food orders from Kandace Debolt (left), Casey Kight (center), and Christina Wells (right).

Black Squirrel’s menu explains the origins of the restaurant’s name.

Winning CON C O N CEP CE C E PT PT Arimes-Turnbull approach to restaurant development. Built in 1901, the building previously served as home to Spark Community Kitchen, a café and nonprofit food kitchen for the food insecure. Since its opening, Arimes says Black Squirrel has received great community support, especially from the Versailles Chamber of Commerce, and is also becoming a popular dining spot for tour groups visiting horse farms and bourbon distilleries.

STORY BEHIND THE NAME One of the most intriguing aspects of the new restaurant is its distinctive name. Black Squirrel is named after a legendary local Saddlebred stallion from the 1870s noted for his full squirrel-like tail and who played a significant role in the development of the American Saddlebred breed. Celebrated as one of the breed’s greatest sires, Black Squirrel sired more than 1,000 foals, leaving a lasting mark on Kentucky’s equestrian heritage. Turnbull discovered the horse’s name and rich history while browsing a copy of the “History of Woodford County.” “The American Saddlebred was the sports car of the day,” Turnbull noted. From war horses to Olympic athletes, the American Saddlebred has played a vital role in the history of the United States. A painting of Black Squirrel hangs over the restaurant’s fireplace. The inviting space is also filled with prominent examples of the breed. While the Thoroughbred is perhaps the most well-known breed in the world, “the horse America made” — the

170 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

In an homage to the restaurant’s namesake, lithographs of Saddlebreds and other equine memorabilia decorate Black Squirrel.

BLACK SQUIRREL 175 North Main St., Versailles, Kentucky 40383 Hours: 8 a.m.-2:30 p.m., Wednesday-Saturday. Friday dinner every other month. Closed Monday and Tuesday. (859) 682-5085 blacksquirrelky.com

American Saddlebred — is known for being athletic, proud, spirited, beautiful, versatile, and gentle. The connection is especially meaningful to Turnbull, whose family has ties to the horse’s legacy. Turnbull’s stepdaughters, Katherine and Sarah Prewitt, are descendants of Wilmore Garrett and his brother, Joseph Garrett, who owned and operated the breeding operation where Black Squirrel stood at stud. The farm, Highland Place, remains in the family

Winning CON C O N CEP CE C E PT PT

Above, chef de cuisine Olivia Jackson (left) and general manager Holly Hampton enjoy a light moment. Left, popular dishes include, from top, chicken and waffles, Philly cheesesteak, and Nutella-filled beignets.

today and is operated by Joseph Garrett’s great-great-granddaughter, Martha Prewitt. By choosing the name Black Squirrel, the partners sought to honor the deep history of Versailles and Woodford County while creating a restaurant that feels rooted in the community. The name Black Squirrel also serves as a reminder that Kentucky’s story extends beyond bourbon and basketball. It reflects the region’s deep connection to horses, agriculture, and tradition— elements that continue to shape the character of Versailles today.

HISTORIC CHARM Black Squirrel the restaurant occupies its own place squarely in the center of Versailles’ ongoing downtown renaissance. The space combines historic

172 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

charm with contemporary comfort. Exposed brick, warm finishes, and inviting dining areas create an atmosphere that feels equally suited for a casual weekday breakfast, a leisurely business lunch, or a weekend brunch gathering with friends. The location reflects the partners’ appreciation for historic properties. Just as Coles 735 Main and Epping’s on Eastside transformed Lexington landmarks into celebrated restaurants, Black Squirrel embraces the history of its building while giving it fresh life and purpose. Arimes was initially reluctant to take on a fourth restaurant endeavor in opening Black Squirrel, but Turnbull persuaded him to look at the Versailles location when it became available. “I didn’t really want to [do it],” Arimes said. “However, Richard came to me and said, ‘Hey, I found this great location in

Versailles. We should go take a look at it.’ I really didn’t want to, but the moment I walked in the door, I said, ‘Hey, the location, the building, the wood floors … Here we go.” One of the attractions to the space and the Versailles community was that “things are going on. We’re really happy where we are,” said Arimes. “Richard and I strongly believe in taking an old space and giving it a new life. If you find a place that has good bones, it is hard to beat it.”

NEXT-LEVEL SOUTHERN COMFORT While Black Squirrel’s setting is impressive, the food is what keeps guests returning. The vibe is simple: delicious homemade food and superb service in a serene setting. Black Squirrel focuses on breakfast, brunch, and lunch, offering a menu built around modern Southern comfort food and locally inspired ingredients. “Breakfast is near and dear to me,” Arimes noted. “It is the first thing I ever learned how to cook.” No surprise, breakfast lovers will find plenty of options to satisfy most any craving. Traditional favorites receive thoughtful upgrades, including eggs Benedict, the breakfast burrito, and customizable omelets. Diners seeking something more indulgent can enjoy signature offerings such as the cured salmon avocado toast, steak and eggs, or the breakfast hot brown, a Kentuckyinspired creation featuring homemade biscuits, sausage gravy, bacon, tomatoes, eggs, and shaved Parmesan. The restaurant’s sausage, from the Jake’s Fresh Country Sausage brand, is especially noteworthy, tracing its origin to a popular truck stop in Bardstown,

Black Squirrel’s full bar includes such libations as the Kentucky cosmo, left, and the yellow daydream.

Kentucky, and described by Food & Wine magazine as “some of the best sausage in the country.” Brunch enthusiasts also rave about dishes like the biscuits and gravy, chicken and waffles, and the classic Reuben sandwich. Fresh ingredients, house-

made components, and careful attention to detail elevate familiar favorites into memorable dining experiences. Lunch offerings continue the theme. Guests can choose from a selection of sandwiches, salads, and Southerninspired specialties. Highlights include the

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 173

Winning CON C O N CEP CE C E PT PT chicken salad club, the candied BLT, and a popular Philly cheesesteak developed by chef de cuisine Olivia Jackson as well as fresh salads that showcase seasonal ingredients and vibrant flavors. There is also a rotating soup of the day. Other favorites include the smash burger, chorizo hash, crab cakes, and hot honey fried chicken biscuit, and diners appreciate the variety of menu options for children. The cozy atmosphere and friendly and attentive staff enhance the overall dining experience.

WORTH THE DRIVE In an era when many restaurants attempt to be everything to everyone, Black Squirrel succeeds by focusing on

Menus and a set table are ready for a large party of diners. Right, a group enjoys conversation as they await lunch.

174 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

Linda Henson looks over the menu.

what it does best. The restaurant offers a compelling combination of award-winning culinary talent, deep Kentucky roots, exceptional hospitality, and a menu designed to make mornings and afternoons memorable. Whether visitors arrive for a quick breakfast before work, a relaxed lunch with colleagues, or a leisurely weekend brunch, they will discover a restaurant

that reflects the best qualities of Central Kentucky dining. For longtime fans of Arimes and Turnbull, Black Squirrel represents the next chapter in a remarkable hospitality story. For first-time visitors, it offers an introduction to why these restaurateurs have become among the most respected names in Kentucky’s restaurant industry. For Versailles, it provides another reason why the vibrant downtown has become an exciting destination in the Bluegrass. The legendary horse that inspired the restaurant’s name helped shape Kentucky history. Today, Black Squirrel is helping shape its culinary future — one breakfast, brunch, and lunch at a time. KM

WOODFORD COUNTY, KY

BIRTHPLACE OF BOURBON WHERE WORLD-CLASS TRADITION MEETS SMALL-TOWN SOUL.

Woodford County is where bourbon history began-and where Kentucky’s timeless charm still thrives. Stroll the storied streets of Versailles and Midway, where historic downtowns buzz with boutique shops, chef-driven restaurants, and the friendly faces.

Come for the bourbon. Stay for the experience. Woodford County – where every sip, step, and smile tells a story.

JUST MINUTES FROM LEXINGTON

VisitWoodford.com | App: Visit Woodford | Social: @VisitWoodford

Bring History to the Table Kentucky’s Historic Dining Guide is your go-to travelog for historic dining venues throughout the Bluegrass. Showcasing locally owned restaurants within buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places, you can explore the state’s vibrant history while enjoying an eclectic mix of delicious cuisine. Scan the code and begin your fascinating food journey today.

Scan to learn more kentuckytourism.com/kyhistoricdiningguide Brothers Restaurant, Campbellsville

Main Street Sweet Treats & Eats, Dawson Springs Harlan County Beer Company, Harlan

Holly Hill Inn, Midway Lisse Steakhuis, Covington

Famous Bistro, Owensboro

The latest venture from Cross Gate Gallery, featuring rare horse racing trophies, awards, and memorabilia from the sport's most celebrated owners, breeders, jockeys, and racetracks.

LEXINGTON, KENTUCKY

rd

Thursday, December 3 , 2026 theracingmemorabiliaauction.com Cross Gate Gallery | 431 Old Vine St. Lexington, KY 40507 859.233.3856, info@crossgategallery.com

“My 24-year-old Thoroughbred, Dylan, broke his leg (Olecranon fracture) in May. My vets were amazed at the quick progress after we started Dylan on OCD Pellets. They said the improvement was remarkable and were impressed that he was still alive! Thank you, Doc’s and OCD Pellets.

May 7

August 24

YOU SAVED MY HORSE DYLAN’S LIFE.” —

Carolyn Hauck LMT, CMLDT

*Testimonial and x-rays provided by client and printed with permission.

alpha security & transportation logistics discrete. elite. secure. info@astlky.com

www.astlky.com

lexington, ky 180 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

+1 (859) 605-3578

STRENGTH. GRACE. ELECTRIFIED. In Kentucky horse country, true performance requires a balance of strength and grace. Built for every journey, the all-new, all-electric 2026 Volvo EX60 offers up to 400 miles of range, ultra-fast charging, 4,500 pounds of towing capability, and seamless access to thousands of chargers nationwide.

1 49 0 Ea s t N e w Ci rc l e R d L ex in g t on , KY 4 0 5 0 9 w w w. q u a n t re l l v o l vo car s .c om | 85 9 - 2 6 6 - 2 1 6 1 P12 AWD estimated range up to 400 miles; P10 AWD up to 330 miles; P6 RWD up to 307 miles. Actual range will vary based on driving habits, ambient temperature, battery age, cargo, and wheel size. Fast-charging claim requires 350kW+ DC fast charger; actual charging times will vary. Maximum towing capacity requires optional factory trailer hitch and proper equipment. ©2026 Volvo Car USA LLC. The Volvo name and logo are registered trademarks of Volvo.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE RETIRED RACEHORSE PROJECT

182 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

AllAround Athletes T H E R E T I R E D R AC E H O R S E P R O J E C T S H OW CAS E S T H E V E R S AT I L I T Y OF THOROUGHBREDS B E Y O N D R AC I N G By Liane Crossley Photos by Captivation Media

Winning a division of the annual Thoroughbred Makeover is a goal for many who take on retraining former racehorses.

KEENELAND.COM

K FALL 2026 183

MAKING A DIFFERENCE RETIRED RACEHORSE PROJECT

Caption

Thoroughbreds demonstrate their versatility in a variety of environments.

D

His vision began in 2009 with the Retired Racehorse Training Symposium, which obtained charitable status as the Retired Racehorse Project a year later. The organization is best known for the annual Thoroughbred Makeover held at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington in October. The competition showcases Thoroughbreds in categories ranging from traditional jumping and dressage to

184 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

ranch work and trail challenges. The long weekend includes vendors, retraining clinics, seminars, and opportunities to purchase designated entrants. The Makeover has become synonymous with its billing as the world’s largest competition for recently retired racehorses including high-profile runners with fan followings. Pittman is not overly surprised at the results of his idea.

RETIRED RACEHORSE PROJECT

uring his years of retraining off-track Thoroughbreds, Steuart Pittman saw a need to promote the breed as sport and pleasure horses capable of virtually anything when properly placed. Thoroughbreds’ popularity had dwindled as riders moved to other breeds, and Pittman wanted to expand the market for former racehorses.

Lifelong horseman Steuart Pittman founded the Retired Racehorse Project.

Best in Aesthetic s & Weight Loss 2026 Medical Aesthetics | Peptides | Hormone Replacement | Concierge Medicine Body Contouring | Weight Loss | Laser Skin Treatments | Skin Care

Book Now 859.904.5274 |124 Clay Ave Lexington, KY 40502 | hourglassmedspa.com

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

RETIRED RACEHORSE PROJECT

RETIRED RACEHORSE PROJECT

Kirsten Green is the executive director of the Retired Racehorse Project.

Participants in the Thoroughbred Makeover get acquainted with the Kentucky Horse Park, where the event has been conducted since 2015.

“When 350 people from 10 states showed up for our little Retired Racehorse Training Symposium in 2009 in Maryland, I knew that Thoroughbred lovers were yearning for connection, collaboration, education, visibility, and support for their retraining and rehoming efforts,” he said. “We just needed to build the organization to support the movement.”

PITTMAN PAST AND PRESENT Pittman was destined to be a Thoroughbred advocate. As part of his family’s eighth generation raised on Dodon Farm in Davidsonville, Maryland, he admired the neighbors’ Thoroughbreds used for foxhunting and other riding. He grew up in activities centered on jumping and in high school competed on an off-track Thoroughbred (OTTB). An idealist and

186 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

visionary, Pittman went to college, where he gravitated toward politics and left the horse world behind. He held several community-based positions in Iowa and Chicago until reaching a turning point in a sojourn to Dodon Farm. Back in the saddle after 10 years, Pittman became so enamored with one of his father’s mounts that he considered taking the horse with him to Iowa. But rather

than move the horse out of state, Pittman opted to move himself and his young family home in 1990. He divided his time between commuting to Washington, D.C., and retraining OTTBs for resale. Eventually, the barn beat out the boardroom in his decision to focus on horses, and he became a sought-after purveyor of properly reschooled Thoroughbreds whose racing days were over. During these years, Pittman leaned into politics again as a member (and four-year president) of the Maryland Horse Council, where his assignments included legislative lobbying. The experience helped inspire him to host what would become the RRP — the aforementioned demonstration and seminar on racehorse retraining at a rented facility. Bolstered by the large turnout after

“

MAKEOVER ELIGIBILITY IS A SELLING POINT ON THE BACKSIDE OF EVERY THOROUGHBRED TRACK IN AMERICA.” —STEUART PITTMAN, FOUNDER OF THE RETIRED RACEHORSE PROJECT

The art of equine care.

WHEN you’ve practiced veterinary medicine as long as Hagyard, you understand it is as much of an art as it

is a science. This is especially true as the racing schedule ramps up and the subtleties of each horse’s care during training and competition become more nuanced. With over 50 masterful veterinarians, we can ensure each case is evaluated and treated with the in-depth care and focus your horse deserves. Call us, so that your horse can be the picture of health season after season.

Hagyard.com / 859.255.8741 Advanced Imaging • Surgery • Emergency & Critical Care • Reproduction & Fertility • Performance Medicine & Lameness • Ophthalmology • Laboratory

MAKING A DIFFERENCE RETIRED RACEHORSE PROJECT

only word-of-mouth advertising, Pittman began hosting similar presentations prior to the official RRP gaining charitable status in 2010. Its flagship Thoroughbred Makeover launched in 2013 at Pimlico Race Course before relocating to the Kentucky Horse Park in 2015. The Makeover punctuated Pittman’s vision to rebrand Thoroughbreds as reliable mounts versus their reputation as high-strung animals suited only for speed. The RRP highlights the breed’s other attributes, including athleticism, intelligence, courage, and beauty, to horse people who had never considered owning a steed created for racing. The Makeover eligibility requirement to have recent race records or official workouts has evolved into a selling point for

young Thoroughbreds needing reschooling. Fresh-from-the-track racehorses who previously might have been overlooked because they required too much retraining now are touted as Makeover prospects. “Makeover eligibility is a selling point on the backside of every Thoroughbred track in America,” Pittman said. “And by offering competition in 10 different horse sports at the Makeover, we guaranteed that the reach on the sport horse world would be broad. Maybe the most important driver of demand has been the young [nonracing] trainers who did the Makeover and got hooked on ex-racehorses. They keep on training, and the trained ex-racehorses move on to good new homes.” With his mission accomplished in a relatively short time, Pittman returned to

politics full time in 2018 and was elected county executive in his home county of Anne Arundel, where the 2026 Preakness Stakes was held at Laurel Park. Reelected to the position in 2022, Pittman has kept ties to the RRP as a board member emeritus. “Being a county executive for 600,000 is a busy gig, and I did have a blast hosting the Preakness,” he said. “The last time I sat on a horse was for a campaign ad in 2022 with Maryland Gov. Wes Moore.” Pittman confidently left his RRP position to Jen Roytz, who was named executive director in early 2018 after serving on the board of directors. With Roytz at the reins, the RRP grew, most notably with the Makeover and with nationwide clinics demonstrating retraining techniques to horse enthusiasts with

At the Thoroughbred Makeover, former racehorses get the opportunity to display attributes such as athleticism, intelligence, and courage.

188 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

EXPLORE KENTUCKY MAIN STREETS

Bardstown • Beattyville • Campbellsville • Carrollton • Guthrie • Grayson • LaGrange • Maysville Middlesboro • Morehead • Murray • Paducah • Perryville • Pikeville • Pineville • Salyersville • Scottsville Shelbyville • Springfield • Taylorsville • Tri-Cities (Cumberland, Benham, & Lynch) • Williamsburg Scan & Go!

MAKING A DIFFERENCE RETIRED RACEHORSE PROJECT

various equestrian backgrounds. In 2021 Roytz stepped down to concentrate on operating Brownstead Farm — a small breeding operation in Versailles, Kentucky — with her husband, Dr. Stuart Brown, Keeneland’s vice president of equine safety. She spends much of her time in the saddle retraining OTTBs. Roytz’s successor is Kirsten Green, who began as a volunteer at the Pimlico Makeover before becoming the organization’s first full-time employee in 2015. She also is a member of the Maryland Racing Commission. “I’m most proud that the organization thrived after I left,” Pittman said. “Board members like Carolyn Karlson, who was there from the start; Jen Roytz; and Kirsten Green, who was the first person I hired in the early days and now is the boss. They all stepped up and now there are people doing the work that I don’t even know. That’s success.”

190 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

Clockwise from above, Makeover categories include ranch work, barrel racing, and polo. Participants also can demonstrate their prowess in dressage, eventing, and jumping among the 10 disciplines.

THOROUGHBRED INCENTIVE PROGRAM

T

horoughbreds often compete at

racing or breeding in a wide array of cate-

regional shows limited to their own

gories from jumping to in-hand classes.

kind and open shows against all breeds.

The awards recognize Thoroughbreds

Regardless of the venue, those registered

that accumulate the most points each

with The Jockey Club’s Thoroughbred

year throughout the U.S. and Canada. In

Incentive Program (T.I.P.) are eligible

2025, 615 Thoroughbreds from 44 states

for monetary prizes, ribbons, and other

and six provinces competed in more than

merch such as coolers, tote bags, and

13,000 classes, divisions, and events.

apparel. Begun in 2012, T.I.P. encourages

Awards are provided by Thoroughbred

retraining upon completion of careers in

Charities of America.

MAKING A DIFFERENCE

ERIN GILMORE PHOTOGRAPHY PHOTOS

RETIRED RACEHORSE PROJECT

Patou Road, a graduate of two Keeneland sales, and Marty Riney won the 2025 Makeover dressage division.

KEENELAND CONNECTIONS The Thoroughbred Makeover offers more than $100,000 in prize money from title sponsor Thoroughbred Charities of America and others, including Keeneland and major Thoroughbred farms (see box for list). The 2025 edition had nearly 300 entrants, with many horses that had raced or sold at Keeneland including half of the 10 divisional winners. Field hunter winner Street Ready, an auction graduate and graded stakes-placed winner at

Keeneland, epitomizes the RRP’s mission. At the Makeover he was guided by Kara Lee, who was his exercise rider during her 10 years in that occupation. “He was one of the horses that I felt married to,” she said. “I rode him every day since he was a 2-year-old. He was easy to fall in love with.” Street Ready changed hands via the claiming ranks at age 6 in 2023 before closing his 31-race career the next season at Gulfstream

Above, Keeneland sales graduate Late Night Cruiser and Rebekah Vernon won the show jumper division. Right, Street Ready, the field hunter winner, placed in the Transylvania Stakes and earned more than $335,000.

192 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

Park with his fifth victory and a $335,077 bankroll. His Keeneland record includes an allowance race victory and a second-place finish in the grade 3 Transylvania Stakes. He was channeled through Second Stride, the Crestwood, Kentucky, adoption center with which Lee works closely. They knew that Street Ready was on Lee’s “watch list,” and the two were reunited in the spring of 2025. “He’s always been an ‘old soul,’ wise beyond his years, never any funny business,” she said. “Plus, it makes retraining easier when they were a talented racehorse.” Soon after the Makeover, Lee sold Street Ready as a foxhunter. “He gets to do what he enjoyed doing at the Makeover,” she said. With a full-time job as a credit analyst for an agricultural lending company, Lee maintains her ties to racing by networking with trainers to rehome Thoroughbreds. She has seen an increased demand for them thanks in part to the RRP and the Makeover. “Monetarily, it has increased their value tremendously,” Lee said. “They have made a comeback in the show hunter world where it had been so strongly pursued by warmbloods. I never thought that I could sell a horse with just a year of retraining for so much — especially a Thoroughbred in Kentucky where it is

OAK RIDGE TRAINING CENTER

FLORIDA’S PREMIER THOROUGHBRED TRAINING FACILITY

Lighted 1 mile dirt track & 7/8 mile turf course Endless Amenities: 11 Kraft eurocisers, Kraft acquaciser, 4 Vitafloors, 3 swim ponds, ECB cold saltwater spa, abundant turnout paddocks, and more!

Steven Wood served as Del Mar’s Track Foreman and Trackside Maintenance Manager until May 2025 when he relocated to Florida with his family to become Oak Ridge’s Track Superintendent.

Big Lick Stall Rental at

Oak Ridge Training Center

WWW.BIGLICK.COM

OCALA, FL

352.441.9401

MAKING A DIFFERENCE RETIRED RACEHORSE PROJECT

oversaturated with Thoroughbreds. “People now are much more open to including Thoroughbreds into other disciplines,” she continued. “They [the horses] are very strong in English-based disciplines. And people are using them for cattle work; some of them are really ‘cowy.’ I try to restart them with cattle because they have heart; they will do anything. They might not be as good at something, but they will give their all every time.” Another dual Keeneland-connected Makeover hero is Battle Born. A Keeneland September yearling, he went winless in 19 starts, including three tries at Keeneland, before becoming the best of the Makeover barrel racers. His rider, Elizabeth King, specializes in American Quarter Horses for the sport but notes that Battle Born is more versatile. “My Quarter Horses can only do that one thing [but with Battle Born] I can jump him, do horsemanship patterns, everything,” King said. “When I got him, I didn’t even know he was Makeover-eligible until the seller mentioned it. I did some research and decided it sounded like the most fun thing ever.” Patou Road, a graduate of two Keeneland sales and a one-time winner, captured the dressage division with Marty Riney in the saddle. “My favorite part of the week was just getting to spend time with him and getting to see all of the different Thoroughbreds and how versatile they are and all they can do,” Riney said. Jumping category winners Late Night Cruiser and Mentha both emerged from Keeneland sales. The former had no wins from five attempts on the track, and Mentha was unraced. “The Makeover has really opened people’s eyes that Thoroughbreds can do other things,” Lee said. “They are still valuable. Just because they had a career before another career doesn’t mean they are less valuable.” KM

194 FALL 2026 K KEENELAND.COM

THOROUGHBRED MAKEOVER SPONSORS • Airdrie Stud • Baird Private Wealth Management

• Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association

• Bourbon Lane Stable

• Magnawave

• CANTER (Communication Alliance

• Magnus Magnetica Animal Medical

to Network Thoroughbred ExRacehorses) • Claiborne Farm • Copper Beech Stable • Godolphin Lifetime Care • Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation • GS-JJ Custom Products • Jones Walker Equine Law • Keeneland

Equipment • Masters of Foxhounds Association of North America • National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association • New Vocations • Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association • Thoroughbred Charities of America (title sponsor)

• Kentucky Thoroughbred Association

• U.S. Eventing Association

• Juddmonte

• Wasabi Aftercare Fund

• Lane’s End

• WinStar

Retraining or rehoming an ex-racerhorse can foster strong bonds between trainer and horse.