Nestled up on “The Hill” at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Ky., is a haven of horse racing history, a small stone structure that contains literal multitudes. Inside are photographs, books, magazines, and more, each sharing a line from the story of a sport. This is the Keeneland Library.

Keeneland Library (Anne M. Eberhardt/BloodHorse)

Lexington has been home to horses and racing since the city’s earliest days in the late 18^th century. The Kentucky Association racetrack, the precursor to Keeneland, was founded around 1828 and served as the area’s racing hub until its closure in 1933. In 1935, a group of horsemen, including Hal Price Headley, formed the Keeneland Association, a non-profit organization that sought a new location for racing in the Lexington area, and purchased the former Keeneland Farm from breeder Jack Keene. Within a year, Keeneland Race Course with its signature limestone exterior and vast green spaces was open, rapidly becoming an integral part of both racing and sales in the United States.

In 1939, William Arnold Hanger, a member of Keeneland’s board of directors, donated what became the nucleus of the Keeneland Library, a 2,000-volume collection that once belonged to Robert James Turnbull, a New York lawyer and sportsman. Other racing luminaries like Robert Gerry soon contributed more books and other ephemera and thus the Keeneland Library was born.

In 2002, the library’s current home on “The Hill” opened to the public, its cathedral ceilings, large windows, and rich wood accents inviting patrons in as they enter one of the world’s largest repositories of Thoroughbred racing history. This 10,000-square-foot facility houses a collection that includes “more than 30,000 books, 25 million pages of industry newspapers and magazines, and five million photographs that chronicle all aspects of the Thoroughbred industry, past and present,” according to Keeneland Library Director Roda Ferraro.

Racing’s Black Pioneers Exhibit at the Keeneland Library (Keeneland/Photos by Z)

The Library’s main level houses a significant portion of books on all facets of racing plus bound volumes of The BloodHorse, The Thoroughbred Record, The Spirit of the Times, and other periodicals. Its basement houses climate-controlled storage areas with everything from Charles Cook’s century-old collection of glass negative plates to artifacts like a blanket that Nashua used at Belmont Park. Open to the public, the Keeneland Library fields research requests from around the world and across the spectrum of Thoroughbred breeding and racing.

Need a photograph of Man o’ War or Secretariat? The Library has hundreds. Want to know more about jockey Eddie Arcaro? Find an extensive collection of articles about the Hall of Famer plus chart books and other reference materials for his career statistics.

For decades, people from all facets of the sport – fans, bloodstock agents, turf writers, and more – have been able to access the library’s extensive resources. At the heart of the work is “the dedication of librarians who spent decades growing and preserving the collections and working with researchers, the public, racing fans, horse farms, and racetracks year-round to connect the library’s global patrons to our collections.”

In addition to working with patrons on their research queries, the Keeneland Library also invests in outreach and education, with the goal of connecting the sport with the broader community. These educational programs include the Keeneland Library Lecture Series, where authors of recently published equine books discuss their work on a range of subjects from the sport’s history to fiction set in the world of horse racing; “The Heart of the Turf: Racing’s Black Pioneers,” a traveling exhibit and companion book which explores the lives and contributions that African Americans have made to racing; and “Starting Gate Storytime,” a monthly event for younger learners that “fosters early literacy, appreciation of the horse, and industry awareness,” Ferraro shared.  

Breeders’ Cup Exhibit at Keeneland in 2022. (BloodHorse/Corrie McCroskey)

This essential resource works not only with patrons directly but also with a multitude of organizations inside and outside the sport. Its collections have been a part of programs at museums and libraries around the world, from the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame to Presidential libraries and national parks.

“If horse racing or breeding is featured in an exhibit or industry educational materials anywhere, chances are that content came from Keeneland Library,” Ferraro said.

The library’s immense collections acquired over more than eight decades have made this repository a vital part of this global sport.

How can fans and industry participants support the Keeneland Library and its programs? Attending ticketed events like the Lecture Series and others bring in proceeds that benefit the Keeneland Library Foundation and support exhibits like “The Heart of the Turf” and programs like “Starting Gate Storytime.” The Keeneland Library also accepts gifts of books, photographs, art, and artifacts from individuals on a limited basis as well.

Each year in April and October, Keeneland welcomes racing back to this classic facility, its stone edifice once again filled with fans taking in another season of great performances. The next time you visit this historic racetrack, venture up “The Hill” and experience this cathedral to the horse, where the past, present, and future come together to tell the stories that make our sport.