One action-packed weekend leads into another as April brings a trio of important prep races for the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve and the spring-meet opening of one of horse racing’s iconic tracks.
There are grand stages in American racing. Places where the crowd swells, the noise builds, and the spectacle feels inseparable from the sport. And then there’s Aqueduct Racetrack. “The Big A,” as its affectionately called, is a place that never needed any of that to matter.
Some are born into the sport, spending their formative years around equine athletes, wrapping legs, mucking stalls, and continuing family legacies that might stretch back generations. Others find their way to the racetrack through a more circuitous route. Jordyn Egan is the latter.
“I was a horse nut from the age of 5, just out of nowhere. Hunter-jumper, nothing fancy at all,” she said with a laugh. “When my family couldn’t afford riding lessons, I would work in the therapeutic riding program. I always stayed connected to horses.”
One year ago, the kickoff to Keeneland Race Course’s highly-anticipated Spring meet was delayed by two days due to torrential rain and flooding throughout Kentucky. Instead of its traditional Friday-Saturday-Sunday opening weekend, the track held its first day of racing on a Sunday, with the signature Toyota Blue Grass Stakes held on a Tuesday.
Nestled on Versailles Road is a gorgeous expanse of racetrack, its grandstand rising from the greenery of the Bluegrass as cars speed toward the welcoming streets of Lexington, Ky. With its classic lines and hand-chiseled limestone, Keeneland Race Course is a beacon of what racing can be, a celebration of the horse as well as a home for the sport’s fans, its focus on the past, present, and future all at the same time.
