The 152nd Kentucky Derby will be charged with emotion for many fans, but none more so than 94-year-old Leverett Miller, breeder of Santa Anita Derby winner So Happy.
When it comes to the future, Jodie Vella-Gregory understands the assignment.
“If we’re not focusing on the next generation, then we’re not focusing on the industry,” said Vella-Gregory, vice president of industry relations of 1/ST RACING & GAMING. “We constantly are talking about how we need people to be involved in racing in the industry and what better way than to organically do that from the beginning?”
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.”
Keeneland President and Chief Executive Officer Shannon Arvin was working with Chief Financial Officer Hunter Stout last autumn when he mentioned in passing that he would have to miss his son’s first T-Ball game.
When Arvin initially urged him to go, Stout declined since it was a typically busy Saturday with six races remaining. She insisted he rush off to see Jack do his darndest to put bat to ball.
Despite just turning 17 last March, a shy, soft-spoken kid from Panama, who tips the scales at 107 pounds, carried the weight of being labeled worthy of an Eclipse Award from the very start.
