blog 2

I took some time to think of some good people to interview for this segment of my essay. I decided to get multiple perspectives of people and their interest in Keeneland. My first interview was that of my fellow pledge brother Lee, the view of the gambler. Lee is a native to Lexington and has grown up going to Keeneland. When I asked him what Keeneland meant to him and his family, his first response was "Family Tradition." He then talked about how his family and other families from his area would attend Keeneland every year and how important it was to them. That made me think, is Keeneland tradition to more than just families from the area? He then got excited and talked about the fun and excitement of gambling at Keeneland. I didn't really understand all the terms and concepts but it was very fasinating to see how enthusied he was about it. Lee's great grandfather is the last remaining founder of Keeneland. Lee's family has been apart of Keeneland since the begining. His Family and other families like their's have helped have helped shape Keeneland in to what it is today. Lee said that his grandfather takes pride in how unique Keeneland is and stresses the importance of it's mission statement; "Founded as a model racetrack, we seek to continually improve Thoroughbred racing while at the same time preserve its finest tradtions." People resepect and take pride in how classy Keeneland is. When I went to Keeneland last weekend, I had a brief interview with one of the ticket salesman. He told me that Keeneland is a place of entertainment and business. He said he can always tell which ones are there to enjoy themselves and those that are their to win some money. Diversity was his main point of the interview and in my opinion is what makes Keeneland so intersting. It really takes a first hand experience to really know what he's talking about. When interviewing my friend Jared, we talked about the horse's rights. He talked about how in the past the horses were treated much worse. Today, millions of dollars are spend to insure the health and safety of these thoroughbred horses. It made me laugh when he said these horses are treated like royality. He believes that advances in medicine and technology will help give horses longer lives and give them more rights to survive. (further detail and explanation in essay). Further research and interviews will help me accomplish my goals with this essay.