Sun shines on opening day of Keeneland Spring Meet

LEXINGTON, Ky. (WTVQ)- Despite the forecast, there are few better signs of spring in Kentucky than the start of Keeneland. The spring meet opened up Friday.

From the backside to the paddock, people and horses are ready.

“Made my bet already. We’re all set, you know? I don’t want to give out who I like because then people might, you know, so not going to give that out,” Bob Calabrese said.

Bob and wife, Lori, aren’t just spectators, especially not after their son recently bought them a 10% share in two Indiana bred horses.

“So now, I guess I can consider myself an owner. Forget about it! I’m an owner. That’s it,” Calabrese said.

Others aren’t quite as “experienced”.

“I’m just really excited. I’ve never been to a horse race,” Joan D’Elia from York, Pennsylvania said.

She says she’s most excited to see the horses.

“They’re huge, amazing animals!” D’Elia said.

There is also amazing style.

“We both like black and white I think, right?” Julie Antonelli and Kathy Bosco laughed.

Place your bets!

“We do it by name. Everyone else studies,” Antonelli and Bosco said.

One of the experts says his best first piece of advice is bet within your means.

“Look for consistency in horses. Horses tend to run in patterns and if you see a horse who has just kind of fallen off form, probably not the horse you want to stay on,” David Byron said.

He says he has been around the sport since he was 12. Now, he’s a betologist.

“People know to look for the fedora and green vest and they’ll come up and ask us questions all the time,” Byron said.

One question some need answered: where’s the best view? The Kokocinsky kids like the rail.

“It kinda rumbles like a little bit because so many horses are flying by,” Leah Kokocinsky said, surrounded by her younger siblings, Chase and Lucy.

A pretty cool feeling. College scholarship day is another cool part of Keeneland on Friday. It is a free day at the races with a chance to win a scholarship.

“Can pay for a semester of school, can pay for books, can pay for school basically!” Autumn Charley said.

The program has given out almost $600,000 since 2002. Charley and Meghann Maggio are here from the west coast, doing an equine management internship.

“It’s awesome to be in a place that is so submersed in the thoroughbred industry. It’s not really like this anywhere else in the country,” Maggio said.