Philanthropic Mission

Keeneland Builds on a Philanthropic Mission

Keeneland continues to honor its mission that dates to its founding in 1936 to support the Central Kentucky community and work for the betterment of the Thoroughbred industry.

Through a blend of financial and in-kind sponsorships, Keeneland benefits a number of local civic and charitable organizations with a focus on health and human services, education, arts and culture. Keeneland takes a leadership role in the horse industry by advancing safety and welfare, funding equine-related research and promoting various initiatives such as fan education and outreach.

In 2021, Keeneland, often teaming with sponsors and racing-related partners, employed special events to fulfill its goals of helping to enhance the quality of life in the community and state. • The Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden was designated as Keeneland’s featured charity during the Spring Meet. The park near downtown Lexington is the first in the U.S. to honor the earliest

African American professional athletes:

Thoroughbred jockeys. Proceeds from sales of the 2021 commemorative Maker’s

Mark Bourbon® bottle in partnership with Keeneland were earmarked to benefit LexArts and for the placement of a permanent art installation by artist

LaVon Van Williams Jr. and for future programming within the park.

• Toyota, sponsor of the Toyota Blue Grass, and Keeneland made a $10,000 donation in support of Nourish Lexington, founded in 2020 at the beginning of the

COVID-19 pandemic to use displaced hospitality employees to provide more than 160,000 meals to those in need. • Keeneland teamed with Black Soil KY, an agritourism enterprise that fosters a greater market share for Black farmers in

Kentucky, on strategic initiatives during the race meets. Kentucky Utilities and

Keeneland donated $5,000 to Black

Soil KY to support the organization’s successful area programs. • Sales from the Keeneland Spring Lager, a collaboration with Country Boy Brewing of Lexington, benefited Blue Grass Farms

Charities’ Back to School Backpack

Program, which provides supplies for nearly 1,000 children whose parents work in Keeneland’s stable area or on

Central Kentucky horse farms. • Keeneland’s popular College Scholarship

Days Presented by Lane’s End awarded thousands of dollars in scholarships and prize packages provided by Lexington businesses.

• Military Day Presented by UPS featured a POW-MIA Chair of Honor to raise awareness of past and current

POWMIA military members through a partnership with The Rolling Thunder

Kentucky Chapter 5. UPS and Keeneland contributed $2,500 to the POWMIA program. • Keeneland partnered with race sponsors to support community and horse industry initiatives. Juddmonte and Keeneland donated $10,000 to the Kentucky Equine

Management Internship Program.

Maker’s Mark and Keeneland contributed $10,000 to the Permanently Disabled

Jockeys Fund. Lexus and Keeneland donated $5,000 to The MAP Foundation to benefit the Woodhill Community

Center.

• Members of the Keeneland jockey colony joined retired riders for an autograph session that raised $6,372 for the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund.

• On Make-A-Wish Day, Keeneland teamed with local Thoroughbred farms and organizations to grant wishes for 10 deserving children, who, along with their families, enjoyed a VIP day at the races during the Fall Meet. More than $8,000 was raised from fans who placed donations in the “Wishing Well” near the

Keeneland Paddock.

• Heroes Day Presented by Rubicon honored members of the military and first responders and their families with free general admission, a spectacular flag unfurling on the main track and special recognitions and remembrances throughout the day. Keeneland and

Rubicon donated $5,000 to the Fraternal

Order of Firefighters.

As outlined by its founders in its original prospectus, Keeneland is intended to be “a model race track to perpetuate and improve the sport and to provide a course that is intended to serve as a symbol of the fine traditions of Thoroughbred racing.”

The preservation of racing’s rich history is at the core of Keeneland’s mission. In 2019, Keeneland announced Keeneland Library’s creation of the Life’s Work Oral History Project designed to capture treasured stories from the Thoroughbred industry and preserve and promote them for future generations. Life’s Work represents a unique collaboration of the Keeneland Library, the University of Kentucky Libraries’ Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History and Thoroughbred Daily News (TDN).

Through key donations and fundraising activities, Keeneland further strengthens its legacy of support for the horse industry: • Keeneland continued its longstanding philanthropic relationship with the

University of Kentucky with a gift of $1.3 million to the Keeneland Endowed Chair in Equine Veterinary Science. This gift will grow the fund to $3 million and allows the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment’s Gluck Equine Research Center to launch a world-class equine drug research and testing program under internationally recognized director Scott Stanley. Keeneland has long championed UK’s goal to become an industry leader in equine safety, integrity and research, and has been an instrumental partner in both establishing and supporting equine research at UK for more than 30 years. Through its professorship, Keeneland has supported and advanced equine research, most recently in infectious diseases.

• Keeneland demonstrated its commitment to promoting equine health by donating $100,000 to the Grayson-Jockey Club

Research Foundation to enable the sponsorship of Grayson-approved projects such as Dr. Sue Stover’s

Grayson-funded research project,

“Training Programs for Prevention of

Fetlock Injury.” • Keeneland, along with Breeders’ Cup and

The Jockey Club, are founding partners of the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA), a nonprofit organization created to accredit, inspect and award grants to approved aftercare organizations that retrain and rehome Thoroughbreds upon their retirement from racing. Keeneland has donated more than $2.6 million to the TAA through contributions derived

from its racing and sales programs. • Keeneland in 2022 will again host the

Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse

Summit, which is coordinated and underwritten by the Grayson-Jockey

Club Research Foundation and The

Jockey Club. The summit brings together a cross section of the breeding, racing and veterinary communities to discuss important topics. Many of racing’s most exciting safety advances – among them the Equine Injury Database, Jockey

Injury Database, Racing Surfaces Testing

Laboratory, uniform trainer test and study guide, racing surfaces white paper, publication of stallion durability statistics, protocols for horses working off the veterinarian’s list and inclement weather protocols – have germinated from these expert discussions.