Kentucky Bluegrass area offers wealth of activities

By ROGER PETTERSON

ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

Celebrate spring this year by taking in something a little more lively than a flower festival. April is the month for the spring Thoroughbred racing calendar at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., the self-styled Horse Capital of the World.

Watch some of Kentucky’s best thunder around the track at Keeneland — http://ww2.keeneland.com/ — (yes, that numeral “2” is supposed to be there). Look up the calendar under “Racing.” Then click on “More to Do” to find the times for watching morning workout sessions, when admission is free, and a group of videos (the only one about the track itself is at the bottom.)

Learn more about the most famous products of the Bluegrass region with a visit to the state-owned Kentucky Horse Park — http://www.kyhorsepark.com/ — where you can visit the International Museum of the Horse, see their resident draft horses, and take a tour on a horse-drawn wagon. Look under “Attractions & Activities” for more things to do, including trail rides and pony rides for the kids. Consult “Visitor Information” for times, ticket prices and interactive maps of the complex, which sits just north of Lexington.

The area’s famous horse farms are private property and you cannot just drop by for a visit. However, there are outfits that provide tours of horse country. Among them, consider Thoroughbred Heritage Tours — http://www.seethechampions.com/ — and Horse Farm Tours — http://horsefarmtours.com/ — both of which advertise van tours of the area plus a visit to one farm’s stables. You can also take a photo tour of one of the most famous farms, Calumet — http://www.calumetfarm.com/ — by clicking on “Gallery.”

Learn more about seeing the working countryside by visiting the Lexington Convention & Visitors Bureau — http://www.visitlex.com/ — and looking for “Tour a Private Horse Farm.” Then, after all this concentration on horses, you’ll want to see what’s happening in the city itself. Click on April under the “Calendar of Events” heading.