Lexington Herald-Leader, Thursday, April 12, 2007 .... Lexington Police and Keeneland Security are investigating a series of incidents which occured at historic Keeneland Race Course yesterday.
"We don't know if any of these events are related", said Rogers Beasley, Keeneland Director of Racing, " and fortunately our guests never experienced any interruption to their enjoyable day at the track. But we're interested in finding any connections."
Reports of odd occurrences began to filter in to Keeneland Security starting around 9:00am. Chuck Simon, a local horse trainer, was reportedly stalked from the training track back to the barn area by a group of people, estimated to be from 20-40 in number, chanting, "Some one loves you, some one loves you". Simon could not be reached for comment.
Backstretch workers reported later finding peppermint wrappers and bits of organic carrots strewn about paths near the barns. An unnamed groom in Barn 16 swears he saw this group himself. "They warn't makin' no trouble, warn't botherin' the horses none. They was just wanderin' around, happy, silly and grinnin like fools' ", lending credence to speculation that animal pacifist organizations are attempting to infiltrate Keeneland's backstretch area.
Keeneland Security investigated several reports that the smell of grilling bar-b-que, combined with thickening hickory smoke, was wafting from one of the end stone saddling stalls within the Keeneland paddock about two hours prior to start of the first race. All the saddling stalls were found empty, save for some used navy blue and lime green swizzle sticks spilling out into the grass paddock area. "We don't believe there was ever any real threat of fire", Keeneland Security reported.
There were several unconfirmed reports that local news anchors, broadcasting live prior to the first race from the paddock, repeatedly had to quell groups of spectators interrupting TV transmissions. "Every time I would start to say, 'This is Mark Brown, for WLEX-TV, live from Keeneland', these bozos would shout over my signout, "Props to DeeTeeeee, man! DeeTeeee rules! ". When Keeneland Security arrived, instigators had apparently escaped into the crowd. "They were reportedly wearing denim, so should have been easy to spot, but we couldn't find anybody".
The Kentucky Racing Authority also reported that they are investigating a possible wagering irregularity which occured immediately prior to the ninth race on Wednesday's card, where unusually large numbers of individual $2 win wagers were placed on a 20-1 entrant.
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