Their predecessors were brought here because of the soil -- there's none like it anywhere else in the world. They have remained here, well, quite simply, because there's no better place in the world for a race horse to be.

Lexington-Fayette County is considered the “Horse Capital of the World” and is the heart of Kentucky’s legendary Thoroughbred country. Take a short drive from Lexington's Main Street and you can see where the four-legged legends of the race track are born, bred and trained.

Farms with names like Calumet, Overbrook, and Donamire. Farms rich in horse racing tradition. Farms where champions first stand on weak, trembling legs, are later trained, and then make history.

Get out of your car in the right places and these beautiful creatures will wander over to greet you, much like an old friend who stops by and sits on your porch for a while.

Maybe it's here that you'll come to understand -- maybe.

Travel to Keeneland during spring or fall meets and watch the majestic creatures as they exercise. Go there on a foggy morning and you'll hear them long before you can see them. Clop. Clop. Clop. That's hoofs digging into the track's rich soil. Clop. Clop. Clop. You'll hear it again, then see a blur go racing by. A heartbeat later and the horse and rider once again disappear into the darkness. Clop. Clop. Clop. Hear it once and you'll never forget that sound.

Maybe it's then you'll realize something -- something wonderful, something those of us who call Lexington home have already come to understand -- that those beautiful horses and those who care for them, those long white, wooden fences, that unique soil, help make Lexington special; help make Lexington like nowhere else in the world.

Lexington is home to the Kentucky Horse Park, and several horse farms actually host tours for visitors.

For more information on Lexington’s unique horse heritage, contact the Lexington Convention and Visitors Center.

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