Keeneland Spring Meet

Spring has officially arrived, the Keeneland Spring Meet marks the official season kickoff on my personal calender. 16 days of top quality racing, including the first look at some 2yo's at America's most progressive and well run racetrack.

Stories of hard times buffet the racing world on all sides but not at Keeneland. It is one track that is absolutely thriving. They draw large crowds, attract good handle and best of all, they care about improving themselves each and every year. The move to make the main track a Polytrack surface was ridiculed by many and some bettors might stay away but the horsemen sure don't.

Keeneland is one of only two racetracks with the Trakus system that times each horse individually and instantly calculates ground loss. They are also the only track using HD cameras to film the races.

As a fan you simply have to love Keeneland, even if you've never had the opportunity to go there. Keeneland offers more goodies than any other racetrack. Here is just a small sample of what they make available.

Free Live Video - The only major racetrack that offers this to fans without an online betting account.

Free Race Replays - If you can't catch the action live you can just watch the replays. They're usually available as soon as 5 minutes after the race concludes.

Classic Racing Videos - This is new this year. From April 1st to April 25th Keeneland will show old television broadcasts of past great races run at Keeneland. Tune in at 7pm EST and keep an eye on the broadcast schedule to make sure you don't miss some of your old favorites.

Free Handicapping Contest - $3,000 to the winner of this contest that requires you to simply pick one horse in each race (starting at race 7 each day) The highest bankroll at the end of the meet gets the money.

Although Polytrack has made handicapping a bit more difficult for me personally I still love to play public handicapper whenever Keeneland is open. You can follow my picks and progress on the sidebar which will be updated daily. Also if you click on the Keeneland Spring Meet header you be able to see all my selections and a breakdown of my record. If nothing else it'll be an excellent source of horses to eliminate from consideration.

Feel free to follow along and post your own picks in the comments.

All available free BRISnet past performances for Keeneland will be linked here.