LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Since 2004, over 500 horse statues have been placed all over Louisville for Gallopalooza. This year, the Backside Learning Center at Churchill Downs received one of the 150 statues. 

What You Need To Know

  • The Backside Learning Center at Churchill Downs received one of the 150 statues for this year's Gallopalooza

  • Their horse statue pays homage to all the workers who have a hand in taking care of the horses for the Kentucky Derby

  • The title of the horse they are creating is "Because of You" or "Es Por Ustedes"

  • The 150 “Gallopalooza” horses will be unveiled at Churchill Downs From March 22 through March 24

The title of the horse they are creating is “Because of You” or “Es Por Ustedes” in Spanish. Artist Sara Noori says her vision is to have the backstretch community make their mark.     

“Rather than me painting an image onto the horse, we really wanted it to be very literal and be a real connection between all the people that touch the horse every day,” said Noori.

The idea is to give viewers an idea of all the hands involved.

“They all have stories. They’re all like coming from different parts of the world, but they share this experience of the horse and taking care of it and the Derby. So it’s kind of like a unifier. So just to just spread awareness and to unify like what it is to be part of this culture,” said Noori.

Cristobal Trejo is one of many workers that make horse racing and the Derby possible. He has been grooming horses for 57 years.

“I like that. And I see a lot of people do the same thing, you know, And I hope a lot of people see it in downtown, you know,” said Trejo.

Trejo says being close to the horses is why he loves what he does.

“My name is there and my hand is there. So I guess everybody go see it,” he shared.

Backside Learning Center’s Executive Director Sherry Stanley says it’s important to honor the commitment and work ethic of the individuals behind the industry of horse racing. 

“Each person is going to be assigned a number and then we’re taking their photo. And so we’re going to compile all of the photographs of all of the faces behind these handprints so people can see, okay, this person, you know, works as a hot walker and this person works as a groom. And you can see it just kind of humanizes all of the work and everything that it takes to that goes into making horse racing possible,” said Stanley.

Stanley says this statue celebrates and highlights the hundreds of people that carry out this work every day in the shadows.

The 150 Gallopalooza horses will be unveiled at Churchill Downs from March 22 through March 24. The “Because of You” statue will be in front of the Louisville Thoroughbred Society.

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