Keeneland, NYRA embark on historical preservation project

Keeneland Association and the New York Racing Association (NYRA) are

collaborating on a project to preserve NYRA's extensive film and video archives,

which span more than 100 years of racing.

Undertaken as part of Keeneland's "Racing through Time" project, members of

the track's Broadcast Services department were recently at Aqueduct to

catalog and transport the 858 film reels to date to Scene Savers, the archival

division of PPS Group, a conversion facility in Cincinnati, Ohio.

Among the archives is film Thomas Edison shot in 1905 on opening day of the

new Belmont Park, footage of the Triple Crown winners, rare race footage of such

legends as Kelso, Secretariat, Forego and Ruffian, along with filmed and taped

features on the great horses, trainers and jockeys who raced in New York.

"With so much racing history

made on New York tracks, it's vital that we safeguard the irreplaceable record

of our great sport contained in NYRA's film and video archive," NYRA President

and CEO Charles Hayward said. "We are so pleased

to partner with Keeneland on this vital project."

"NYRA's film archive is one of the most significant collections of

Thoroughbred racing footage in the world," Keeneland President and CEO Nick

Nicholson added. "We are very excited to assist them in preserving such an

important piece of history."

At Scene Savers, each film will be inspected by hand and professionally

cleaned of all dust, dirt, fingerprints and other contaminants. After this

process is completed, individual films will be assessed as to transfer type,

color correction, conversion type and format. The master copies and original films will be returned to NYRA. A master

component copy will be archived at the Keeneland Library with access for

research and/or editorial use.

Preservation of NYRA's film and video archive is one aspect of Keeneland's

multi-faceted "Racing through Time" project, which strives to promote and

protect racing's rich heritage. In April 2000, the Daily Racing Form contributed

its entire archival collection -- which includes editions of the Daily Racing

Form and Morning Telegraph dating back to the mid-1800s -- to the Keeneland

Library.

Often called the "soul of Keeneland," the Library has become an industry

repository, housing more than 10,000 volumes and 1,500 video archives as well as

225,000

photo negatives and 3,000 clipping files in its state-of-the-art facility.

Keeneland has also embarked on an Oral History project, conducting audio-video

interviews with industry newsmakers and leading participants in an effort to

document their remembrances.

"The mission of our Racing through Time project is to create an industry

archive which blends both the historical as well as the current," said G. D.

Hieronymus, Keeneland's director of broadcast services. "Thoroughbred racing has

such an incredibly unique and colorful history. It is our goal to ensure that it

is preserved for generations of fans to enjoy."

Future plans call for a Film Festival of the Thoroughbred, created to raise

awareness of racing and its captivating stories among high school and college

students, and independent and professional film producers.