Just after 7:30 a.m. on April 24, during morning workouts at Churchill Downs Racetrack, a horn cut through the thunder of hooves, the track nearly coming to a standstill.
In the midst of the blaring alarm ringing out across the racetrack, a team of outriders, identifiable by their red coats and seated on horses with matching saddle blankets, rush into action, expertly navigating the dirt terrain to the first turn, responding to an injured horse. Along the rail of the backside, spectators and horsemen silently gathered, standing on their tiptoes for a glimpse of the misstep that caused the horn to blare.
By 7:42 a.m., the horn stops.
Led by veteran Greg Blasi, the three outriders return to their various posts around the racetrack. Within moments of the silenced horn, the track returns to its lively state, with horses, some of them 2026 Kentucky Oaks or Kentucky Derby contenders, galloping, trotting and jogging around the oval racetrack as the outriders resume their watch for horses and riders in need of help.
While the heroic and swift action lingered in whispers of those around the track, for Churchill Downs Racetrack outriders Blasi and Shane Hoodenpyle, it's just another part of the job.
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Blasi and Hoodenpyle, along with Lee Lockwood and a fourth rider who joins the team annually in preparation for the Kentucky Derby, held on the first Saturday in May, make up the team of outriders at Churchill Downs. Often referred to as "real life cowboys," and lauded for their superhuman catches of loose horses, the band of outriders function as the "lifeguards" of the track, a group of professional horsemen responsible for monitoring and ensuring the safety of the more than 1,400 horses and jockeys that call Churchill Downs Racetrack home during spring racing and training, which runs through June 28.
Blasi, a 28-year outrider veteran, said the team looks for "horses out of control, people not being able to ride them ... to head a situation off before it ever happens."
Blasi wakes up each day at 3:30 a.m. to be ready for Churchill Downs Racetrack to open for morning workouts at 5:15 a.m. He'll be done outriding on training days before noon.
Outriders spend most of their time operating quietly on the sidelines, hoping to never hear the alarm horn.
"If we're not doing anything, that means everything's going good," Blasi said.
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But on a day like April 24 when they're called into action, the team of men and horses, including Blasi's Pee Wee or Hoodenpyle's Smooth, must work in tandem. Both credit the horses, saying that the calm, steady, and laser focused behavior they bring to the situation is 90% of what makes them successful outriders.
"They gotta have a brain," Hoodenpyle joked about the outrider horses. "... We're gonna get (the loose horse), that's pretty much it."
At this point in his career, Blasi, 56, who said he started working with horses when he was eight years old, finds himself focused on "keeping everybody safe," noting that his younger, slightly more ambitious self, yearned for the horn to go off so he could get a taste of adrenaline as he jolted across the track.
Now, Blasi said prevention is just as much a part of the job as is corralling runaway horses. As he sits atop his quarter horse Pee Wee, he's always keeping an eye out for "a horse acting up" because it's easier to help jockeys and horses as soon as he spots trouble than wait for an accident to unfold.
"We're here just for the safety for the horses and riders," Hoodenpyle, 47, told The Courier Journal.
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During an early morning workout in April, under the stadium lights before the sun came up, Blasi spotted a "spirited" filly getting worked up before the transition to the turf track. He trotted over with Pee Wee and gathered the filly by its reigns and helped her calm down by just walking her and her jockey in circles for a bit.
"Horses usually tell you what they want," Blasi said of the filly he helped calm.
By 10 a.m. during training days, the track closes for workouts and the outriders get to head back to their barn, where they turnout their horses from the stall into a larger space. As Pee Wee rolled around and took a dirt bath, Blasi and Hoodenpyle took to barn chores, mixing the horses feed, putting up the tacks, shoveling manure and preparing to "come back and do it all again tomorrow."
On race days, the only difference for the outriders is instead of heading home after morning workouts, they get a roughly one-hour break to recharge and down Red Bull's before patrolling the track during the entirety of the race card, which can last anywhere from eight to 14 races. On Kentucky Derby Day, held this year on May 2, the first post time is 11 a.m., with the final race of the day, number 14 on the card, boasting a post time of 8:33 p.m. The 2026 Kentucky Derby has a post time of 6:57 p.m.
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As the 152nd Kentucky Derby inches closer, the outriders will continue to man the track, hoping to not be needed — but ready to respond if they are.
"I always say I do my best work when I get paid to do nothing, just because, that means nobody's in trouble and everything's going smooth," Blasi said.
Contact Business Reporter Olivia Evans at oevans@usatodayco.com or on X at @oliviamevans_.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: How the Churchill Downs outriders keep the horses, jockeys safe
