One of the best two-year-old fillies racing in Kentucky this year has been named in honor of one of the best places to congregate at Kentucky’s two signature racetracks, and the gentleman who worked there for decades.
Percy’s Bar heads to the NetJets Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar on Oct. 31 after winning two of her four career races and finishing second in two Grade 1 stakes. The Gatewood Bell’s Hat Creek Racing filly was named after a particular station at the Mezzanine Bar at Keeneland Race Course that was manned by Percy Pool, a bartender at both the Lexington track and Churchill Downs.
Pool retired in 2015 after working at Churchill for 47 years and tending bar in Keeneland for almost as long, and he died in February 2024 at the age of 86. The Louisville native was a beloved member of the Kentucky horse racing community, known for his skills, professionalism and friendly demeanor as he took in customers at his Keeneland station and also at a bar on the second floor of Churchill Downs, adjacent to and overlooking the old paddock.
“Churchill Downs and the people there were like family to him,” said Percy’s daughter Nichelle. “He loved it – he was alive because he worked there. I remember as a child, and even as an adult, when I would go to the track, there would be a long line of people waiting to be served by him.”
For casual fans, Percy was someone to look forward to year after year as the Keeneland and Churchill meetings began in the spring and fall. And for horse racing insiders, Percy’s Bar – or rather, bars – was a place where victories were celebrated, business deals were made and lasting friendships were made.
“Myself and a lot of other horse people — jockey agents, assistant trainers, practice riders, patrons — all seemed to congregate there during the races, and then after the last race,” said Gatewood Bell, a third-generation rider who is vice president of racing at Keeneland. “We just called it Percy’s Bar. … He was a mainstay, just a great guy.”
“He’s a legend, that’s just the best way you can put it,” said Geno Leach, a Churchill patron and friend of Pool. “I’m 69, I’ve been going to the track since I was six years old, and every time I stepped on the floor at Keeneland and Churchill Downs, I saw Mr. Pool.”
“Percy was just a very humble, quiet gentleman,” said Britt Clancy, a Churchill regular like Leach and a partnership horse owner. “He was always willing to listen to you and give you a smile, there aren’t many guys like that anymore.”
In addition to Churchill Downs and Keeneland’s live race meetings, Pool tended bar at the Keeneland horse sale for an international clientele and also worked for a time at Ellis Park in western Kentucky.
While his stations in Keeneland and Churchill were hubs of activity day in and day out for local fans, Pool was also very popular with out-of-towners, his friends said. Leach recalled that on Kentucky Derby and Oaks days, Pool had his own following among fans who flew to Louisville for the main events and made a visit to Percy’s Bar part of their annual Derby week ritual.
“Derby week, all the people who would come by the bar – when Percy was away, on his toilet break, all the people from out of town would ask if he still worked there,” Leach said. “That’s the effect he had on people. He made a lot of friends in the industry.”
“He was such an institution there over the years that even when they had the Rolling Stones concert [at Churchill in 2006]“Percy was out there working in his usual spot,” said Doug Glass, another of Percy’s friends at the track and a horse owner. “His house looked like a neighborhood bar in the middle of Churchill Downs. Percy was just as captivating on a weekday when it was just me, Geno and a few others, as he was during Derby week when the rows were ten deep.
Many of Pool’s family members and friends attended his retirement celebration in June 2015, when a race appropriately named “Percy’s Last Pour” was held in his honor at Churchill Downs. After Mayor Mac won the first race, trainer Greg Foley presented Percy with a trophy commemorating a remarkable career in Kentucky that included four Triple Crown winners, major track expansions, the introduction of simulcasting and many other changes.
Percy’s Bar, by Airdrie Stud stallion Upstart, was purchased as a yearling by Hat Creek Racing for $52,000 at the Keeneland auction in September 2024. The bay filly made his debut at the Keeneland spring meeting, winning a 4 ½ furlong sprint by four lengths. Bell and trainer Ben Colebrook then entered the filly in a stakes race at the Percy Pool circuit, and Percy’s Bar was equally sharp under the Twin Spiers, taking Churchill’s six-furlong Debutante Stakes in June by five lengths.
After finishing second to the highly regarded Tommy Jo in her next start, the seven-furlong, Grade 1 Spinaway Stakes at Saratoga, Percy’s Bar showed a new dimension when back at Keeneland for her first two-turn start on Oct. 3 in the 1 1/16-mile, Grade 1 Darley Alcibiades Stakes. She set the early pace and showed courage when challenged by Tommy Jo, finishing one length ahead of her rival, but was disqualified and placed second due to interference in the stretch. Since then, Percy’s Bar has continued training in Keeneland, with a timed practice on October 18 and a final gallop on October 24 before the trip to Del Mar.
“Probably her best attribute is her mind,” Bell said of the filly. “She’s quite calm and poised, no different than Percy was when he was dealing with a whole group of people in line. She’s just blossoming now and I’m hopeful that the light bulb has come on in the last two months.”
Percy Pool was part of a close-knit family, and one of the highlights of his later years at Churchill was working with his son Percy Pool Jr., who also tended bar there for a time. Sadly, Percy Pool Jr. passed away. a few months after his father at the age of 62. Surviving family members – including Nichelle, daughter Denise, second wife Liz and seven grandchildren – are proud of Percy Sr.’s legacy. and how it is evoked by the name of this talented filly.
“It’s such a warm feeling to know that people still think of my father and would name a horse after him,” said Nichelle Pool. “We are so grateful for that.”
Most horse racing fans will tell you that a big part of what makes it so much fun is the bond that forms at each track between people from different backgrounds who are drawn to the sport, and how that bond creates its own community over time. With that in mind, it’s safe to say that longtime members of the Kentucky horse racing community will root for Percy’s Bar during the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies on Friday, with many of them raising a glass in memory of Percy Pool, his gathering spots and the good times we shared.
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