NPR's Noah Adams continues his road trip north along the I-75 freeway from Tennessee to Michigan -- this time stopping in Lexington, Ky., to visit the training stables at Keeneland Race Course.
He talks with three workers at the track -- James Graham, an exercise rider from Ireland; Carlos Goadiana, a groom from Texas; and Maria (who asked that NPR not use her last name) a "hot walker" from Mexico.
All three jobs are seven days a week, without holidays. But despite the rigors of the track and stables -- the pre-dawn muster, the long hours, the sometimes back-breaking labor and risk of injury -- each finds a degree of satisfaction in the tasks, because of a shared love of horses.
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