Kentucky Oaks contender named for a legendary bartender
Percy Pool poured drinks for 47 years at Churchill Downs and 40 years at Keeneland. He retired in 2015. He died in 2024.
When a three-year-old filly race horse crossed the wire first at Keeneland at the start of April and punched her ticket to the Kentucky Oaks , her name may have inspired some to want to celebrate at her namesake: Percy's Bar. But Percy's Bar cannot be located on any map in Kentucky. It is not a commercial drinking establishment — not technically.
Percy's Bar is a memory ... a feeling ... a watering hole that does have several physical locations but now is missing the one person who made it worth standing in a line of people 16 deep.
That is the man himself: Percy Pool. ∎∎∎ Percy Pool never measured. At his bar directly beneath the twin spires, he popped tops for patrons or made mint juleps during spring and fall race meets in Louisville beginning in the 1960s.
He served 'em up from a bar above the paddock at Churchill Downs for 47 years — developing a knack for remembering the names of horsemen and their drinks of choice. Horsemen and bartender repeated this dance across Kentucky — from Ellis Park during the heat of summer, to Turfway during the cold of winter, and Keeneland in between, including at horse sales. No matter what part of the state horses rounded a track, Percy could be found pouring.
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