![James Graham, a horse exercise rider from Ireland.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/6d38f6f/2147483647/strip/true/crop/140x175+0+0/resize/880x1100!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.npr.org%2Fnews%2Fspecials%2Flow_wage%2Fimages%2F030613.jockey-0727eee790442db96359b2a0054d5f798989f999.jpg)
![Carlos Goadiana, a horse groom from Texas.](https://npr.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/46b6682/2147483647/strip/true/crop/140x133+0+0/resize/880x836!/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.npr.org%2Fnews%2Fspecials%2Flow_wage%2Fimages%2F030613.groom-48b16777eecfe11588cd4dc47e365395ab3da591.jpg)
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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