The excitement was palpable as the throngs of race fans awaited the arrival of the first horses of the day.   You could feel and taste the history of this place.

The Paddock

Churchill Downs is virtually synonymous with horse racing and is hallowed ground to horse racing aficionados.  As we arrived we were greeted with the scene above and the level of excitement and grandeur was overwhelming.   Standing here one could not help but think about all the past Champions that had strolled around the paddock before heading to the track to make their mark in the history books.

Stylizing

For this image I used Photoshop CS5  and Topaz Adjust 4.  Besides some simple sharpening and toning I applied the Spicify preset in Topaz and was done.    To me the buildings and the surroundings had  a magical /fantasy look to them and I wanted the image to convey that.  The saturated colors and slight glow to the edges added by the effect really accentuated the image and added to the overall feel and look I was after.  .