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9 6 LOUISVILLE MAGAZINE 4.14 The Rite of Spring By mid-March, the winter-dormant backside returns to life. By Anne Marshall Photos by Gail Kamenish 100 TIP A ctivity on the backside of Churchill Downs vacates the premises upon the drudge of winter. Trough January and February, locks cinch gates shut. Wind whispers at the lonely barns. Squirrels duck around corners, nervous little squatters in a temporary ghost town. Ten, at 12:01 a.m. on a Friday in early March, Gate 5 — the en- trance to the backside of Fourth Street between Oakdale and Winn avenues — opens. At frst, activity returns in subtle ways. On Mon- day nights, the chorus of voices elevating worship songs at Christ Chapel, an interdenominational church serving backside workers, sounds a little thicker, more populous. A feet of bicycles park near the backside's dorms. In an apartment across the street from the Downs, a longtime groom's phone rings. A trainer asks the young Guatemalan native if she's ready to return to her job in two weeks. Te woman, mother to an eight-year-old son, confrms, "Yes." When people think of Churchill Downs, one day and two minutes generally come to mind. Te frst Saturday of May always delivers a polished spectacle. And every year that famed two-minute race reli- ably raises pulses. But long before Derby Day, roughly two months before those two minutes, the backside of Churchill Downs, a sprawl of barns contained within chain-link borders, slowly springs to life. A freezing wind lashes the backside. It's about 8 o'clock on a Monday morning in mid-March, and a late-winter storm has patched the ground with glistening ice. Te Rev. Ken Boehm grabs a black pufy winter coat from his Hyundai SUV. Eleven years ago Boehm became Churchill Downs' frst full-time chaplain. He has just gotten word the track is closed — frozen over. So no training will take place today. But Boehm doesn't let the cold sus- pend a familiar morning ritual, one that will take place throughout APPRECIATE CHURCHILL DOWNS' HARDEST WORKERS. 2013 Derby Week backside. 82-97.indd 96 3/20/14 11:24 AM