In Louisville, horse racing and college basketball are the city's lifeblood.
Though an unlikely bedfellows of sports offerings, the two often are interwoven in unexpected ways.
The James family can attest to this.
Ericka, 12; Alexa, 9; and Jenna, 7, are Cardinals fans through and through, except for one major thing: their family's newest racehorse is named in memory of Michigan State Spartans superfan Lacey Holsworth.
Their father, Greg James, had planned on naming the filly "Interesting's Bull" until his daughters intervened.
They remembered watching Holsworth throughout the past year's March Madness coverage. They felt her pain.
"Certainly, my daughters could identify with Lacey," Greg said. "I could see it really hit home."
And so, at the behest of his daughters, he named the horse "Lacey the Spartan," memorializing Holsworth's battle with cancer.
"I just felt bad so for her family," Ericka, the eldest sister, said. "I wanted to name our horse in her honor."
Lacey the Spartan placed fourth in her first race at Churchill Downs.
At some point, the family hopes to donate some of the proceedings from her future winnings to a charity in Holsworth's name.
Source: The Courier-Journal