Big Lex | Decorator Thoroughbred

Celebrating 250 Years of Lexington, KY

Lexington, Kentucky, the “Horse Capital of the World” and home of BreyerFest, celebrates its 250th year in 2025. This beautiful city in the heart of Bluegrass Country surrounds itself in everything horse! One of the images you will see throughout the city is “Big Lex” – a blue-tinted adaptation of an oil painting by Edward Troye of the real-life Thoroughbred stallion, Lexington, that has become a symbol of the city. Legend has it that “Big Lex” turned blue from grazing the nourishing bluegrass his entire life!

The real Lexington was foaled in 1850 near present-day Lexington, and would become one of the fastest and most durable runners of his time. You can still pay homage to Lexington today – his skeleton is on display at the Kentucky Horse Park’s International Museum of the Horse, on permanent loan from the Smithsonian Institution.

Pair this model with the book, , which is based on the true story of the record-breaking thoroughbred Lexington, Horse is a novel of art and science, love and obsession, and our unfinished reckoning with racism.

Traditional | 1:9 scale | Ages 8+