Kentucky Horse Industry Face Bleak Future
| June 28, 2009 Leaders of the state's horse industry see it clearly: If more gambling isn't allowed at Kentucky racetracks, the state will have fewer horses, fewer races and, eventually, fewer horse farms. Kentucky's pre-eminence in the equine world is at risk, according to industry officials, trainers and breeders, now that it appears it will be at least two years before an expanded gambling bill gets a chance at passage. The slide of recent years will worsen, they say, as slots and table games in nearby states start a cycle of more money for higher purses that lure more horses. The trend has already left Kentucky unable to sustain a year-round racing circuit. "It's a very frustrating thing," said Bill Farish, whose family owns Lane's End Farm near Versailles. "There're clearly people in the legislature that don't care about the industry, and they're just as happy to see it leave." In the meantime, Ohio's governor is proposing thousands of slot machines at the state's seven tracks — a move that the president of Turfway Park in Florence, near Cincinnati, said would likely close that track in less than two years. "We don't have to speculate" about the industry's future because the state's racing industry has already started to decline, Churchill Downs Inc. spokesman Kevin Flanery said after the latest effort to allow video lottery terminals at Kentucky tracks was defeated Monday in a committee in the Republican-controlled Senate. Kentucky trainers already are running more horses out of state because of a combination of bigger purses and easier competition. Some say they will leave the state or get out of the business if Kentucky's trend toward fewer races for smaller purses continues. "Obviously we can't stay here," said William "Buff" Bradley, a thoroughbred trainer from Frankfort. Louisville native Dale Romans said the likelihood of no summer racing in Kentucky after Ellis Park closes, which it plans to do this year, means he'll likely move his base to New York, leaving only a small portion of his stable, which has as many as 200 horses, 70 employees and a weekly payroll of more than $40,000. Kentucky Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville, an opponent of expanded gambling, has said the slots measure wouldn't have another chance of passage until 2011 because the makeup of the chamber won't change before then. On Thursday, House Speaker Greg Stumbo, D-Prestonsburg, said it could be four years before enough expanded gambling opponents could be replaced in the General Assembly. The horse industry's top lobbying group intends to campaign for Senate candidates who back expanded gambling. Democrats need to win four seats to take control of the chamber. Meanwhile, there are plenty of signs of the bleak future the industry warns about: Ellis Park in Henderson holds the state's only summer thoroughbred meet — cut in half by competition from casino-supported Indiana tracks — and plans to close entirely in the fall. Churchill Downs reduced its spring schedule, and spokesman Flanery said he wouldn't be surprised by further cuts in dates because of a lack of horses. Keeneland Race Course in Lexington can draw on money from its auctions to avoid cutting race dates, track President Nick Nicholson said. But he predicted the auctions — already hurt by the recession and market downturn — also will see fewer buyers who race in Kentucky. Turfway Park, the Northern Kentucky track that runs mostly in winter, expects purse cuts the rest of this year, and track President Bob Elliston said recently that the operation wouldn't make it to early 2011 if Ohio tracks — including one eight miles away — get slots. Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Indiana already offer expanded gambling and larger purses that lure Kentucky-based horsemen. Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland estimates his plan for slots at racetracks will raise $933million toward a $3.2billion shortfall in the state's two-year budget. Republicans who control Ohio's Senate say the chamber is unlikely to support more gambling without voter approval, but the Senate president said recently that he believes Strickland could allow slots without legislative approval. Kentucky horsemen expect slots would make Ohio tracks more competitive, drawing horses from their state. How much the industry's problems will affect next year's racing calendar will be clearer when tracks make their requests to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission this fall. While Kentucky is still the largest breeding state by volume, the fastest-growing states are ones like Louisiana and New Mexico where expanded gambling revenues fund racing. The most recent count of foals born in Kentucky showed the number was steady from 2006 to 2007, but some state breeders say they have fewer pregnant mares this year. The Lavin family's Longfield Farm, near Goshen, has seen the number of horses boarded there drop 25 percent to 30 percent, veterinarian A. Gary Lavin said. The farm employs 30 people, but with the decline in boarders because of the lack of expanded gambling, "that's going to decrease in the near future, that's for sure." |
