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Kentucky Horse Industry Pleads for Help

To many people outside the great Commonwealth, Kentucky is known either for Fried Chicken or the three sins of bourbon, thoroughbreds and tobacco (or hemp, depending on your age and smoking preference). You can throw Muhammad Ali and basketball in there too but those two aren't really business related although the University of Kentucky treats basketball as both a business and a religion, with a extraordinarily well paid head minister in Coach Cal.

One of those signature industries is in trouble of fading away according to its leaders. The CEOs of the five thoroughbred tracks and three harness tracks, together with the head of the largest thoroughbred horsemen's group gathered together yesterday for a press conference to discuss the problems facing the industry and their preferred solution. The location of the press conference was extremely symbolic. It was held in the afternoon in the paddock at Churchill Downs, a place that would normally be filled with people and horses getting ready for the next race on the afternoon's card. However, due to the difficulty the Downs has faced in filling its races this spring, it has reduced its number of racing days by dropping one day a week, so it was "dark" yesterday.

All of the assembled industry leaders pointed to Churchill Downs' problem with filling cards as the sign of the danger to come. Trainers and owners have moved away from the Kentucky circuit because they can find more lucrative purses in other states whose industry is supported by slot machines or casinos. The Kentucky tracks would like slot machines at their tracks and are claiming, with justification, that if they don't get that authority soon, the tracks will suffer severely to the point that several will be forced to close and others will have to reduce their racing dates. The outlook for slot machines is mixed. The Governor was elected on a platform of approving gambling and the Democrat House of Representatives would pass any slot machine bill that would benefit the tracks. However, the Republican controlled Senate is a different matter entirely. The Senate Majority Leader is opposed to expanding gambling and it will take a monumental lobbying effort on the part of the horse industry to get a bill passed through the Senate.

Without at least the approval of slots at the tracks, the prospects for horse racing is grim. Unless expanded gambling is passed soon, Kentucky may soon be known as the former home of the global thoroughbred industry.

Full post as published by Sports Biz on May 21, 2009 (boomark / email).