Panel recommends increased funding for regulation

The Governor’s Task Force on the Future of Horse Racing in Kentucky has been sent to Gov. Steve Beshear with recommendations that funding to regulate the sport be increased and that it be paid for through increased fees and taxes. The report which was released to the media Monday and reported on the Lexington Herald-Leader’s website Kentucky.com, also recommended increasing purses and establishing an equine testing and research lab, but did not address the funding of both suggestions.

The increase in funding is necessary, according to the report, because it recommends adding 10 new full-time staff members to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC), and to put all Thoroughbred and Standardbred stewards on the state payroll. They are now paid by the racetracks.

Tracy Farmer, a member of the KHRC who chaired the 12-member task force, said the subject of expanded gambling in the state was not discussed by the Task Force. “That’s between the governor and the General Assembly and not an issue that we were instructed to look at now,” he said. But Farmer added that “if we don’t have enhanced funding from some source, the people that have casinos at the tracks are going to have our horses.”

To read the complete Kentucky.com story and find a link to the full report, click here.

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