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Kentucky Horse Racing Task Force Set

July 23, 2008

Gov. Steve Beshear yesterday appointed a task force to look at funding and integrity issues in Kentucky horse racing.

The Governor’s Task Force on the Future of Horse Racing will examine industry economics, the quality of drug testing, the adequacy of state laws and regulations and the role of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission that Beshear established to replace the former racing authority.

It also calls for recommendations by Dec. 1 on funding for purses, needs for testing and research and laboratory facilities in Kentucky and on “the need and opportunity for alternative forms of gambling,” the executive order said.

Beshear failed this year to pass a constitutional amendment in the legislature that he had advocated as a candidate in 2007 for casinos at Kentucky tracks and other locations.

“I expect this group to expand on” similar ongoing efforts “and bring me even more recommendations that will help guide Kentucky horse racing to a more sound financial future,” Beshear said in a statement.

Earlier this year, Beshear vetoed an exemption for small racetracks from a fee that helped fund racing regulation. At the same time, he endorsed creating a task force to develop a more reliable way to pay for regulation.

The authority has been funded in the past through a mix of general fund money, licensing revenues and the fee that tracks pay based on their racing days, although the authority to assess the fee has been debated.

Members of the task force include four racing commission members: Tracy Farmer, a Midway breeder who will chair the task force; Lexington attorney and commission chairman Bob Beck; Public Protection Cabinet Secretary Bob Vance and Prospect attorney Edward “Ned” Bonnie.

Other task force members are: Keeneland Association President Nick Nicholson, Churchill Downs track President Steve Sexton, Ellis Park owner Ron Geary, Louisville real estate developer Brian Lavin, former University of Louisville Equine Industry Program director Robert Lawrence, The Red Mile President Joe Costa, Paducah attorney Duncan Pitchford and Ellen Hesen, Beshear’s general counsel.