Archive for June, 2009
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009
By Ray Paulick
Voting begins tomorrow (July 1) on the six open board seats for the 13-member Breeders’ Cup board of Directors. Candidates must be currently serving on the 48-person board of Members and Trustees to be eligible to run. Individuals from that group wishing to put their name up for election have until 5 p.m. today to notify Jim Philpott of their intention. The Paulick Report has learned who is expected to be on the ballot for that election.
Voting takes place electronically July 1-8 and is being handled by the same company, TrueBallot, Inc., that conducted the recent election of Members and Trustees by Breeders’ Cup nominators. Eligible to vote are elected Members and Trustees, Founding Members, Breeders’ Cup president Greg Avioli and past presidents James E. Bassett III and D.G. Van Clief Jr., according to the Breeders’ Cup election website.
Eligible voters also have the option to cast their vote at the annual meeting of Members and Trustees in Lexington on July 9. Curiously, the election rules approved by the board of Directors allow someone who may have voted electronically to change his or her vote if he or she attends the July 9 meeting and wishes to vote in person.
A final method of voting is the proxy, but for the first time any Breeders’ Cup Member of Trustee who is holding a proxy vote for someone else must declare who that individual is. Transparency of proxies is a good rule so that nominators in future elections can weed out individuals who are simply running for the board of Members and Trustees as “rubber stamp” candidates. If an individual doesn’t feel well enough informed about voting for the board of Directors, then that person shouldn’t be elected in the first place. In past elections for the board of Directors (before electronic voting was in place) there was a large number of proxy votes, but they were never identified.
The six open seats include four individuals who are expected to run for re-election: Reynolds Bell Jr, G. Watts Humphrey Jr., Robert T. Manfuso, and Don Robinson (appointed earlier this year to the seat vacated by B. Wayne Hughes, who resigned). The two-year board of Director terms for Don Dizney and Tracy Farmer are expiring, but neither is eligible to run because they did not get re-elected to the board of Members and Trustees.
The other seven Directors whose terms expire in July 2010 are: Helen Alexander, Antony R. Beck, William Farish Jr., Terry Finley, R.D. Hubbard, Roy Jackson and Satish Sanan.
The board tilts heavily to what I have referred to in the past as “status quo” or “old guard” members that has kept the power in the hands of the father and son duo of Will and Bill Farish. For years before Breeders’ Cup elections were held, the Breeders’ Cup Executive Committee was run by Will Farish and also included G. Watts Humphrey Jr., a longtime partner in the horse business, and Jim Philpott, an equine attorney closely associated with Farish’s Lane’s End Farm. When elections began in 2006, the “old guard” was well organized and maintained control of the board of Members and Trustees that elected the board of Directors. The latter board, in a series of meetings before its first meeting, “decided” that Bill Farish would be the Breeders’ Cup chairman, keeping power in the family.
Opposition has gradually mounted since then, through a series of controversial decisions like the one made (and quickly reversed) last December to eliminate the Breeders’ Cup stakes supplement program. The recent vote by nominators for the board of Members and Trustees, in which current Directors Don Dizney and Tracy Farmer, were voted out, could help shake up the board of Directors and bring on different points of view.
Let’s hope so.
In addition to the four incumbents listed earlier, it’s expected that the following individuals will run for the board of Directors: Tom Ludt of Vinery; Clem Murphy of Coolmore/Ashford; Richard Santulli of Jayeff “B” Stables, John Sikura of Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm, Olly Tait of Darley USA, and Duncan Taylor of Taylor Made Farm and Sales Agency.
Those are six very strong candidates who bring a diverse set of skills and industry and/or outside business experience. Santulli and Sikura were rebuffed in last year’s election, which outraged many breeders who recognize both men for their intellect and commitment to this industry. Santulli has an extraordinary reputation in the business world, and Sikura is widely respected as a man with, as the saying goes, "skin in the game," and a no-nonsense approach to getting things done. Murphy and Tait represent the two largest farms with the greatest global vision and would be a great asset to the board of Directors as the Breeders’ Cup seeks to expand internationally. Ludt has demonstrated independence and a common-sense approach to analysis and problem solving in various board positions, and Taylor is one of the brightest marketing people in the Thoroughbred industry today who has a compassion and drive to see the industry reconnect with the public.
If those six declare their candidacy, as expected, and are elected to the board of Directors, the Breeders’ Cup will be in very good hands.
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Tags: Breeders' Cup, breeders' cup election, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick
Posted in Breeders' Cup | 1 Comment »
Monday, June 29th, 2009
By Ray Paulick
Kentucky’s special legislative session may seem like ancient history now, but I’m going back to revisit a misleading article published in the Lexington Herald-Leader on June 14, one day before members of the state House and Senate met in the capital in Frankfort.
Under the headline, “100,000 Horse Industry Workers?” the article written by John Cheves called into question the number of jobs attributed to Kentucky’s horse industry. It accompanied another piece by Cheves, entitled “Horse Industry Has Problems,” that suggested things in Kentucky aren’t really as bad as people in the horse industry are making them out to be.
The intent of the two articles, I assume, was to convince state legislators, who may have been on the fence about whether or not to vote “yes” on racetrack video lottery terminals (VLTs) or slot machines during the special session, that Kentucky’s horse industry a) isn’t really as big as people have been saying it is and b) no other state is ever going to challenge Kentucky as the national leader in foal production, so its tracks don’t need to offer the same expanded wagering menu that so many other states have.
The article about the number of people who are employed as a result of Kentucky’s horse industry was borderline outrageous. The author seemed to dismiss the 2005 economic impact study commissioned by the American Horse Council and its conclusions that there are approximately 96,000 direct and indirect jobs in the Bluegrass State resulting from the horse industry (all breeds and disciplines). Kentucky was one of 15 states for which detailed information was provided as part of a national study conducted by Deloitte Consulting. The study concluded there were 51,900 people directly employed in the horse industry in Kentucky. It also said that as a result of the horse industry’s spending power, there were another 44,100 “induced” or indirect jobs. Those jobs are not in the horse industry (they represent all kinds of jobs that horse industry people are responsible for supporting), but they wouldn’t exist if the horse industry wasn’t here. It’s a safe bet that if we lose some of those 51,900 direct jobs, the “induced” employment will fall as well.
The writer seemed to be saying the number was somehow “fudged,” that smoke and mirrors were used by Deloitte to get to 96,000 jobs. Jay Hickey, the president of the American Horse Council, said to his knowledge every industry that conducts an economic impact study does exactly the same thing. “I can tell you, they didn’t come up with this methodology just for the horse industry,” he said.
The article says the Kentucky Equine Education Project uses the 100,000 employment figure in its advertisements and that it is somehow misleading. But if the writer had gone to KEEP’s website ( www.horseswork.com), he would have seen a fact sheet about the industry that claims between 80,000 and 100,000 direct and indirect jobs. If anything was misleading, it was the conclusions of the Herald-Leader article.
From a monetary standpoint, the direct economic impact of the horse industry in Kentucky is $2.3 billion, according to the same study. The total impact on the state (direct and indirect) is $3.5 billion.
Incidentally, Deloitte concluded that the total number of direct jobs in the horse industry across the United States is 453,612, and there are nearly one million “induced” jobs, bringing the total direct and indirect employment to 1,411,333. Nationally, the direct economic impact is $39 billion, and it increases to a total of $102 billion when the indirect impact is factored in.
But let’s go back to Kentucky for a minute and the Herald-Leader story, which concluded there are only 51,000 horse industry jobs in the state—not 96,000 or 100,000.
That’s still an awful lot of jobs. How many other industries in Kentucky employ that many people? One thing’s for certain: the number of jobs in the horse industry will be lower the next time the legislature meets. Horses and the jobs that go with them are leaving the state to race where purses are higher and breeders’ incentives more lucrative.
That’s no myth.
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Tags: deloitte consulting, economic impact study, horse industry economic impact, horse industry employment, jay hickey, kentucky equine education project, kentucky horse industry employment, kentucky's horse industry economic impact, lexington herald-leader, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick
Posted in Kentucky, Thoroughbred Business | 40 Comments »
Saturday, June 27th, 2009
By Ray Paulick
Twenty-eight hundred miles and about 20 minutes is all that separated the filly stars Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta on Saturday afternoon. After two fillies were scratched, Kentucky Oaks and Preakness winner Rachel Alexandra had just a pair of 3-year-old foes in the Grade 1 Mother Goose at Belmont (one an allowance winner and the other a Grade 3 winner this year). Zenyatta, winner of 10 straight lifetime and 1-for-1 in her only start this year, had five opponents in the Grade 1 Vanity Invitational Handicap (in which she carried high weight of 129 pounds, spotting between 13 and 18 pounds to the others. Her opposition had won only six of 23 starts in 2009, with one of them a non-graded stakes winner and the others optional-claiming winners. Both races were at 1 1/8 miles, the Belmont on dirt and the Vanity on Hollywood Park’s synthetic surface.
Rachel Alexandra made short work of the $300,000 Mother Goose, settling into last place early in the long run down the backstretch, then vaulting to the lead on the turn, and drawing off to win with ridiculous ease, by 19 1/4 lengths (just one length shy of her winning margin in the Kentucky Oaks). Jockey Calvin Borel spent most of the stretch run taking in the sights behind him and apparently blowing kisses to the fans in the grandstand, still managing to set a new stakes record of 1:46.33 for the 1 1/8 miles on a fast track. (The track was playing very fast Saturday; maidens went six furlongs in 1:08.53 earlier in the card.)
That final time was made possible by the sizzling early fractions set by Malibu Prayer and John Velazquez, who went the opening quarter-mile in :22.57, the half in 44.66 and six furlongs in 1:08.86. Malibu Prayer didn’t want to load into the gate, and when Rachel Alexandra ranged up next to her on the turn, we all found out why. The winner, a daughter of Medaglila d’Oro went into a different gear under Borel, leaving her two foes in a cloud of dust while scoring her seventh consecutive stakes victory and ninth win from lifetime starts, the last two carrying the colors of Jess Jackson and Barbara Banke’s Stonestreet Stables. Harold McCormick is the minority partner in the filly, who was bred in Kentucky by Dolphus Morrison. She has been trained to her last two victories by Steve Asmussen, who took over from Hal Wiggins when Stonestreet and Morrison purchased her following the Kentucky Oaks.
“Steve (Asmussen) told me ‘Ride your race,’" Borel said after the Mother Goose. "’You know her as good as me and I think she’s a kind of a grinder,’ and I said ‘Yes sir, that’s what she is." I think she’s just a wonderful animal, she grinds fast, you don’t have to be in front, you know, you can take her back. She’s a racehorse, this is a racehorse. Believe me, she’s not normal, I’m telling you, she’s unbelievable. I nudged (her) on the turn for home around the quarter pole but that was it. To make sure she’d get something out of it and do something for me. She set a new track record (note: it was a stakes record, not a track record), believe me, she’s not normal I’m telling you, she’s unbelievable. … She’s, I don’t know–like a Secretariat or a Seattle Slew–whatever you want to call it, I’ve never been on one like that in my life.
What’s next for Rachel Alexandra? “She is going to Saratoga from here," said Asmussen. "We will train her there and that’s where Scott (Blasi) and our stable move this time of year. Curlin did the exact same thing. It’s gotten plenty warm back home (in Louisville) and we are very much looking forward to the cool mornings this time of year. The plans are for me to take to care of her. Just to have her in the best health possible and then sit down and try and decide what’s best for her.” Mother Goose chart.
Zenyatta had to work a bit harder, but she also got the job done under Mike Smith, rallying from fifth position early to win drawing away by about 2 1/2 lengths for her 11th victory without a loss.
Briecat set the pace under Martin Garcia, going :24.46, :48.02 and 1:11.28 for the opening six furlongs. Zenyatta was kept wide and in the clear and was asked by Smith to pick it up going into the far turn, and she reached contention with just over a quarter mile to go. Briecat proved to be stubborn until the final eighth, when Zenyatta lumbered to the lead under the steadying 129 pounds and crossed the wire geared down by Smith. Final time was 1:48.15 after a mile split in 1:35.54. Briecat finished second, just ahead of Dawn After Dawn, with Hot n’ Dusty fourth.
There was no place or show wagering in the Mother Goose, with Rachel Alexandra paying $2.10 to win. There was no show wagering in Zenyatta’s second straight Vanity win; she paid $2.60 to win and $2.10 to place. The 5-year-old daughter of Street Cry carries the silks of Jerome and Ann Moss and is trained by John Shirreffs.
Chart of the Vanity.
The big question is whether the appearances of Zenyatta and Rachel Alexandra brought enough fans to the track to at least crack the 10,000 attendance mark. The New York Racing Association promoted the Mother Goose heavily, with free admission for females and a pink Rachel Alexandra bracelet giveaway to the first 10,000 fans in conjunction with Jackson and Banke’s donation of a portion of the winner’s purse to the Susan G. Komen race for the cure for breast cancer. (UPDATE: NYRA reported 13,352 on hand for the Mother Goose; Zenyatta drew only 6,907 to Hollywood Park.)
But the biggest question is whether or not these two superfillies will ever meet, which according to their connections is not likely to happen this year. Before the Vanity, the Mosses and Shirreffs have indicated that Zenyatta will remain in California for the remainder of her career and defend her title in the Breeders’ Cup Ladies Classic on the Santa Anita Pro Ride synthetic track. Jackson has said he will not run Rachel Alexandra on "plastic," despite her impressive victory on Keeneland’s Polytrack synthetic surface last fall when she was two.
Both sets of owners are independently wealthy and neither are commercial breeders. They are also sportsmen–an all-too-rare commodity in the modern era of racing. Jackson kept Curlin in training for his 4-year-old campaign last year when he could have retired the Horse of the Year to stud. The Mosses kept Zenyatta in training this year after she won an Eclipse Award and was runner-up to Curlin in Horse of the Year voting. The only thing either owner has to lose is their pride.
But the most significant loss will be what this sport misses out on if Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta do not meet later this year. Some way, some how, somewhere, it must happen.
But where and when…what do you think?
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Tags: belmont park, Hollywood Park, mother goose, Paulick Report, Rachel Alexandra, Ray Paulick, vanity invitational handicap, zenyatta
Posted in Rachel Alexandra, zenyatta | 20 Comments »
Friday, June 26th, 2009
By Ray Paulick
"For when the One Great Scorer comes to write against your name, he marks not that you won or lost, but how you played the game."
Grantland Rice, one of the great sportswriters from the golden age of newspapers, wrote those words. He also was the fellow who came up with the term "the four horsemen of Notre Dame." He was just as much a poet as he was a sportswriter.
Rice was a native of Tennessee who attended Vanderbilt University in Nashville. He worked for a time in his home state, but was recruited by bigger papers in the Northeast and wound up in New York, where he spent most of his career. It’s been estimated that Rice wrote some 22,000 columns and 67 million words during his career.
Another well known sportswriter from Tennessee, Fred Russell, also attended Vanderbilt. Unlike his friend, Rice, however, he stayed put for his entire career, serving as editor of the Nashville Banner for 68 years.
Both men received numerous awards and honors. Rice died in 1954 at the age of 73. Russell was 96 years old at the time of his death in 2003.
They are also memorialized in a scholarship that Oaklawn Park owner Charles Cella started in 1956 and is awarded annually through the Thoroughbred Racing Associations to aspiring sportswriters wishing to attend Vanderbilt. It covers four years of tuition. The scholarship originally honored only Rice, but Russell’s name was added some years later. Russell, in fact, mentored many of the scholarship winners.
The roster of scholarship recipients is impressive and includes such well known writers and broadcasters as Roy Blount Jr., Skip Bayless, Tyler Kepner, and David Sheinin. An old colleague of mine from the Thoroughbred Times and Blood-Horse, Chuck Manson, was another Fred Russell-Grantland Rice scholar, as was Daniel Wolken, a one-time intern at Blood-Horse who is now a sportswriter for the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
 The TRA just announced this year’s recipient, Eric Single, a graduate of George Walton Comprehensive High School in Marietta, Ga. Single was one of 72 individuals who applied for the scholarship. Cella works with Vanderbilt officials to sort through the applicants and select the winner each year.
Single is an avid sports fan whose dream is to work in sports journalism and eventually wind up at ESPN. Many of the scholarship recipients are exposed to horse racing through internships, and the hope is that some of them will cover horse racing. That’s not all that likely now, however, with very few papers staffing turf writers and the trade publications struggling and laying off writers.
Still, the Fred Russell-Grantland Rice scholarship is a terrific program and Cella is to be commended for establishing the endowment that keeps it going. Below is the complete list of recipients since its inception in 1956.
Year Recipient
1956 Charles D. Nord
1957 Thomas E. Templin
1958 Larry G. Daughtrey
1959 Roy Blount Jr.
1960 Saxon Kim Chapin
1961 Thomas D. Quinn
1962 Robert E. Theil
1963 Richard S. Osborne
1964 Leonard Goldstein
1965 Michael Kiernan
1966 William Livingston
1967 Barry M. Morris
1968 Dennis P. McAuliffe
1969 David R. Rapp
1970 Skip Bayless
1971 John I. Bloom
1972 Irving Muchnik
1973 Kevin E. Cuneo
1974 Kevin McDonald
1975 David Brooks
1976 Michael L. Jackson
1977 Edward O. Wilson
1978 Charles C. Euchner
1979 Kenneth C. Ray
1980 Zachary V. Wenger
1980 Andrew Byer
1981 Charles R. Bush
1982 Mike Cornwell
1983 Tena Bozicevic Herlihy
1984 Thomas J. Wilson
1984 Chuck Manson
1985 Paul J. Richman
1986 Michael Holmes
1987 David Sheinin
1988 Andrew Maraniss
1989 Mitchell Light
1990 Clay Hensley
1991 Matthew O’Keefe
1992 Andrew M. Derr
1993 Tyler Kepner
1994 Allan L. Owen
1995 Lee Jenkins
1996 Not Awarded
1997 Daniel J. Wolken
1998 Samuel H. Heide
1999 Jeffrey D. Lowe
2000 Matthew James Mee
2001 Robert Craig Murray III
2002 Byron Patrick Dubow
2003 Matthew Collins McDavid
2004 Christopher F. Callaway
2005 Not Awarded
2006 Not Awarded
2007 David A. Namm
2008 Meghan Rose
2009 Eric Single
Liberation Farm celebrates the many horsemen and horsewomen who strive each day to make things better for horses and those who work with them. To learn more about Liberation Farm, click here.
Tags: Eric Single, Fred Russell, Good News Friday, Grantland Rice, Liberation Farms, thoroughbred racing associations, Vanderbilt University
Posted in Good News Friday, Industry Organizations | 2 Comments »
Thursday, June 25th, 2009
By Ray Paulick
Permanently disabled jockeys got a huge boost today with the announcement that the Williams Stamps Farish Fund has pledged $1 million to the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund, the organization currently assisting 60 former riders who have been seriously injured in racing accidents.
The president of the Farish Fund is William S. Farish, the owner of Lane’s Farm and vice chairman of the Jockey Club. His pledge, to be annualized with equal payments over four years beginning in 2009, was accompanied by a message of hope that others in the industry will also step up on this issue.
“I’ve made a lot of friends over the last 30 years who are riders,” Farish told the Paulick Report. “They are in a position that if something happens to them, they don’t have the support financially to move forward. There’s a void. I think this is something that everybody connected to our sport ought to be contributing to: owners, breeders, everyone who is involved in some way or another with racing. These are independent contractors, they’re not protected once they go down, and there’s nothing for them to fall back on.”
The PDJF was formed in 2006 with the assistance of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association (NTRA Charities) and several racetracks, including those owned by Magna Entertainment and Churchill Downs Inc. A number of racetracks, owners, corporate sponsors and organizations have supported the PDJF.
It was necessitated after the former Disabled Jockeys Fund administered by the Jockeys’ Guild ran out of money during the disastrous administration of Wayne Gertmenian, who was ousted in November 2005 after virtually sending the organization into bankruptcy over the previous four years. The PDJF now stands alone as a 501(c)3 charity. Nancy LaSala is executive director of the Fund, overseeing its annual operating budget of approximately $800,000.
For more on the PDJF, click here to see the May 29 feature on the organization that was part of the Paulick Report series, Good News Friday Sponsored by Liberation Farm.
Farish said the PDJF has “been on my radar for a while.” There is a separate endowment, created by the Guild, that Farish hopes can be built up to $10-million to $12-million. It currently has about $2 million, but the money cannot be used until it reaches a certain level.
The Williams Stamps Farish Fund has actively supported numerous community and racing organizations, including Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation, the Maxwell H. Gluck Equine Research Center at the University of Kentucky, the National Museum of Racing in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., and the Kentucky Derby Museum, among others. “I’m hopeful and feel like by putting our name behind this very, very important organization, we can help financially and draw attention to the need,” he said.
“We are deeply grateful to Mr. Farish for his commitment to the PDJF and the disabled athletes it supports,” said executive director LaSala said in a press release. “Thanks to his generosity and leadership the PDJF can now focus more attention on building the endowment that will ensure that financial assistance for our disabled riders will always be available.”
Contributions to the PDJF may be directed to: PDJF, P.O. Box 803, Elmhurst, IL 60126. All contributions are tax-deductible. For inquires contact Nancy LaSala at (630) 595-7660. For more information visit www.pdjf.org.
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Tags: churhcill downs, disabled jockeys, Lane's End, Magna Entertainment, nancy lasala, ntra charities, pdjf, wayne gertmenian, Will Farish, William S. Farish, williams stamps farish fund
Posted in Jockeys, People, racing injuries | 13 Comments »
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
By Ray Paulick
Brereton Jones, the former governor of Kentucky and the chairman of the Kentucky Equine Education Project, pulled no punches during a horse industry rally at Keeneland Wednesday night when talking about what derailed House Bill 2, legislation that would have permitted video lottery terminals at state racetracks and enhanced purses. In an obvious reference to Senate President David “Blackjack” Williams, the "anti-gambling" Republican from Burkesville who likes to visit riverboat casinos in neighboring states, Jones talked about how a “third-world dictatorship” killed the legislation in a Senate committee controlled by Williams’ followers. “The only way to get rid of a dictatorship is through a revolution,” Jones said, “and the revolution starts here tonight. We are going to make this happen.”
 That brought the crowd of over 1,000 to their feet in one of many standing ovations during a rally that in some ways demonstrated the resilience, hope and perseverance of horse people. Individuals from virtually all segments of the horse industry attended.
Nick Nicholson, president of Keeneland, served as the emcee of the rally, which was scheduled less than 24 hours earlier in the wake of the defeat of the VLT legislation in the state capital of Frankfort. It began shortly after 7 p.m., when Gov. Steve Beshear and First Lady Jane Beshear arrived to the first standing ovation of the night.
“I know that we’re disappointed in the final result,” Nicholson said about the legislation that was approved by the House before being killed in the Senate Appropriations and Revenue Committee. “We’re angry, scared, and more determined than ever. This industry has more solid friends in Frankfort now than it did a month ago. Let me be real clear, no question about it, no doubt. This fight ain’t over yet. We as an industry are more unified than we have ever been.”
Nicholson introduced Kentucky legislators on hand who were among the horse industry’s friends and supported the VLT bill. Present were House members Rocky Adkins (D-Boyd, Elliott, Lawrence, Rowan Counties); Linda Belcher (D-Bullitt); Leslie Combs (D-Harlan, Letcher, Pike); Robert Damron (D-Fayette, Jessamine); Kelly Flood (D-Fayette); Reginald Meeks (D-Jefferson); David Osborne (R-Jefferson, Oldham); Sannie Overly (D-Bath, Bourbon, Fayette, Nicholas); Ruth Ann Palumbo (D-Fayette); John Will Stacy (D-Menifee, Morgan Rowan and Wolfe); John Tilley (D-Christian, Trigg); and Susan Westrom (D-Fayette).
Supporters on hand from the Kentucky Senate were: Walter Blevins Jr. (D-Boyd, Elliot, Fleming, Lawrence, Rowan); Tom Buford (R-Boyle, Fayette, Garrard, Jessamine); Perry Clark (D-Jefferson); Denise Harper Angel (D-Jefferson), Gerald Neal (D-Jefferson); Joey Pendleton (D-Christian, Logan, Todd); Kathy Stein (D-Fayette); Johnny Ray Turner (D- Breathitt, Floyd, Knott, Letcher); and Ed Worley (D-Lincoln, Madison, Rockcastle).
Nicholson also thanked House Speaker Greg Stumbo and Speaker Pro Tem Larry Clark, co-sponsors of the bill. Neither was able to attend the rally.
 One local politician who wasn’t mentioned by name but was referred to several times as the “Senator from Scott” (county) was Republican Damon Thayer, a horse industry consultant and former Breeders’ Cup and Turfway Park executive who has been the point person for the horse industry on legislation in Frankfort but has been silent on the issue of VLTs or slots. Thayer is not a member of the A&R Committee that killed the VLT bill, but today on the Senate floor he reportedly said Beshear and anyone else who wants to support the horse industry should get behind an alternate bill proposed by Williams that would divert funds toward purses through a tax on the state lottery, out of state wagers on Kentucky races, and charitable gaming. Those comments angered Senate minority leader Ed Worley, who gave an impassioned speech on the floor of the Senate criticizing Thayer and others who said Beshear doesn’t support the horse industry. In that speech, which was shown on video at the horse industry rally, Worley challenged those who criticized Beshear to come to Keeneland Wednesday night and hear first-hand from members of the horse industry.
Worley was then introduced at the rally and began his brief talk by asking, “Would the senator from Scott please stand up?” a comment that brought derisive laughter from the standing room only audience. Thayer apparently was not present.
“You do not deserve people who represent districts with horse tracks and horse farms, if they vote against the horse industry. You need to remember them on election day,” Worley said.
Patrick Neely, the executive director of KEEP, was even more blunt in his remarks to the crowd. “Elections matter,” Neely said. “We cannot forget that Alice Forgy Kerr–whose district is home to so many horse farms and to Keeneland—voted no. Only Tom Buford (the lone Republican supporter on the A&R Committee) had the courage to vote yes,” a comment that brought the crowd to its feet with thunderous applause. Another Republican supporter, Rep. David Osborne, was cited as evidence that the VLT legislation was not a partisan bill.
Beshear said he felt if the VLT bill had gotten a chance for an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor, it had a good chance to be approved. “Some of these senators are now looking for cover,” Beshear said. “They’ve thrown out some quick proposals. The senator from Scott (Thayer) said we could even take the money out of the general fund. My friends, they are looking for cover, and I’m telling you: Don’t let ‘em find that cover.”
Now that Ohio appears to have racetrack slots on a fast track to passage, Beshear said Kentuckians will be “educating Ohio’s kids, building Ohio’s roads,” by gambling at Ohio casinos, just as they’ve been doing at Indiana casino boats. “It’s time we kept that money at home to help our people,” he said.
“Tonight is not an ending,” Beshear added. “It’s a beginning of a campaign that’s not going to quit until we have done our job to save our beloved horse industry.”
It’s time to do one of two things, Beshear said. “Change some of the state senators’ minds, or we’ve got to change some of the state senators. Over the next 18 months, let’s get this done.”
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Tags: A&R committee, Appropriations and Revenue Committee, brereton jones, damon thayer, david osborne, david williams, denise harper angel, ed worley, flt legislation, gerald neal, greg stumbo, house bill 2, jane beshear, joey pendleton, john tilley, john will stacy, johnny ray turner, kathy stein, Keeneland, kelly flood, kentucky equine education project, larry clark, leslie combs, linda belcher, nick nicholson, patrick neely, Paulick Report, perry clark, racinos, Ray Paulick, reginald meeks, robert damron, rocky adkins, ruth ann palumbo, sannie overly, steve beshear, susan westrom, tom burford, walter blevins jr.
Posted in Keeneland, Kentucky, Slot machines | 23 Comments »
Wednesday, June 24th, 2009
By Ray Paulick
Jess Jackson, the principal owner of star filly Rachel Alexandra, said during a New York Racing Association media teleconference on Wednesday afternoon he has no intention of ever running the Kentucky Oaks and Preakness winner on “plastic,” or synthetic racetracks, and ruled out any chance she would compete in this year’s Breeders’ Cup World Championships.
However, Jackson did say that if the daughter of Medaglia d’Oro remained healthy there was a very good chance she would remain in training in 2010 as a 4-year-old, with the Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs a year-end goal.
Jackson and Rachel Alexandra’s jockey, Calvin Borel, answered a wide range of questions from the media in advance of Saturday’s Mother Goose at Belmont Park, in which Rachel Alexandra will be heavily favored. NYRA is offering free admission for women and giving away 10,000 pink bracelets embossed with Rachel Alexandra’s name in conjunction with the announcement by Jackson and his wife, Barbara Banke, to give a portion of any prize money won by the filly to the Susan B. Komen Race for the Cure for breast cancer.
While he gave no indication where Rachel Alexandra would surface following this weekend’s race against fellow 3-year-old fillies, Jackson said he wanted to run her against colts again, and included the nine-furlong Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park Aug. 2 and 10-furlong Travers at Saratoga Aug. 29 among the possibilities for her this summer. Each race for 3-year-olds carries a $1-million purse. He also listed as possible starts the $300,000 Coaching Club American Oaks for 3-year-old fillies going 10 furlongs at Belmont Park July 25; the $1-million Delaware Handicap , a 10-furlong event for fillies and mares, 3 and up at Delaware Park July 19; and the $600,000 Alabama for 3-year-old fillies going 10 furlongs at Saratoga Aug. 22. The spacing of her races was important, Jackson said, along with her physical condition.
Jackson said he would love to meet reigning filly and mare champion Zenyatta, but that it would have to happen outside of California. “I would hope we’d meet, but if it’s not in the stars, it’s not going to happen,” he said. “They’re going to have to come east or to some neutral track,” he said. “I’m not going to run on plastic (all of California’s major tracks have a synthetic surface instead of dirt). We don’t need to risk her that way.” Jackson said synthetic tracks tend to favor turf horses and that Rachel Alexandra has proven herself on the dirt. “You can’t predict the outcome of a race on plastic,” he said. “You see horses all finishing in a bunch.” Also, Jackson said the various synthetic manufacturers (Pro Ride, Cushion Track, Polytrack, Tapeta) each produce varying surfaces. “Man is interfering with nature,” he added.
Borel said he is confident the drop back to a one-turn nine-furlong race for Rachel Alexandra will not be a problem after going around two turns in her recent races. “She’s very versatile,” he said. “I’m going to ride that filly with confidence. For me to go out there and not ride her with confidence would be stupid.”
In other news, Jackson, a Californian who is a major contributor to both the Democratic and Republican parties in Kentucky, said he supported recently defeated legislation in Kentucky to bring video lottery terminals or slot machines to the state’s racetracks, though he admitted he “didn’t work hard for the bill because I was back working in California on the wine business. When I support a party or candidate, I do it so they can vote their own conscience. I look at the slots and gambling as an interim or short-term solution. The long term is best served if we can get together and voluntarily form a major league office with a commissioner.”
Jackson also said he “has been approached and am involved in trying to save Santa Anita Park,” which is scheduled to be sold as part of the Magna Entertainment bankruptcy proceedings. The Thoroughbred Owners of California recently confirmed it is planning to bid on the track in a bankruptcy auction. Jackson added that he is considering sending both mares and stallions to his home state in order to improve California’s breeding industry.
Copyright © 2009, The Paulick Report
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Tags: alabama, Calvin Borel, coaching club american oaks, delaware handicap, haskell invitational, jess jackson, kentucky slots, Magna Entertainment, medaglia d'oro, mother goose, New York Racing Association, nyra, Paulick Report, Rachel Alexandra, Ray Paulick, santa anita park, susan b. komen race for the cure, travers, zenyatta
Posted in Breeders' Cup, Kentucky, New York Racing Association, Rachel Alexandra, Slot machines, Synthetic surfaces | 30 Comments »
Monday, June 22nd, 2009
By Ray Paulick
Monday was a sad day in Kentucky for the Thoroughbred horse industry. It wasn’t a great day for democracy, either.
A Senate committee stacked with Republican followers of Senate President David “Blackjack” Williams voted 10-5 not to allow the full Senate to consider VLT legislation designed to close Kentucky’s budget deficit, improve education, and allow the horse industry to compete with other states in the region that have slot machines. The House passed the bill last week under the direction of Speaker Greg Stumbo, but the Senate committee vote went along party lines, with nine of 10 Republicans voting to kill the bill. Four of five Democrats supported it, with one abstaning. (Click here for a live blog including the votes by each Senator.)
Williams, who likes to play blackjack at Indiana and Mississippi riverboats but for some reason opposes Kentuckians gambling in their own state, brought a smokescreen strategy to the special session called by ineffectual Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear. That strategy included a tax-and-spend proposal passed by the Republican-controlled Senate but which never had a chance of getting approved by the Democratic-controlled House. The smokescreen strategy allowed Williams’ Republican yes men/women to say they tried to help the horse industry by voting for the Williams proposal. It would have raised taxes on the lottery, charitable gambling and out of state bets on Kentucky races and provide money for purses and breeders’ incentives. (The out-of-state betting tax increase was a preposterous idea, since out of state tracks would have simply dropped the Kentucky signal on tracks like Turfway and Ellis Park and done more damage than good.)
Some of the Republicans who voted no on the issue probably were representing the strong moral beliefs of their constituents. But others who voted no, specifically the Lexington/Fayette County Senator, Alice Forgy Kerr, were sending a clear message to people in the horse industry that they do not matter.
Kerr is said to be very chummy with Mira Ball, who with homebuilding husband Don Ball is one of the largest contributors to Republican campaign coffers. The widespread belief of many in the horse industry is that the Balls and their Ball Homes want to see the horse industry fail, and the price of Central Kentucky acreage drop so they can build more tract housing. Don Ball and David Williams are closely allied in their opposition to gambling…at least by other people.
The Kentucky Equine Education Project or affiliated political fund-raising groups must now turn their attention to people like Kerr and other elected officials in Kentucky who can be defeated in future elections by well-funded opponents who truly want to help the horse industry.
If Williams was the bully of this aborted effort by the horse industry to level the playing field with other states, Gov. Steve Beshear was the 98-pound weakling. He blew his opportunity in January 2008 to push the same legislation after winning election in a landslide over Republican Ernie Fletcher. And when he called the special session and put the VLT legislation on the agenda, Beshear failed to do what effective politicians do instinctively: call their friends and make sure you’ve got their support, and call your opponents and tell them in no uncertain terms why they need to be with you.
Another politician missing in action on this bill was Sen. Damon Thayer, a Republican who is a consultant in the Thoroughbred industry and is a former executive at Turfway Park and the Breeders’ Cup. Thayer, who like any member of the state GOP who wants committee appointments has to fall in line with Williams, was silent on the slots issue. He isn’t a member of the Appropriations and Revenue Committee, but he could have influenced a more positive outcome and didn’t. Thayer never came out with a position on the bill, to my knowledge.
What happens next? There is only a glimmer of hope that some parliamentary procedures can bring the bill to a vote in the full Senate during this special session. Beyond that, we are looking at the January 2010 legislative session.
The problem is that, by then, Ellis Park will have had a disastrous summer meeting, and Turfway Park will be in a much less competitive position than they are now. The prospects of Kentucky losing its year-round circuit are real. The loss of breeding stock to other states or Canadian provinces is real. The summer and fall yearling sales will be down anywhere from 25%-40%, and the breeding stock will match that or worse.
The downward spiral of Kentucky’s horse business, as Keeneland’s Nick Nicholson pointed out in the Senate hearing, has come faster and harder than anyone could have predicted. And I hate to say this, but it’s not going to get any better without real legislative action.
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Tags: alice forgy kerr, ball homes, damon thayer, david williams, Don Ball, greg stumbo, house bill 2, kentucky equine education project, kentucky slots, mira ball, nick nicholson, Paulick Report, racinos, Ray Paulick, steve beshear
Posted in Kentucky, Slot machines | 58 Comments »
Monday, June 22nd, 2009
UPDATE: The Kentucky Senate’s Appropriations and Revenue Committee rejected VLT legislation by a 10-5 vote on Monday night. The vote went pretty much along party lines, with Sen. Tom Buford the only one of 10 Republicans present voting yes to send the bill to the Senate floor. Four of the five Democrats on the committee voted yes, with one abstaining.
Below is a live blog of the hearing….
After the Kentucky House of Representatives passed video lottery terminal legislation on Friday, the Senate’s Appropriations and Revenue Committee will give the bill a hearing late Monday afternoon. Ray Paulick is on the scene at the Kentucky Capitol in Frankfort and will provide up-to-the-minute coverage.
4:45 p.m. … The committee room was packed with people from the horse industry, but those without seats were told they would have to leave and move to adjacent room. Apparently, the Kentucky Senators may have feared an uprising.
4:50 p.m. … The hearing is called to order by Sen.Charlie Borders,the committee chairman who says opponents and proponents of House Bill 2 (VLT legislation) will each have up to an hour to provide testimony. He dismissed the notion that the bill would not get a fair hearing. He introduces Nick Nicholson of Keeneland, who begins by saying that he knew the bill would have a fair hearing because he knows the principals involved. Nicholson says the industry faces a problem not because of anything that’s happened in Kentucky, but because of what’s happening in competing states that have moved to offering slot machines. Eleven of 12 of Kentucky’s most compoetitive states offer alternative gaming at racetracks, Nicholson said, but the next time he testifies it will be 12 of 12 if Ohio goes in that direction, which Gov. Strickland said is now a necessity.
4:58 p.m. … Six casinos along the Kentucky border had a net win of $1.44 billion in 2008, Nicholson said. "I do know that hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars of that $1.44 billion are hemorrhaging from Kentucky into Indiana," Nicholson said.
5:00 p.m. …. Nicholson tells the panel that Kentucky’s horse breeders are the best in the world and that they are doing their job in producing the world’s best horses. "We aren’t going away tomorrow," he said. But Nicholson added that what is in crisis is Kentucky’s year-round racing circuit. He said the downhill slide of the racing problem has come more quickly than expected. We didn’t think Churchill Downs would have to cancel one day of race a year, he said. "We thought we had more time." What’s changed the dynamic and caused the decline to happen more quickly than expected, was the bump in purses at Indiana racetracks, the increases in purses in Pennylvania and West Virginia, and the addition of a new track, Presque Isle Downs.
5:05 p.m. … Nicholson called the existing proposal "more moderate, more termparate," saying that the expansion of gambling would not be geographical. "I think it gives us the tools as an industry to compete with other states….We are asking you to give us the tools that our competitors have been given by their state government."
5:10 p.m. … In the absence of House Speaker Greg Stumbo, Nicholson walked through the legislation and the differences between Stumbo’s version and the language proposed by Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear. Among the differences, it’s worth noting, is that Stumbo’s version requires tracks to maintain the same number of racing dates they currently have. Stumbo’s version also charges a higher licensing fee to the various tracks, over $500 milliion to paid to the state over five years, versus $360 million in Beshear’s version.
"All 138 members of the legislature without exception want to help the horse industry," Borders said. He then referenced the "alternate" legislation proposed by Senate President David Williams that passed out of the Senate last week. That measure, obviously, was meant to be a pre-emptive measure to slow the momentum of the VLT legislation.
5:15 p.m. … Question time. Vice chair Bob Leeper wants to know if the projections were made before the financial markets meltdown of last September and suggests that casino gambling has taken it on the chin since then. Turfway Park’s Bob Elliston replies that "racinos" (racetrack casinos) have shown increases since then, going against the grain of standalone casinos.
5: 35 p.m. … Sen. Shaughnessy comments about the horse industry finally being together on the issue, saying that was far from the case when slots proposals first surfaced in the capital in the 1990s. "I like the way you introduced this," Shaughnessy told Nicholson. Other industries have come to the capital for a bailout, he said, "but all you are asking for are resources to help make you competitive." He asks if the additional gaming will make it easier to market the overall racino experience, and be more than just a revenue enhancer. Tough question for Nicholson, since Keeneland is not planning to add VLTs to its racetrack and instead will share revenue from the Red Mile. "There are many, many disadvantages to being the last state to do this," Nicholson said. He added that being last does have the advantage of allowing Kentucky to see how other states have used the racinos to their benefit.
5:40 p.m. … Sen. McGaha gets a laugh from the audience when he said he’s in a hurry and demands "yes or no" answers from the slots proponents. First he asked Ron Geary of Ellis Park if he plans to run the original number of dates Ellis Park was given or the reduced number they now plan to run this year. Geary starts to give an answer that doesn’t start with "yes" or "no," then McGahah shouts "yes or no.," Geary says "yes," then McGaha says "Yes what?" I’m beginning to worry that the issue may be too complicated for some of these legislators.
5:55 p.m. … In closing, Sen. Borders reiterates his believe that every Kentucky legislator wants to helpo the horse industry, but then tips his own vote by saying, "We believe there is already a measure out there that does that. (the Williams alternate plan that taxes the lottery and out of state wagering on Kentucky racing."
The anti-gambling folks are next.
6:00 p.m. David Edmunds of the Family Foundation begins by complaining that Nick Nicholson’s PowerPoint presentation is getting stale. He also doesn’t think the VLT is constitutional, reading from Section 226 of the Kentucky Constitution. He evokes the name of Bernie Madoff in saying his type of pyramid scheme is unconstitutional under Kentucky law. How reassuring.
Edmunds continues to teach the legislature a history and civics lesson….talking about the founding fathers and the evil of lotteries and horse racing. He also said House Speaker Greg Stumbo is very bad at bad.
6:10 p.m. … Edmunds quoted from several published reports saying the Kentucky horse industry is doinig well, with great attendance at major events like the Kentucky Oaks and Derby, and even quoted from Churchill Downs CEO Bob Evans’ report to the shareholders at the company’s annual meeting, saying he had a bullish outlook for the company.
A number of senators have walked out on Edmunds’ presenation, and can’t say I blame them. Edmunds is providing statistics compiled by people who have been educated at Harvard and MIT…that’s sure to impress some of these senators. His biggest concern seems to be an increase in the suicide rate if VLTs are allowed (oh, wait, they already allowed, just not in Kentucky). That’s the last straw: Edmunds tells us that the definition of insanity is doing the samme thing and expecting different results. No, Mr. Edmunds, you are the definition of insanity.
Next witness, please!
Sen. Shaughnessy ridicules Edmunds’ accusations that the state lottery is a "blood-sucking vampire." He then reminds Edmunds that he supports Williams’ bill to tax the lottery further as means to increase purses at racetracks. Edmunds stutters and hems and haws and then mercifully is done.
6:35 p.m. … House Speaker Stumbo enters the room..,..apparently the House has adjourned for the day.
6: 40 p.m. … The next witness (whose name I did not catch) slams the Herald-Leader for its accuracy and then cites a Herald-Leader story questioning the number of jobs the horse industry says it contributes to Kentucky’s economy. He then says the horse industry doesn’t spend enough money promoting itself and said Churchill Downs should have gone to night racing years ago when baseball and football went to night games. "Welcome to the modern world," he said.
6:45 p.m. Before the head of the charitable gaming association speaks, chairman Borders recognizes House Speaker Stumbo and tells him the pro-VLT legislation team did "an adequate job" presenting their position. When riverboat casinos began in Indiana, charities on the north side of the state suffered a loss in players, Ron Morris of the charitable gaming association said. He said other developments such as anti-smoking laws have also hurt charitable gaming.
6:50 p.m. … Sen. Boswell moved to pass House Bill 2 to the Senate floor without comment. Chairman Borders said the motion was out of order but would be honored in a few minutes. That woke a few people up.
6:55 p.m. … One last speaker on the opposition side represents CAGE (Citizens Against Gambling Expansion). The spokesman for the group said people will be sold into bondage to slot machines in order to support racetracks in Kentucky, that they will spend hundreds of millions of their own money, and money they steal from their employers and credit card companies.
7:00 p.m. … Sen Boswell’s motion is made to pass the bill without expression (meaning no support or opposition stated).
Boswell votes yes, but gives a lengthy explanation as to why he supports the legislation Buford votes yes but wants a local-option amendment to be added on the floor of the Senate.Sen. Angel also votes yes, saying her 81-year-old father is a retired trainer, and she also represents the district where Churchill Downs sits. Yesterday, Angel, said she heard from many constituents by email saying the people want a floor vote on the senate.
Harris votes no, saying the Senate has already passed a bill that protects the horse racing industry through improved purses and breeders’ incentives. "I’m also concerned that the (VLT projections) just don’t work," Harris said.
"This is a tough vote," says Sen. Kerr of Lexington. "I too feel that we have proposals on the table that could help the horse industry without damaging our most vulnerable decisions." Her vote will be a "no."
Wingnut Sen. McGaha says a yes vote for the bill is a vote for suicides and employee theft. Certainly the most rational explanation I heard during the hearing.
Sen. Shaughnessy complained before his yes vote that the committee did not represent a fair hearing, in large part because the committee is stacked disproportionately with Republicans. Shaughnessy said Senate rules call for committees to be divided between Democrats and Republicans along the ratio of their seats in the Senate. Democrats have 40% of the Senate seats but half that on the A&R Committee, he said.
7:15 p.m. … Let’s cut right to it. After a computer failure at just the wrong time, I can report that the measure failed to get the committee support and will not be sent to the full Senate. Voting no were Sens. Borders, Leeper, Harris, Kelly, Kerr, McGaha, Smith, Stivers, Tapp, and Tori.. Voting yes were Boswell, Buford, Angel, Pendleton and Shaughnessy.Sen. Palmer abstained and Westwood was absent.
The room cleared quickly, many of the people from the horse industry leaving with long, sad faces. One horse owner, Jack Smith, shouted in the direction of Republican Sen. Damon Thayer, "You will never get another penny of support from me," Smith told Thayer, who is a consultant to the horse industry and a former Breeders’ Cup and Turfway Park executive. Thayer called the remark inappropriate and said he was not a member of the committee that rejected the slots bill. Thayer never came out in support of the bill, either. And for a senator who claims to be the Thoroughbred industry’s point man on Kentucky legislation, that speaks volumes.
That’s it from the live blog
Tags: A & R committee, Appropriations and Revenue Committee, Kentucky, kentucky horse industry, nick nicholson, Paulick Report, racinos, Ray Paulick, slots
Posted in Kentucky, Slot machines | 40 Comments »
Sunday, June 21st, 2009
Glencrest Farm is a family operation in the purest sense of the term. American as apple pie. Established by John Greathouse Sr. more than 50 years ago, Glencrest today is run by four sons, John, David, Allen and Edward, and the two daughters of John and Mary Allen Greathouse, Nancy and Margaret, also have played a significant part in the operation over the years. The next generation of Greathouses is preparing to carry on into the future. Click here to read a profile about Glencrest, published in the Blood-Horse and entitled "A Family Tradition."
That tradition is threatened today by a struggling Kentucky racing industry that is unable to compete on a level playing field with other states that have allowed racetracks to expand their wagering menus to include slot machines and other casino games. The breeding industry is suffering as a result. The news in the past several days that Ohio’s governor will seek to add slot machines to racetracks in the Buckeye State will only make the situation more grave.
John Greathouse Jr. has written the following open letter to David Williams, the Republican president of the Kentucky Senate who said he does not want Kentucky tracks to have Video Lottery Terminals (VLTs) or slots. A VLT bill passed the Kentucky House on Friday but Williams has said a Senate Committee will kill the bill on Monday.
Time is of the essence Please write to Williams (click here for contact information) and tell him your thoughts on the subject and include either a link to John Greathouse’s letter or cut and paste the letter along with your remarks. Also, you can click here to send an email to all Kentucky Senators. — Ray Paulick
An open letter to Senator Williams
Senator Williams
My name is John Greathouse, co-owner of Glencrest Farm, a family farm just outside of Midway, Kentucky. My brothers, David, Teddy, Allen and I own just over 800 acres where we raise cattle, tobacco, hay, corn and yes thoroughbred horses. To an outside developer this land may be worth many millions in terms of potential. To the people that work and live on the farm, it’s a way of life not commensurate with the development potential. We enjoy what we do and want to continue to do so. It’s a working farm that supported many in our family for over 50 years. We have several young Greathouses that are being trained to fill in our footsteps in the coming years. It’s also the livelihood of the thirty or so people that work there and need to keep their jobs also.
I have been a Republican all my life. I am fairly conservative and that’s the way I vote. Reagan, the Bushes, Fletcher and you have all had a chance at one time or another to help this profession. All said NO! Now my Democratic friends shake their collective heads and ask why I vote the way I do. "Vote for your pocketbook, John," they say! To this point I have stayed the course.
Senator Williams, are you familiar with Pascal’s Wager? It’s a wager with unlimited upside but no downside. That’s what we have here with the expanded gaming bill. Unlimited upside and NO DOWNSIDE. The money is currently leaving the State, so please try not to tell us people can’t afford to gamble!
Senator Williams, you should recuse yourself from these proceedings. You have been influenced by outside forces. This State stands to lo se not only its flagship industry, but its international, worldwide identity.
Do the right thing please. Kentucky needs it, the thoroughbred industry needs it, my family and our workforce need it.
John Greathouse Jr
Glencrest Farm
P.O. Box 4468
Midway, Kentucky 40347
859-233-7032
Tags: david williams, glencrest farm, John Greathouse, kentucky horse industry, kentucky slots, kentucky thoroughbred industry, Paulick Report, racinos, Ray Paulick, video lottery terminals, vlts
Posted in Kentucky, Slot machines, Thoroughbred Business | 31 Comments »
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