THAYER CLIENT SEEKING SLOTS MONEY IN LOUISIANA
By Ray Paulick
Oh, the irony. Damon Thayer, the Republican state senator in Kentucky who opposes legislation permitting slot machines that would benefit the state’s horse industry, is a former racetrack and Breeders’ Cup executive who, for now, makes his living as a Thoroughbred industry consultant.
One of Thayer’s clients is the Millennium Farms owned by former Dell Computer executive Ro Parra. On Thursday, Millennium Farms announced it was forming a partnership with Louisiana-based Moon Lake Farm and would be sending 30 of its Kentucky-based mares to Louisiana. It previously announced that two of its Kentucky stallions would move to Louisiana.
“We will likely move more mares over time,” said Parra. “We feel that the Kentucky program is not as competitive as other regional programs like the one in Louisiana.”
(Click here to see the complete press release, published by Thayer Communications and Consulting LLC.)
Louisiana’s racing and breeding programs are supported by revenue from slot machines. Kentucky’s breeders’ incentive program, developed by Thayer, is funded by the sales tax on stud fees, which are sinking almost as fast as the senator from Scott County’s approval ratings among Kentucky owners and breeders.
Thayer has opposed slot machine legislation in Kentucky though he recently announced he would be sponsoring a constitutional amendment to permit Kentuckians to vote on whether VLTs should be permitted. If that legislation is approved by the Kentucky House and Senate (a longshot at best), and the referendum is passed by Kentucky voters, the proposed constitutional amendment would then require local referendums in the counties where the VLTs would be authorized. If the measures are approved in those locales, there would then be a lengthy licensing and bidding process.
Some have estimated that, if all these measures are approved, Kentucky might not get VLTs installed until late 2013 or early 2014.
By then, you have to wonder how many stallions and mares will be left in Kentucky and how many horse industry clients Thayer Communications and Consulting will have in the Blue Grass State.
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Tags: damon thayer, Dell Computer, Louisiana, Millennium Farms, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick, Ro Parra, Scott County, Slot machines, Thayer Communications and Consulting, VLT
November 13th, 2009 at 7:58 am
Classic!
November 13th, 2009 at 8:19 am
Yeah Ray…and when slots and casinos were legalized in Louisiana, about half of the elected officials, including the Governor, ended up in prison after convictions related to gambling corruption.
Why don’t you read the book - http://www.amazon.com/Bad-Bet-Bayou-Gambling-Louisiana/dp/0374108307 - and then tell us if your goal is still to remake our commonwealth into the corruption-infested states of Louisiana, West Virginia and New Jersey.
November 13th, 2009 at 8:35 am
The horsemen better grab this issue by the throat or they are going to end up like their brethren in Ohio…..holding false promises and trying to decipher outright lies by career politicians and their sycophants who will yell about the need to “save racing,” but actually work to maintain the status quo……while laughing all the way to the bank.
November 13th, 2009 at 9:02 am
Ray,
Your story reminds me of a Thomas Jefferson quote I once read from Dumas Malone’s ‘Jefferson the Virginian.’
Jefferson said, “In a virtuous government…public offices are burdens to those appointed to them…(These offices are) foreseen to bring with them intense labor and great (personal) loss.”
Is it any wonder our country is in the condition we find it?
November 13th, 2009 at 9:18 am
Thayer. Busted.
Congratulations on connecting the dots to Senator Thayer. Not something you would find in any other Thoroughbred industry media news resource.
November 13th, 2009 at 9:30 am
Of course Millennium mares are moving to Louisiana. Just like the mares we sent to Pennsylvania. We are not fools. In the final analysis you do what is in your own and your family’s best interest. Just like Thayer sells his own state down the road, you do it for the money, plain and simple. I do have one question, what kind of Kentucky Thoroughbred operation would hire Thayer at this point? One that is moving?
November 13th, 2009 at 9:35 am
The connection of the dots is tenuous at best.
Ro Parra is his own man and did not hire Damon Thayer for his advice on how to run his Thoroughbred operation, but to be in charge of advertising and promotion in Kentucky.
Ro has always been ahead of the curve in trying to exploint regional markets and has done so in various states. This is his business plan.
To place one iota of blame on Thayer is absurd.
C’mon, give the guy a break.
November 13th, 2009 at 9:55 am
I for one would not want my state representative employed by a company whose business plan included exploitation of my state - regardless of the stated “purpose” of employment.
November 13th, 2009 at 10:08 am
Shame on you for running this type of garbage…
Who’s backing this web site?
Sen. Thayer reminds me of someone who lived in a small town in Oyster Bay Long Island:
“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”
Sen. Thayer is an honorable man — By deciding to run for office and serving the PEOPLE – Sen. Thayer has given up, I’m sure, numerous business opportunities and precious time with his family – FOR THE PEOPLE –
NOW Sen. Thayer who has taken a noble position on an issue and has to deal with Casino backed hit jobs like this piece …
Are you trying to ruin this man???? He makes as much as a State Senator as probably some of the board members of the NTRA or Breeders Cup piss away in expenses at fancy hotels. Why don’t you tell the “PEOPLE” how the vets rip people off or how the sales ring is as corrupt as Tammany Hall was?
I’m sure if KY gets slots, you won’t put up a “fire wall” and not accept advertisers that are making money off the backs of the hard working people of KY on this site.
You want to go back in HISTORY – GO BACK and see how the board members of the NTRA, Breeders Cup etc made their money –
I guess the BIG CASINO funded operators will stop at nothing to get their hands on money in the Blue Grass State and the so called BIG TIME racing monopoly of the Jockey Club, NTRA and Breeders Cup will stop at nothing. Shame on you and shame on them …
November 13th, 2009 at 10:36 am
JUST ANOTHER REPUBLICAN>>>>WHAT ELSE
now go shoot the messenger
November 13th, 2009 at 10:43 am
The dialogue here is fascinating. I have no knowledge of what the truth is, though, and am taking no sides. I would, however, like to ask those that are critical of this post — and I’m serious, I’m not taking sides — to say what they would do to keep the horse business in Kentucky robust without slots. I am not a slots proponent, but their advent has made being in the horse business and taking a stand against slots on principle a no-win proposition. Frank Stronach was anti-slots and then wound up fighting for them in every jurisdiction Magna raced. He didn’t have a change of heart; he wanted his company to survive. I don’t know if Thayer is right or wrong, and I don’t particularly care. I would, however, like to see the answers for racing and breeding in Kentucky without slots. Instead of infighting, the industry needs to move forward, one way or another, and not wait — like Maryland, for example — until you’re way too far down a dark road without a lamp.
November 13th, 2009 at 11:22 am
I agree with Mr. Irwin on this issue. Mr. Parra has always been ahead of the curve with his multi-division horse operation, numerous trainers, strong reliance on Jerry Brown and ThoroGraph, etc. Although Thayer might not be the wisest of choices given the situation in Kentucky, it simply looks like Parra paid someone to do a little media work on his behalf.
November 13th, 2009 at 11:53 am
Josh, be honest: it is casino money that is supporting Damien Thayer’s efforts to kill Kentucky’s horse industry. Because slots in Kentucky don’t benefit the casino interests, they benefit the horse tracks and breeders. And protecting the casino markets in Indiana and other adjacent states means killing the expanded gaming here in Kentucky.
Very nice work, Ray. I hope Mr. Thayer was paid 30 pieces of silver for his act of betrayal of the industry which elected him and which had previously been willing to give him a source of income. I hope he saves that money, because he will need every sent to survive and move out of state. Presumably his close friends and clients in Louisiana will be willing to hire him.
November 13th, 2009 at 12:13 pm
“I would, however, like to see the answers for racing and breeding in Kentucky without slots. Instead of infighting, the industry needs to move forward, one way or another, and not wait — like Maryland, for example — until you’re way too far down a dark road without a lamp.”
John S. well said. You won’t see the answers because KY Kingpins are still way too arrogant, used to their blue grass being indispensable and thus everything being “my way or the highway”. They are quickly turning into victims and some like John G. still manage to insult people. How ironic and sad for the true victims of such industrial displacement but what a great business study. And what a great lesson in humility.
The KY horse industry will survive and hopefully will emerge better and stronger.
November 13th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Josh, Roosevelt also said “Criticism is necessary and useful; it is often indispensable.”
This site provides the valuable service of exposing hypocrits like Thayer. That is the job of good journalism.
November 13th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
No crime committed here.
But there is some light poetry here in a public relations/communications strategist politician failing to see the forest through the trees.
This may be a metaphor for Senator Thayer’s incredibly ill-conceived, deeply flawed and politically maladroit new constitutional amendment initiative, which appears to be based on the thesis that you can fool all the people all the time.
We are always being asked to give the Gentleman from Georgetown a break. Lord, give me strength.
November 13th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
As a person without a solid knowledge of the Bluegrass State (save for my understanding that is the mess of Maryland and Virginia racing)…Paulick’s commentary and the ensuing posts are fascinating….this here, folks, as some slower fans would say is gittin’ good.
November 13th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
Mr. Irwin & Josh … I think Ray is just trying to point out the irony of Sen. Thayer having a client that is sending his breeding stock out of KY because it is a good business decision.
A business decision that was made because slots are supporting the industry in those States, when Sen. Thayer himself appears to oppose the same for KY.
That’s why my first response was simply ‘Classic’.
One would think that Sen. Thayer, with his background of employment in the thoroughbred industry, would be doing everything he can to help the KY racing industry compete against other States that are negatively impacting the industry. Clearly he’s not, and from an outsider’s view (I don’t live or race in KY) is doing a lot to harm it, all in the name of political gain for himself and his party.
He’s not unique in that … politicians all over are doing the same thing, and I firmly believe they should be called out on their records, so the people can see what their elected officials are really doing.
November 13th, 2009 at 1:05 pm
Much thoughtful stuff in the foregoing comments. On balance, I feel we should concede Thayer had nothing to do with decisions made by Ro Parra.
HOWEVER, I feel Thayer is an incompetent Senator. As evidence, I offer his bill that became our breeders’ incentive plan.
Thayer set out with the intention of abolishing the sales tax on stud fees. Along the way he was mugged by a breeder who persuaded him the money from the tax should be “kept in the industry”. Right there we had the incompetent being advised by the ignorant.
Eventually we got a plan with a convoluted pay-out system, a costly staff to run it and a police force to catch possible cheaters. Added to the nonsense was a provision to share the pie Thoroughbred breeders financed. Other breeds, contributing nearly zero, get a disproportionate share.
Clearly, neither Thayer nor his adviser knew the first rule of business economics, as expressed by Benjamin Franklin: “A penny saved is a penny earned”.
Had the sales tax been dropped, it instantly saved every breeder six percent on the stud fees paid. If that does not meet the crierion of keeping the money in the industry, what would?
My view is, regardless of his other ’sins’, Thayer should be ousted.
November 13th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
Politicians and P.R. professionals are usually the first to slice and dice everything under the sun, trying to figure out how any given situation or issue can either work to their benefit, or trying to figure out a way to keep an issue or situation from blowing up in their face. Since Senator Thayer appears to be both, a politician and a P.R. professional, allowing himself to be attached to this is remarkably odd.
If breeders continue to move their stock out of Kentucky over the long term, exactly how will Kentucky’s economy pick up the slack? I’ve never lived in Kentucky, so perhaps there are resources and advantages that I am not aware of. Why aren’t Senator Thayer, and other Kentucky politicians, more alarmed by this exodus of Thoroughbred stock?
November 13th, 2009 at 3:08 pm
So…who in KY is paying this guy for his opinion?
November 13th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
You know,I’ve watched this casino/racetrack theory in Kentucky for quite some time with great interest.You see,I’m from Iowa.The first state to get a slot machine backed racetrack.
At the time we were working to get slots,I was in Ocala,Florida looking for mares for a client here in Iowa with a man that is the backbone of Ocala Breeder’s Sales.We had several discussions on casino backed racing.He told me he didn’t like it as he believed the slots would take over and horse racing would get left in it’s tracks.I told him here’s our choices,without it,we have nothing.The track was broke,the purses were dismal and the industry was dead.With it,we had a chance.
Imagine my surprise when a few years later I saw him at Prairie Meadows and needless to say he was impressed.We went from nothing to something in less than 5 years.We had farms getting involved,new people coming in—it was fantastic.We have gone thru growing pains,we got to big to quick.We have lost a lot of people,there’s been a lot of uncertainty,it’s hard to invest in an industry when you don’t know if you’ll even be able to run in your own state more than 3 months.We’ve had race track management more interested in supporting out-of-state trainers than in-state mom-pop operations and we’ve had a racetrack management that pretty much thought they were in control and we just kept giving in and giving in to them to the point of where yesterday The Iowa State Racing & Gaming Commission said enough is enough.They are going to tell them how many racing days they are going to run.Our racing commission is for the industry here,not how much track management and the appointed group that runs Prairie Meadows and the county that runs the track.
You see,our track is owned by the county and run by a group of appointed citizens to oversee slots,table games and horse racing.There’s no big Las Vegas Company running it—it’s run,owned and managed by local people—in state so to speak.The major problem has been is that the county is not horse interested.There interested in all this money rolling in for all their little pet projects (an Iowa Events Center,anything that The City of Des Moines can think of and charity).Polk County has never looked at the overall picture……the creation of a new industry in Iowa.They only look at how much they can take out to feed their little pet projects.
I continually see those opposed to slots in Kentucky state that the tracks are Las Vegas Casino backed and they think that’s the only ones that will be running the show.If a little ole’ state like Iowa with in-state people can run the show why in the heck can’t Keeneland and Churchill and Turfway and Ellis,ect. run their own shows???
The key for Kentucky horsemen is to get the right bill signed into law in the first place and be very careful as to concessions they make to that bill.In government I’ve found it’s easier to have most of your eggs in the basket instead of a few thinking you’ll fill the basket at a later date..Having a mandatory percentage of slot and/or table game revenue wrote into the bill that will go to the purses at each track.Have a mandatory percentage that goes to charities and community betterment programs.Make sure that bill is 75% of whats good for the industry instead of let’s just get a bill passed and go from their.
As far as Mr. Thayer from what I’ve read baffles me.Here is a man that works in the industry.What he can’t see baffles me.Slots brings more patrons to the track who potentially will become horse racing fans also.Course,I remember for years when Iowa even attempted to get a bill passed for a racetrack and states with tracks hiring lobbyists to lobby against horse racing in Iowa.Go figure.I also remember when the main Indian casino in the state offered the state 100’s of millions of dollars to prevent Prairie Meadows from getting casino gambling.I also watch with great interest how the Indian Casinos in Minnesota continually pay off the Democrats in that state to prevent Canterbury Downs from obtaining slots.They actually tell the state that they will put the Indians back to near poverty levels.Course,thats all coming from Chiefs living in 15,000 square foot mansions.He may be an outstanding man,a public servant but sadly what I’ve learned about politicians disguised as public servants they seem to come out of office being worth more than when they went in.I wonder how that happens.
Sincerely,Jeff
November 13th, 2009 at 6:09 pm
I guess the fools in Gtown
November 13th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
Irony, indeed…. places like Louisiana, West Virginia, and New Mexico now support many tracks and are in a growth phase, building new farms, training centers and attracting the lions of the industry.
Meanwhile, California is losing Hollywood Park, Bay Meadows is long gone, and Kentucky is resorting to racing under the lights in an effort to prop itself up and make life miserable for everyone who works those impossible long hours…
Typical politician, and a so called conservative to boot…. not too proud to take consultant fees or campaign contributions from the horse industry, but too egotistical to admit that the position he has taken is ludicrous…
November 13th, 2009 at 7:09 pm
This is just another article to distract the public on the real issue, how the slot bill should be worded.” Its now become sophomoric and I guess only a matter of time before hits freshmanisc.
One band-aid story doesn’t cut it, I hope to goodness the next article on this subject has some meat to it
November 13th, 2009 at 10:25 pm
INDY
AND YOUR OFFER IS WHAT?
MORE THAYER AND WILLIAMSAND KERR?
November 14th, 2009 at 7:51 am
No more thayer and williams,
In general people on this site already hate them, so let’s move on, it’s like preaching to the choir.
We have the “luxury” of learning from other states both good and bad, a good start for an article, or will there be a picture of one of the two picking their noses?
I would have to bet that I am one of the biggest fans on this site. However it is nothing like it was one year ago and that scares the hell out of me.
November 14th, 2009 at 9:14 am
Indy, horsemen pay for this site. Ray will lobby for their inflated slots purses until it passes, works for a few years, then gets taken away. Then he will lobby for something else to help this broken game. Can’t blame him. I agree the Williams and Thayer bashing is like preaching to the choir on this site. I want to see a real nuts and bolts story that separates the racing side from the casino side at a racino. I have done some of this research and it is really scary how badly the racing side is doing at tracks like Delaware Park, Prairie Meadows, Presque Isle Downs, Zia Park…….Don’t think that behind the scene, executives aren’t thinking of a way to unburden themselves of having to offer horseracing.
November 14th, 2009 at 12:06 pm
Brought to you by Keeneland was rough to take, but I completely understand and it is a strong compliment for the PR. As always where is the line? I have confidence it will be drawn right. It has to be, because other blogs don’t cut it.
November 14th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Unintended consequences. When markets are subsidized, or otherwise manipulated with outside forces, there are always unintended consequences. A few years ago, the federal government started an ethanol subsidy. Ethanol production facilities popped up all over. Corn prices increased dramatically. Poor people around the world could no longer afford basic nutritional foodstuff. Overproduction of ethanol then caused the collapse of ethanol prices. Most ethanol facilities are now in Chapter 11. One of the largest, Pacific Ethanol saw its stock price go from $32 to 32 cents. Unintended consequences.
What are the likely unintended consequences of subsidized racing purses? Probably an overproduction of horses. And, when the subsidies end, and they invariably will when other special interest want their share of the pot of gold at the end of the slot machine rainbow, what will happen to the unwanted horses? You’ll need slaughter houses right on the racetrack grounds. That will bring in PETA, which will diminish attendance and handle, which will call for more subsidies, which will cause an overproduction of horses, which will require more slaughter, which will bring in PETA, which will diminish attendance and handle, which will call for more subsidies, which will cause an overproduction of horses…..well, you get the picture. Unintended consequences always occur when markets are interfered with. Always.
Reading these blogs and other racing articles and discussion makes me wonder why no one, no one, ever discusses why racing interest has diminished and what could be done about it. 90% of the discussions are about getting subsidies. It’s amusing, and saddening at the same time, to watch these big, hulking, strapping, swaggering, John Wayne types, at the track slobbering all over themselves in anticipation of welfare. Apparently, horsemen are big fans of the old Motown song, “Ain’t to Proud to Beg.”
35 years ago, the customer base of racetracks was limited to an about 100-mile radius of the track. Then the tracks allowed the feature race from New York or California to be bet at the local facilities. Then full simulcasting and, eventually, online betting. So the customer base expanded from a few hundred thousand locals to a national, even international, audience. The racing industry should be dancing all the way to the bank. Why aren’t they? Why hasn’t there been a concomitant increase in handle and interest with a 300% increase in the customer base? When a product doesn’t sell, it is almost always a pricing conundrum. Simply put, racing is not priced competitively to other gambling opportunities. Rachel and Zenyatta certainly generates the interest, now the racing cognoscenti needs to take advantage of the moment with an aggressive re-pricing campaign. Man up people, you don’t need subsidies.
November 14th, 2009 at 2:45 pm
Dr. Phil has a point people. You may not like it but its strong.
So let’s see if the PR can step up to the plate and lead an informative issue on how to use the latest and greatest handout wisely.
November 15th, 2009 at 8:49 pm
SOME PEOPLE LIKE TO HEAR THEMSELVES TALK WHILE SOME OTHER PEOPLE LIKE TO WRITE STUFF & READ THEIR OWN ROT….TOO MUCH SCHOOLING IN LIBERAL ARTS!!!!!.
I HAVE ALWAYS SAID THAT THERE ARE DOERS & DREAMERS..I.AM SURE THE MATH & SCIENCE PEOPLE WILL KNOW WHO THE DOERS ARE..
November 16th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
I hear that Kentucky Chrysler dealers now want slots in showrooms.