Historical Horse Racing

The Minnesota Racing Commission voted Monday to approve historical horse racing at Canterbury Park and Running Aces, according to the Star-Tribune. The commission was not expected to make a decision at Monday's meeting, however, after more than 3 1/2 hours of discussion it voted 5-1 to approve HHR, effective May 21. "We are at a critical crossroads," Commissioner Raymond Dehn told the Star-Tribune. "There is a lot at stake." The Minnesota Indian Gaming Association (MIGA) and the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community (SMSC), which operates Mystic Lake Casino, both spoke against...

The Kentucky Equine Education Project's (KEEP) Board of Directors announced that long-time consultant Will Glasscock will be promoted to executive director beginning Jan 1. Additionally, Elisabeth Jensen who stepped down from that position in Sept. will serve as a consultant, assisting KEEP in managing board relations, industry stakeholders and with long-term strategic planning. Growing up in Kentucky, Glasscock attended the College of Charleston and the George Washington University before working for nearly nine years in congressional offices and as the director of government relations for a national trade association. Case...

Was it divine intervention? As the story goes, sometime in late 1923 or early 1924, a Kentucky pastor, Rev. Dr. Thomas Settle, convinced some state legislators in Frankfort not to end legalized gambling in Kentucky by repealing parimutuel wagering, much to the relief of the Kentucky Jockey Club and other concerned horsemen. Most ministers may have taken the opposite tack at the time, but not Dr. Settle, and this made him stand out. A well-travelled Englishman who'd found his way to a small congregation on Main St. and Bell Ct....

This weekend the baton will be handed off from our traditional summer focal points of Del Mar and Saratoga to Franklin Kentucky and the Kentucky Downs meet. Full fields, big crowds, and a vibrant atmosphere made possible by Historic Horse Racing (HHR) machines, and an ownership group willing to invest in its potential. Kentucky Downs embodies great hope for Kentucky racing and our industry's future, and it was almost taken away Feb. 10, 2021. It was a cold, nasty February evening in Kentucky, when the Kentucky House of Representatives took...

The push to legalize horse racing in Georgia goes back years, but the sport's proponents have never been able to get it across the finish line. Now, a recently elected State Senator who is an owner and breeder hopes to change that. Billy Hickman, a Republican from Statesboro, Georgia, is determined to see the sport come to his state and is confident his efforts will succeed. "I believe we will get this done," Hickman said. "We are doing a good job trying to educate people. We have three Republican Senators...

Kentucky House Bill 607, which contains a provision to greatly benefit horseplayers by effectively eliminating breakage, was overwhelmingly approved Wednesday morning by a Kentucky House of Representatives committee. HB 607 also standardizes the tax rate on all pari-mutuel wagers placed in Kentucky and also makes claiming races eligible for Kentucky-bred purse subsidies. The bill must still be approved by the full House before being sent to the Senate. Representative Adam Koenig, whose district in Northern Kentucky is near Turfway Park, is a primary sponsor of the bill, which also has...

Officials from Keeneland and Kentucky Downs broke ground Monday on Cumberland Run harness track in Corbin, Ky. and Cumberland Mint, a satellite historical horse racing venue in Williamsburg, Ky. The project is a joint venture between Ron Winchell and Marc Falcone's ECL Racing Management and Keeneland Association. Winchell and Falcone are the majority owners and managing partners in Kentucky Downs and The Mint Gaming Hall in Franklin in south-central Kentucky between Bowling Green and Nashville. Projections call for construction to be done in time for Cumberland Run to conduct its...

FRANKLIN, Ky. - With huge purses offered during a mighty short season all run over a distinctive European-style turf course, the FanDuel Meet at Kentucky Downs has emerged as a gem of American racing. It's different, to be sure. Once an obscure little meet quietly contested at a track called Dueling Grounds in a small town on the border with Tennessee, much closer to Nashville than Kentucky's big cities, Louisville and Lexington, it has flourished, gotten noticed and embraced. This year it features six graded stakes, three of them with...

A special legislative committee charged with studying the taxes and rates paid by Kentucky racetracks, including the tax rates on profits from Historical Horse Racing (HHR) machines, seems set on recommending the status quo rather than a tax increase. That's good news for the state's racing and breeding industries, which have flourished since HHR machines were introduced in the state some ten years ago. The Pari-Mutuel Wagering Taxation Task Force met Monday and the meeting turned into something of a cheerleading session for the sport, its economic impact and the...

A Pari-Mutuel Wagering Taxation Task Force has been established in the Kentucky General Assembly to "study the taxes and rates related to horse racing, the impact that changing the rates would have, and the funds relating to the horse industry which receive historical horse racing tax receipts [and] determine if any changes should be made." The task force will be co-chaired by Kentucky State Senator Damon Thayer and House of Representatives member Adam Koenig. The Kentucky Equine Education Project (KEEP) issued a statement in support of the action Tuesday: "The...

Before the first race is run Saturday on Opening Night of its 38-day Spring Meet, Churchill Downs Racetrack announced that purses will be raised an additional $3.1 million thanks to revenue from the historical racing machines at Derby City Gaming. Total purses offered in the first condition book for horsemen, which covers 190 races over 19 dates through Thursday, May 27, have grown to $22,822,100 for a daily average of $1,201,163. That represents a 5.9% increase from the previously published $21,544,000. Maiden special weight races are now worth $115,000 during...

A new online gaming experience powered by historical horse racing has launched in Oregon through luckii.com. Wagers can be as low as 20 cents a spin. The results are determined by a database of actual horse races previously run at hundreds of tracks around the country. Luckii is licensed by the Oregon Racing Commission as an Advanced Deposit Wagering platform. A portion of proceeds from all Luckii games are provided to the Oregon horse racing industry, delivering much-needed revenues to support local jobs and communities in Oregon. Luckii's slot-style games...