KHRC

The penalty structure for the new slate of restrictive whipping regulations passed by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) back on June 16 appears to be on its way to an overhaul after the KHRC Rules Committee unanimously voted Sept. 29 to present a "days instead of dollars" system to the full board for reconsideration. In essence, a series of escalating disciplinary actions will replace the suspension-plus-fine system that was originally based on a percentage of the purse being taken away from  riders who violate the "six underhanded strikes per...

Editor's Note: Tuesday, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission will hold a hearing before the Joint Committee on Licensing, Occupations, regarding the proposed amended regulation which would partially ban the use of Lasix at Kentucky tracks. The proposed ban would include all 2-year-old horses racing in Kentucky this year and be extended to stakes races in 2021, and is being advanced by a national coalition of racetracks and other racing organizations that includes all of Kentucky's racetrack operators. On June 1, Franklin (Ky) Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate denied a motion...

There was a popular aphorism making its rounds through social media in the early stages of the Coronavirus pandemic. "Check on your friends in Lexington; March Madness and Keeneland are cancelled." It's true, Lexington natives experienced a shocking few days early in March when the cancellation of Keeneland's annual Spring Meet occurred just days after the announcement that there would be no NCAA basketball tournament. And while racing fans were certainly disappointed that there would be no tailgating on The Hill or a sunny Saturday afternoon shared between 30,000-some attendees...

The July 8-12 meet at Keeneland Race Course got a step closer to reality Wednesday morning when the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC)'s race dates committee unanimously recommended a calendar shift agreement between Keeneland and Ellis Park. The full KHRC board still needs to approve the recommendation to make it official. But that vote is now considered a formality given that committee members passed the recommendation without any discussion, questions or opposition. The next scheduled KHRC meeting is June 16. Bob Elliston, Keeneland's vice president of racing and sales, told...

Kentucky's executive branch budget bill that is awaiting either passage or line-item vetoes from Gov. Andy Beshear contains a $1.5-million restricted funds transfer from the Equine Drug Research Council (EDRC) to the University of Kentucky (UK) to open a national equine drug testing laboratory. The budget bill also includes a $500,000 allotment from the state's general fund into the budget of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) to hire a safety steward and additional investigators who would be assigned to the state's tracks. A third general fund appropriation would give...

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) unanimously voted at a special meeting Thursday to allow Churchill Downs to shift five "optional" Wednesday race dates from its spring meet to Sept. 1-5 to accommodate the track's coronavirus-related rescheduling of the entire Tuesday-through-Saturday GI Kentucky Derby race week. The KHRC's approval came after two other Kentucky tracks that have already been granted traditional race dates during that September time block indicated they would be amenable to working out a compromise for the betterment of the entire circuit. That means Ellis Park will...