Marty Maline

After 47 years serving as executive director of the Kentucky HBPA, Marty Maline will retire effective Dec. 31. Joe Clabes, who has overseen the Kentucky HBPA's government affairs and advocacy, has been named interim executive director and will work alongside Maline through December during the transition. "I think more than anything, maybe it's time to turn it over to a younger person with a lot of enthusiasm and they can all improve the organization," said Maline. "We're in good shape. We've got this great office here. There's a whole different...

Owner James 'Mattress Mack' McIngvale, who earlier this week announced that he would be making a bet in excess of $2-million as a hedge against a promotion in which customers of his Gallery Furniture chain will be refunded in the event that favored Essential Quality (Tapit) prevails, has confirmed that the bet will be placed on site at Churchill Downs in order to maximize the money that goes to purses. McIngvale has bet through casinos on similar promotions on the World Series and Super Bowl, where he is able to...

Average daily purses are expected to top $350,000 at this summer's Ellis Park meeting, highest in the track's 99-year history, according to racing secretary Dan Bork. Bork said purses for maiden races will likely top the record $50,000 achieved in 2019 before the pandemic forced cutbacks last year in the wake of a three-month shutdown. Those numbers include Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund supplements. Ellis Park released its 2021 stakes schedule Sunday. The schedule features 14 stakes races and the Henderson track has expanded its Kentucky Downs Preview Day to an...

As the calendar turns to February and the countdown continues towards the adjournment of the Kentucky State Legislature on March 30, 2021, the Kentucky HBPA hosted a media event Tuesday morning at Skylight Training Center to get the word out on what Historical Horse Racing means to Kentucky racing and the impacts that would be felt by citizens across the Commonwealth if it were not protected by state legislature. Certain Historical Horse Racing (HHR) machines, electronic gambling systems that allow people to bet on replays of past horse races, cannot...

Turfway Park, currently in the midst of being demolished and rebuilt under new corporate ownership, is projecting 2,400 applications for 900 stalls for the upcoming 52-date combined holiday, winter, and spring meets that will open Dec. 2. But even though a larger-than-usual number of Kentucky racing outfits are expected to remain at Turfway for the winter instead of shipping out to warmer-climate race meets, track officials told members of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund (KTDF) advisory committee during an Oct. 6 video meeting that purse expectations should be tempered because...

Franklin (Ky) Circuit Court Judge Thomas Wingate has denied a motion by the Kentucky Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (KHBPA) that sought a temporary injunction that would have kept Churchill Downs and Keeneland from running Lasix-free 2-year-old races. Wingate also granted a motion from the defendants to dismiss the case for "lack of standing." Much of the KHBPA's case resolved around its assertion that only the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) could make rules regarding Lasix. The ban on the medication at the two Kentucky tracks were house rules, written...