Owners of small horse farms in Kentucky are more worried than ever about their future now after a legislative defeat of a plan for casinos, mainly at racetracks, that would have boosted race purses and breeders' incentive programs to compete with other states.
“It’s going to be very difficult for farms like me to stay around much longer,” small farmer Alfred Nuckols, left, told Al Cross, director of the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues (publisher of The Rural Blog), who made the issue the topic of his fortnightly political column in The Courier-Journal. (Photo by University of Kentucky student Cassidy Herrington)
"The big farms will remain, and some will get larger by absorbing smaller ones, but many will send their profits out of state. And Kentucky will have many fewer horses," Cross writes. "And the recent 25 percent cut in purses at Turfway Park in Northern Kentucky, announced after the casino amendment failed in the state Senate, is probably the death knell for that track — and for the year-round Kentucky racing circuit that has helped keep small horse farms in business."
Nuckols “acknowledged misgivings that many breeders have about casinos,” Cross notes. “He said he’s not a strong advocate, because he fears that gaming interests would become too powerful, to the detriment of the horse industry, but at least for now, 'We need to level the playing field.'”
Cross faults Gov. Steve Beshear and legislators nervous about redistricting for the defeat of the proposal, which he says may pass in a future legislature and be submitted to the voters as a constitutional amendment, "But it will probably be too late for Alfred Nuckols and many other small horse farmers, who carry one of our state’s richest heritages and give it a unique culture and identity — one that should not be put at risk by political cowardice and ineptitude." (Read more)
"The big farms will remain, and some will get larger by absorbing smaller ones, but many will send their profits out of state. And Kentucky will have many fewer horses," Cross writes. "And the recent 25 percent cut in purses at Turfway Park in Northern Kentucky, announced after the casino amendment failed in the state Senate, is probably the death knell for that track — and for the year-round Kentucky racing circuit that has helped keep small horse farms in business."
Nuckols “acknowledged misgivings that many breeders have about casinos,” Cross notes. “He said he’s not a strong advocate, because he fears that gaming interests would become too powerful, to the detriment of the horse industry, but at least for now, 'We need to level the playing field.'”
Cross faults Gov. Steve Beshear and legislators nervous about redistricting for the defeat of the proposal, which he says may pass in a future legislature and be submitted to the voters as a constitutional amendment, "But it will probably be too late for Alfred Nuckols and many other small horse farmers, who carry one of our state’s richest heritages and give it a unique culture and identity — one that should not be put at risk by political cowardice and ineptitude." (Read more)
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