Comments on: Horse industry has no short-term strategy to pass slots bill

By: Cyber Clean

Cyber Clean — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 02:28:45 +0000

Attractive section of content….

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By: Buck Feshear

Buck Feshear — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 01:24:15 +0000

I, too, have wondered how many of these jobs that Beshear says he is so gung-ho on protecting are held by illegal aliens instead of legal immigrants or citizen.

By: Big Ben 4 liberty

Big Ben 4 liberty — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 21:11:50 +0000

I agree with the others that the horse industry needs to stop looki9ng for political gimmicks to save itself and start figuring out how to offer a better product. Frankly I just have no interest in it, and therein lies the problem for the horse industry. More people feel like I do about it and they don’t seem to care. That is why they are in trouble. They are not offering something that appeals to a broader group of consumers rather than the stereotypical lounge lizards who bet on the ponies while drinking their tequila.

However, if they were to take our advice, I’m not sure how they could improve their product. Maybe they could try offering some Tijuana style donkey shows, only with horse instead of donkeys. They could just ask much of their workforce how to administer it, since they would rather hire cheap illegal labor from Mexico than actual Americans.

By: FourCats

FourCats — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 18:04:28 +0000

There is no “horse industry”. There are only track owners (who look out only for themselves and seem to care little for racing itself), horsemen (who own, train or breed the horses but have almost no control in their revenue [purses/sales] or costs), fans (who only care about takeout and their next pick and not about making the sport vibrant), the racing media (which complains a lot about other racing participants but doesn’t offer any solutions) and, worst of all, state politicians (who care nothing about horse racing except as a cash cow). Kentucky racing (as well as states such as California and New York) is following the same path now as Maryland which is only a shadow of its former self and where racing is almost extinct. This is a great sport but a central organization (with authority to act) is badly needed to coordinate marketing, integrity and exciting races. But this will never happen as the primary control is with the states and track owners. Oh, and slots? The idea that slots is anything but a short-term bandage is foolish. I am not against slots at all, but they are not horse racing and will not fix it.

By: Fourdognight

Fourdognight — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 17:23:02 +0000

reply to jim

Sales of cattle, sheep, hogs, etc are also exempt from sales tax. What is your point?

By: jim

jim — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:00:42 +0000

reply to Fourdognight .
Same tax treatment such as paying sales tax on the horse sales ?
(I can name many more exemptions , if needed)

By: Fourdognight

Fourdognight — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:56:10 +0000

This was not a well run campaign on the Democratic side. The Republicans had a local candidate that fit the district.

It will clearly be a harder road now. The thoroughbred industry in the Commonwealth will get smaller. More farmland will be turned into tract homes. At least the industry is politically active now, so perhaps some headway can be made on making the expenses of horse farms have the same tax treatment as other agricultural enterprises.

By: jim

jim — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:39:01 +0000

It won’t be long before the “slots” business will be expanded to full blown casinos. That will bring huge monies !
Why should that all go to the “hoarse industry” ?
Don’t let political cronies and contributions get this money grab.
The “slot, etc.” rights should go to the highest bidder. The state can then tax the revenues and give some of that to the horse industry.
THINK EVERYONE !

By: CSI

CSI — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 06:56:50 +0000

Zed,
Lets say Casino gambling comes to Ky. We raise the purse’s to levels competitive or above to the surrounding states and Pennsylvania.

Then those states again raise their purses above ours. What do we do then? What do you do then? Will you show loyalty to Kentucky’s citizens and stay here or will you come back and ask us to raise the purses yet again? Will this cycle ever stop?

Just like newspapers, horsey industry is a dying business model unless you do as other commenters suggested above. Make it more entertaining for customers to attend your venues.

By: Threelinks1

Threelinks1 — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 03:24:25 +0000

The horse industry has destroyed itself. Don’t blame it on the Republicans.

Mr. Farish is a close friend of George W. Bush. Nuff said.

Conservative principles work. Produce a competitive product and it will sell. Don’t ask me to bail you out by throwing money away on slot machines. That is just bad business.