Heart of Horse Racing

I have been reading the opinions of many respected people who have invested greatly in the racing industry and have been involved in it for decades. Many of their observations about the state of the sport and the organizations that are supposed to lead it are correct. I would like to share what I have discovered over the past few years. I have been involved in breeding and racing Thoroughbreds for more than 40 years, and I care deeply about the future of this industry. Like many others, I have...

Damon Thayer, who recently completed a 22-year tenure in the Kentucky State Senate, delivered the keynote address Tuesday at the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association Convention in Safety Harbor, Florida. With a theme of "cooperation is always better than extinction," Thayer's 35-minute address focused on the importance of horsemen in every racing jurisdiction building relationships with their state legislators. "It's mind-boggling what a legislator has to absorb every day, and if an industry isn't aligned, the easiest thing for a legislator to do is to wash their hands of...