Daily News (Bowling Green, KY)

Franklin hosts horse conference

   AMEERAH CETAWAYO, The Daily News, acetawayo@bgdailynews.com
Published: March 22, 2008

Money available to those here and abroad who feel the need to breed horses in the Bluegrass state was the focus of a two-day conference that began Friday at Franklin’s Kentucky Downs – one of only seven thoroughbred racing tracks in Kentucky.
 
The conference, which aimed to bring more awareness to the newly expanded and growing Kentucky Breeders Incentive Fund, was held at a time when western Kentucky is set to become the center of quarter horse market activity in the commonwealth, according to the Kentucky Quarter Horse Association.
 
“The program is really in its infancy,” said Norman K. Luba, past president of the Kentucky Quarter Horse Association in Frankfort. Luba added that there were more than 600 quarter horse stallions moving to Kentucky beginning on Sept. 1, 2007. “We’re excited about it.”

The incentive fund requires a mare to reside in Kentucky from the time of breeding until birth of the foal, and awards incentive payments based on the foal’s eventual winnings on the race track for thoroughbred breeds or by a point system earned with non-race breed associations, according to state officials.

Sen. Richie Sanders, R-Franklin, who helped organize the conference, said the purpose of Friday’s event was to make people more aware of the incentive fund’s option to non-thoroughbred breeders and to recruit equine operations from other states. The fund was expanded to non-race breeds in early 2007.
 
“Kentucky is known as the horse capital of the world and we just want to capitalize on it,” Sanders said.

Deerfield, N.H., residents Zina Slade and Dan Morrill are exactly the type of people Sanders wants to bring to Kentucky. The couple attended the conference in hopes to relocate to Kentucky with 20 to 50 acres.

“We’ve been looking online (for land),” Slade said.

Slade and Morrill are operators of North Creek Farm in New Hampshire and hope to open a Kentucky facility that handles foaling for interested parties.

“It’s a dream for us,” Slade said. “It’s a great opportunity – it’s beautiful country. We’re very hopeful.”
 
Besides evading the high cost of living in New Hampshire, Morrill said Kentucky’s weather won him over.
“You don’t have any snow,” Morrill said in jest.

People like Frankfort residents Kimberly and Vincent Tumlin are also behind the growing equine industry in Kentucky. Launching Breedky.com in January, the couple, who breed paint and quarter horses, said the site helps people who want to find horses eligible for the incentive fund – a problem they originally had.

“As the amount of stallions coming to stand and the incentive fund grows, the site will grow,” owner Vincent Tumlin said.

In its initial month, the site had 3,000 hits. By February, the site had 4,000 hits – a number already surpassed by March estimates, according to the couple.

“We’re increasing every month,” Vincent Tumlin said. “My goal for the Web site is it to have a one-stop shop.”
The Web site aims to represent all nine non-race horse breeds (five of which are on the site currently), and highlights equine services available, ranging from veterinarian services to custom embroidery.

According to Sanders, the General Assembly once put the revenue from the sales tax on breeding operations in the state’s General Fund. Now that money goes into the incentive fund.

Created in 2005 by HB 272, the KBIF is funded by a 6 percent sales tax on stud fees and continues to grow, according to Sanders. Last year, the fund saw a 20 percent jump from $15 million to $19.2 million.
 
Under state law, 80 percent of the fund goes to thoroughbreds, which took in $15.5 million last year; and 13 percent to standardbreds, which took in $2.85 million last year.

The remaining 7 percent – which amounted to $1.37 million last year – goes to qualified other breeds, and was passed out in increments to a variety of organizations in the commonwealth, including the Kentucky Appaloosa Association ($61,570), The South Central Hackney Association ($16,408), the Kentucky Morgan Horse Association ($16,872), Kentucky Mountain Horse Association ($165,178), Kentucky Paint Horse Club ($115,323), Kentucky Paso Fino Horse Association ($14,139), Kentucky Quarterhorse Association ($446,629), Kentucky Saddlebred Owners and Breeders Association ($146,381) and Kentucky Walking Horse Association ($387,506), according to Sanders.

Rodney Kirtley, director of the Barren River Area Development District, which sponsored the conference, said southcentral Kentucky and other areas benefit from the economic impact of the equine industry, which is being spurred by the incentive fund.

“We see it paying off,” Kirtley said, adding that those who relocate to Kentucky purchase farms, rebuild them, and add to the economy by buying feed, veterinary services and other local products.
 
Horses are a $4 billion industry in Kentucky – the commonwealth’s No. 1 cash crop that supports 100,000 jobs annually, according to Kirtley.

Franklin native Lannie Gann, who is president of the Realtors Association of Southern Kentucky, said southcentral Kentucky is well equipped to take center stage for non-race breeding operations.
 
In Simpson County alone, Gann pointed out the Deweese Equestrian Center, Rocky Mountain Horse Far, the Loving Chapel Farm, which is a quarter horse operation operated by Karen Kemp and Ray Malinowski, and the Gobblers Knob Farm, a walking horse operation owned by Chip Carrier.
 
As host to Bowling Green – the second fastest-growing city in Kentucky – Gann said it is important for developers and farmers in southcentral Kentucky to pay attention to the growth by developing carefully, since many breeders typically buy larger tracts of land.
 
“One of the things that southcentral Kentucky offers is accessibility and the availability of land, and customization to fit a need – it creates opportunity,” Gann said.
 
Kentucky Downs co-owner shows off early plans for expansion, gaming
Kentucky Downs co-owner Corey Johnsen revealed preliminary conceptual expansion drawings from Norman, Okla.–based gh2 Gralla Architects on Friday afternoon to dozens of horse enthusiasts in hopes of getting feedback for the project.

Final plans could be complete by as early as 2009, Johnsen said. But in the meantime, he has planned to be a “long-term” player who will ride out the politics of the expanded gaming bill which, if passed, could add casino gambling to tracks like Kentucky Downs.
 
“I want to listen a lot, take small steps and use a methodical, disciplined approach (to the expansion),” Johnsen said.
Kentucky Downs is the only European-style course in the United States and hosts a track that “offers a menu of turf races run over a mile-and-five-sixteenths oval,” according to its Web site. The track hosts an annual meet of championship Thoroughbred turf racing each September.
 
The premise behind the expansion is to turn Kentucky Downs into a regional horse center that would open up the track to a slew of activities for horse breeders of all types and make the locale an “entertainment destination,” according to Johnsen.

Drawings show two phases for the expansion. In the first phase, Johnsen would add a 150-by-300-foot arena with pens and a 100-by-200-foot warm-up arena. In addition, a barn would be converted to a multi-use facility with restrooms, showers, storage space and concessions. In the second phase, two 60-feet diameter round pens would also be added, in addition to adding a cover to the 150-by-300-foot arena.
 
The expansion would also accomodate riding trails, rodeo horse shows, barrel riding and adult horse camps, like the New Beginnings Therapeutic Riding site in Bowling Green. It would also carry an educational component by letting local 4-H and Future Farm Leaders of America groups use the facilty as well.

“I got great feedback today,” Johnsen said.

Steve Thurmond, executive director of the Franklin-Simpson Chamber of Commerce, said Kentucky Downs’ investment is timely for the area.

“There’s been a surge in the equine industry in Simpson County,” Thurmond said.

Copyright 2008 News Publishing LLC (Bowling Green, KY)