After being on the national back burner for the last three years, the illegal immigration issue has resurfaced again in Kentucky in the form of a bill that breezed through the state Senate in early January.Horse industry officials discussed how the bill, which could subject employers to felony prosecution for assisting undocumented immigrants, would affect the local horse industry if approved by

As Blame and Zenyatta fans hold their collective breath in anticipation of the highly debated Horse of the Year announcement at the Jan. 17 Eclipse Awards ceremony, the mare’s owner Jerry Moss and the colt’s trainer Al Stall gave their final thoughts on the matter during a National Thoroughbred Racing Association teleconference Jan. 13.

Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear joined community leaders and executives of HFL Sport Science on Dec. 14 to celebrate the grand opening of the company’s new laboratory in Lexington, Ky. The facility will provide drug surveillance, doping control, and research to equine and other sports industries. The lab, which represents a more than $4 million investment, will create 48 new jobs.

Accompanied by a police escort, a van carrying Zenyatta rolled into the stable area of Churchill Downs and stopped at Barn 41 at 12:07 p.m. ET Tuesday, Nov. 2. A cheer erupted from a hoard of media as Zenyatta stepped of the shiny, silver vehicle with red trim. She was circled for photos a couple times, during which she gazed at the crowd with curious, pricked ears.

The biggest takeaway message from a panel on transitioning Thoroughbred racehorses to second careers during the Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit at Keeneland June 28 was how trainers need to protect their horses while they’re on the track in order to give them more fulfilling opportunities down the road.

For 37 years Karen Murdock has dedicated her life to horses, doing everything from dressage and barrel racing to jumping and trail riding. But in all her experiences she has never encountered a horse quite like Lukas. Starting out as a downtrodden "racetrack reject," Lukas is now known to many as one of the most intelligent animals on the planet because of Murdock's

Prominent Thoroughbred sire El Prado died of a heart problem in his paddock at Adena Springs near Paris, Ky. the morning of Sept. 21. The son of Sadler’s Wells was 20 years old.

“It’s a very sad moment for us at the farm–we’re still in shell shock about the whole thing,” said Adena’s Dermot Carty. “On the other hand,

A week after Thoroughbred trainer Rick Dutrow filed an appeal over the 30-day suspension handed out by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission for a clenbuterol positive in the spring of 2008, the Franklin, Ky., Circuit Court issued him a stay.

Dutrow appealed the suspension July 15. His attorney, Frank Becker, sent a report July 21 that confirmed his client had been granted the stay, which

After noticing an unusually high number of horses stumbling at the start during the first month of the Delaware Park meet, the Delaware Racing Commission adopted an emergency regulation that allows toe grabs with a height of up to four millimeters to be permitted for racing on dirt.

The track had implemented a recommendation from The Jockey Club Thoroughbred Safety Committee at the start

Three of the five trainers that were banned from Suffolk Downs last fall for violating its zero tolerance policy toward horse slaughter have been reinstated and will be allowed to saddle horses for the East Boston, Mass. track’s 2009 season, which runs May 2-Nov. 7.

The trainers–Wayne Sargent Jr., Gerry LaFleur, and Tony

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission announced March 27 the Kentucky Breeders’ Incentive Fund will distribute more than $18.7 million in awards for 2008.

While this year’s KBIF awards are down from the $19,220,007 paid in 2007, they are still higher than the $15 million awarded during the program’s first payout in 2006.

“It’s certainly much-needed good news for breeders