Kentucky horse news items of interest for equestrian enthusiasts and horse farm professionals.

kentucky-farms-hay_205Governor Ernie Fletcher signed an order to help Kentucky farmers get hay.  This order removes the size & weight restrictions for transportation that is bringing hay or other livestock feeds into KY.

It also removes the need for permit fees for oversized or overweight vehicles carrying those feeds.

Companies transporting the feeds will still be required to obtain the required permitting for routing verification.

This is a big help to get some hay into Kentucky.  KY hay production is estimated to be down 50% from the previous year in 2006.

You can contact the Hay Hotline that the Department of Agriculture has provided at 1-888-567-9589.  Persons that want to buy or sell hay, are able to get on, or review the lists there.

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versailles-kentucky-horse-farms_252The Versailles Kentucky newspaper, The Woodford Sun wrote an interesting article today about a Versailles Kentucky horse farm known as Liberty Farm LLC.

Liberty Farm LLC (formerly known as Stockwood Farm) sold approximately 122 acres at 3945 W. Leestown Road to DeGraff Stables Kentucky LLC for $2,004,450 on October 24 2007 per the deed of record in the Woodford County Clerk’s office.

DeGraff Stables Kentucky LLC has announced on their site that they are participating in the 2008 Kentucky Bred Incentive Program. They continued with additional information that included information about their purchase. According to their site, the 122 acres they purchased includes 21 paddocks, 3 barns, & 55 stalls.

DeGraff Stables is based in Port Clinton Ohio, and…

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breeders-cup-classic-winner_104The results are in for the $5 million Breeders Cup Classic 2007:  Curlin is the winner.

This almost assuredly locks Curlin in for the Horse of the Year award.  Curlin won The Preakness, the Jockey Club Gold Cup and was a contender in the Kentucky Derby finishing 3rd behind rival 2nd place finisher Hard Spun and Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense.

Curlin ran the 1 1/4 mile race in 2:00.59 and won the Breeders Cup Classic by 4 1/2 lengths.  He paid $10.80 to win.   (Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense finished 4th.)

Monmouth Park in Oceanport New Jersey hosted this years Breeders Cup Classic, and 41,781 persons were in attendance.  The Breeders Cup Classic is America’s richest race with $2.7 million going to the winner.

The Breeders Cup Classic was a…

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The Louisville KY newspaper The Courier-Journal reports in the October 27 2007 edition, that Churchill Downs racetrack may no longer host the Breeders Cup World Championships.

Churchill Downs has hosted the Breeders Cup World Championships a record 6 times - and has gathered the championship’s largest attendance in 5 of those 6 years, including most recently in 2006.

But when the bidding came for the 2008 event, Churchill Downs didn’t even make a bid to be host for next year’s competition. And taking it a step further, Churchill Downs has not indicated any interest in hosting it for 2009 either.

Officials for Churchill Downs in Louisville Kentucky have complained that their racetrack gets so little money from the event, that its not worth the effort…

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kentucky-horse-farms-degree_192Texas A&M University is now the first university offering a masters degree program for Ranch Management. This degree requires standard graduate level business courses as well as studies in rangeland specialties, animal nutrition, and wildlife management.

One interesting example that is cited was the various students in the program using laptop computers that were strewn with lengthy calculations that was an equation for determining how to get the most beef from various pasture grass.

This program appears to be growing quickly. The first graduating class had 2 persons. The current class has 4 persons. And now there are 20 applicants for next year’s class (7 were accepted). The class size is intentionally kept small so that it remains an elite program…

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