The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) announced today that, beginning with the 2014 breeding season, horses by resident mares will be eligible for the Kentucky Sire Stakes.

The Kentucky Sire Stakes is a culmination of a month-long series of preliminary races, with the biggest money earners getting a chance to compete in one of the richest finals in North America. The Kentucky Sire Stakes is funded by the Kentucky Standardbred Development Fund (KSDF) and the Kentucky Standardbred Breeders’ Incentive Fund (KSBIF) which make up the advisory panel that oversees the nominations process.

Beginning with the 2014 breeding season, the offspring of any mare who is boarded in Kentucky for 180 consecutive days during the year of conception will be eligible to the Kentucky Sire Stakes program regardless of where the sire of her offspring stands.

For example, beginning with the breeding season of 2014 and thereafter, if a mare is bred to a stallion standing in Pennsylvania, as long as that mare is boarded in Kentucky for 180 consecutive days during the year of conception, her foal will be eligible to both the Kentucky Sire Stakes program and the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes program.

Obviously, any foal sired by a stallion standing in Kentucky for the entire breeding season will also be eligible to the Kentucky Sire Stake program.

“The advisory panel recognized the need to grow participation, and along with the commission’s support, the regulation was amended to include resident mares,” said Alan Leavitt, chairman of the advisory panel and KHRC member. “It’s an exciting new direction for the program and provides an opportunity for our horses to have dual eligibility in multiple programs in North America.”

The KSBIF was implemented in 2005 to ensure the strength and growth of the horse industry in Kentucky. The fund receives 13 per cent of the six per cent sales tax paid when breeding a stallion to a mare in the Commonwealth. The KSDF is funded, in part, by a pari-mutuel tax paid by racetracks in Kentucky. The KSBIF and the KSDF, along with any other money contributed, appropriated or allocated from all other sources, fund the Kentucky Sire Stakes. The Kentucky Sire Stakes is administered by the KHRC.

(KHRC)