The project is somewhat under a time crunch, as it needs to be completed by the next big thoroughbred sale to be held at the facility beginning on October 20.  The construction manager doesn’t anticipate any issues with meeting the time requirements for the project.

Fasig Tipton Improves Horse Auction House is a post from: Kentucky Horse Farms and Equestrian Real Estate Blog

As if running his own farm wasn’t enough.  Additionally he is involved in another business that something near & dear to every horse lover’s heart – a tack shop.  He runs the Quillin Leather and Tack store that is located at 1929 S. Main Street in Paris Kentucky.  There you can find a wealth of products from farm necessities to things like horse blankets, grooming supplies – and of course: TACK!

Congratulations to Ralph Quillin for his efforts in promoting farm advancements in the Bluegrass state!

Paris Kentucky Farm Owner Wins Award is a post from: Kentucky Horse Farms and Equestrian Real Estate Blog

The license plates cost $44.  [It requires a $28 deposit to be sent in along with the application to the World Games 2010 Foundation.]  Once the 900 applications for the license plates has been received, the deposits will be cashed, and the Department of Motor Vehicles will begin production of the plates.

Once the license plates have completed production, persons will be able to visit their local county clerk to pick up their World Equestrian Games license plates and pay the remaining $16 balance owed.  Annual renewal costs is expected to be approximately $30.

World Equestrian Games License Plates is a post from: Kentucky Horse Farms and Equestrian Real Estate Blog

This year marked the 2nd annual tour for this event.

The Fayette Alliance promotes a comprehensive smart growth real estate development plan that would enhance existing infrastructures like sewers, and drainage, while preserving the historic Lexington KY horse farms and agriculture properties in the area. Its members are composed from all walks of life including real estate developers, neighborhood associations as well as farmers.

The tour began Saturday at 9:00 am – 10:30 am with various buses leaving during those windows of opportunity, and lasted approximately 3 hours. Pick up was at the Cox Street parking lot which is located behind Rupp Arena. The cost was $15 per person. If you would like more information on the Lexington Kentucky horse farms tour, and to purchase tickets, please call (859) 281-1202.

The tours this year were broke down into 3 choices: Western Fayette County, Northern Fayette County, or Eastern Fayette County. On each tour, visitors went to 2 horse farms, as well as 1 general agriculture farm.

If you are able to make plans to attend next time, please try to do so. Getting up close to some of the Lexington Kentucky heritage that we are known for – is something for everyone to experience at least once.

Lexington Kentucky Horse Farms Tour is a post from: Kentucky Horse Farms and Equestrian Real Estate Blog

The 6 4-H Horse Clubs in Kentucky that received the grants are as follows:

Bullitt County, Calloway County, Fayette County, Oldham County, Washington County, and Scott County.

The kits help the team members prepare for the upcoming competitions that test their knowledge of all things equine including horse physiology, health care, maintenance, etc for our equine friends.

Kentucky Horse Council Gives Grants to 4-H Horse Clubs is a post from: Kentucky Horse Farms and Equestrian Real Estate Blog

A historical note: Fasig-Tipton was founded in 1898 and conducts numerous auctions across the country including Lexington Kentucky, Saratoga Springs New York, Timonium Maryland, Miama Florida, and Grand Prairie Texas. Fasig Tipton has been led by the Hettinger family since 1991. It has been stated by the Hettinger family that the Fasig-Tipton name must adhere to the reputation, integrity, and service that has been created and is attached to the name for any sale of the company to be acceptable.

Synergy officials have stated that they do not intend to make any changes at present, and that they will be retaining all personnel and staff within the organization.

In my opinion, this purchase makes a lot of sense for the Dubai company. At just the November 2007 Fasig-Tipton sale, Sheikh Mohammed purchased Round Pond for $5.75 million, and Octave for $4 million. So, almost $10 million just on 2 horses at 1 sale that was being put on by Fasig-Tipton. By the time you figure in the fees that the Sheikh paid – it makes a lot of sense to just purchase the company outright.

One criticism, albeit minor, is the potential for a conflict of interest between the interests of Synergy, and a rival horse bidder against Sheikh Mohammed, is the Coolmore group. Quite often, the Sheikh and Coolmore end up bidding for the same horses and it can become quite competitive. But officials within the Fasig-Tipton organization are quite confident that there isn’t a conflict as if its a good horse that comes up for bid, people will want to bid on it regardless of who is hosting the auction in the first place.

It will certainly be interesting for the Lexington horse auctions coming up to see how all this plays out. Hopefully, the tradition and heritage that Fasig Tipton lends will continue to endure under its new owners.

Fasig Tipton to be purchased by Synergy Investments is a post from: Kentucky Horse Farms and Equestrian Real Estate Blog

To give some background, Ronald Sladon was an attorney, a manufacturer, as well as a thoroughbred horse enthusiast for a great portion of his life.  He was originally from New York and some of his experiences that he enjoyed were running Tantara Farm, which is a thoroughbred breeding/racing/boarding facility in Clark County.  He was in charge of that farm from 1984-2000.

But, Ronald Sladon’s legacy of work really came to shine when he began as part of the new management group that was heading up to resolve Calumet Farms problems in the early 1990s.  He assumed the position of secretary and treasurer for Calumet Farm Inc., and oversaw the horse farm as went into bankruptcy and was sold off to other persons in the industry.  The bankruptcy of Calumet Farm is the largest for the thoroughbred industry.

Ronald Sladon was recognized by the horse industry for his efforts in 1992 when he received the Kentucky Thoroughbred Media’s Ambassador of Racing Award.

After retiring from the horse industry and horse farms businesses, he went to Florida (which is where he spent some time growing up as a teenager), and was a practicing attorney for the Florida Department of Transportation.  He retired from that position in the summer 2007 last year.

He was a great person, and he helped Calumet Farm – which many believe to be the pinnacle of the Kentucky horse farms industry, during its darkest hours.

Kentucky Horse Farms Enthusiast Dies is a post from: Kentucky Horse Farms and Equestrian Real Estate Blog

This initiative was begun by the previous Governor, Ernie Fletcher last year – and has been prepared by approximately 50 organizations across Kentucky.  Governor Beshear’s first response was that meeting all of the actions called for in the proposal, would most likely be limited by a tight state budget.

Its an important topic – Kentucky farms are the backbone of the state, and keeping them viable, and productive helps ensure that the rest of KY remains in a good posture.

Additional concepts recommended in the proposal include:  up to date large animal centers that can diagnosis problems quickly, placing 50% of the tobacco settlement funds into an agricultural farms development allocation, and placing a $15.8 million in annual costs for water & sewer projects into the Kentucky general budget – instead of the agriculture fund where it is currently placed.

Of course, all of this is over the course of several years.  The plan presented calls for a 5 year action for implementation and the various items would be phased in as to not disrupt the other processes that are occuring.

One interesting proposal to attract large animal vets (horse, cow, etc), would possibly be student loan forgiveness for veterinary students if they establish their business in underserved and needed areas.  Another idea to help get these new vets established would be to waive the sales tax for animal pharmaceuticals so that they could ensure they would have the funds for the latest and broadest of medicines that would be available for care of horses, cows, etc.

And finally, there is on the table a proposal for KY Farms that were hurt by the drought this past summer that would provide some relief by providing $20 million (of the $117 million expected this year) from tobacco settlement to go toward farms in KY.  These monies would help recoup some of the losses that farms in Kentucky have absorbed over the past year, to get them going again for 2008.

KY Farm proposals presented to Governor is a post from: Kentucky Horse Farms and Equestrian Real Estate Blog

The Lexington KY newspaper, The Lexington Herald-Leader, in the January 18 2008 edition had an interesting article that detailed the expect budget considerations for the event.  The current projections place the costs at $76.4 million for the World Equestrian Games (WEG).  The World Games 2010 Foundation expects that they will raise $77.2 million from various corporate sponsors, ticket sales and other venues.  This leaves a balance of a little under $900,000.

Just for reference, the original estimates for the WEG in Lexington KY was expected to cost approximately $56 million – but that estimate used broad figures, and the current report projections are quite detailed.  Even so, the detailed report that is currently outlined, are expected to be further revised later this year in the Fall 2008.  Some of the addditional figures that need to be detailed include government contributions for funds, as well as state spending for the facilities at the KY Horse Park.

State and government contributions that are currently approved are $36 million for an indoor arena, and $2.4 million in roadway improvements.  The general assembly is also considering additional contributions such as $24 million for an outdoor arena and another $10.3 million for roadway improvements – all of which would be finished before the 16 day WEG event.

The World Equestrian Games 2010 Foundation has currently raised approximately 1/3 of the $76.4 million budget projections.

Sponsors should contribute approximately $27.15 million.  This figure includes the already paid $10 million that Alltech paid to become the signature sponsor for the WEG event.

Ticket sales are expected to raise $30.6 million.  Theres been one round of advance ticket sales to the members of the United States Equestrian Federation members.  There is scheduled to be additional ticket sales to several more equestrian groups – including some international organizations.  Tickets for the general public will not be available until 2009.

Some additional contributions to the event that are expected to be received include free horseshoeing for the WEG competitors provided by the American Farrier’s Association.

One additional point to note is that the World Equestrian Games Foundation board chairperson, Tandy Patrick, has been replaced by John Long, who is the CEO of the US Equestrian Federation.

All in all, the WEG is on track to become one of the largest horse events in Kentucky, and the world.

Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games in Lexington KY is a post from: Kentucky Horse Farms and Equestrian Real Estate Blog

The courts have recently awarded a $100 million judgment in their favor.

The premise behind the case is that when the Burley Tobacco Growers Cooperative Association was formed in 1922, that its members were being represented to distribute the tobacco crop to lots of potential customers in Kentucky, the USA, and the world.

Since the Federal government ended its price support for tobacco, MUCH less tobacco is being sold – and of those Kentucky farms that are growing the crop, most of those are under contract directly with cigarette companies – and the association wasn’t really doing anything for its members.

But, the association did hold a VERY large cash reserve of tens of millions of dollars.  The association says that they are required to hold that much in reserve as required by the Federal government for any potential losses on loans made by the co-op Commodity Credit Corp.

The case was filed on December 31 2003 against the co-op, and 54 of its officers and directors.

Kentucky farms and farmers that were a part of the organization can expect to receive approximately $430 each as their proceeds for the case.  Attorneys will be allocated 15% and the original 8 plaintiffs that filed the case will receive a special payment in the amount of $10,000 each since it was their efforts that got the ball rolling on this matter in the first place.  The case was originally filed in Fayette County District Court, and was later moved to Fayette County Circuit Court.

The one upside for the Burley Tobacco Growers Cooperative is that it avoided being required to be dissolved as was originally demanded by the plaintiffs.

Kentucky Tobacco Farmers to share $100 million is a post from: Kentucky Horse Farms and Equestrian Real Estate Blog