The Kentucky Quarter Horse Racing Association, Inc. (KyQHRA), in anticipation of a new sprint track to be built in the Commonwealth in the next few years, elected a new board and executive committee, adopted new bylaws, and joined in an historic partnership with the Kentucky Quarter Horse Association, Inc. (KyQHA), the state affiliate of the American Quarter Horse Association (AQHA).

At a meeting in January, the following directors were announced as composing the KyQHRA Board for 2016: Stuart Burns, DVM, Paris; Gerald Coltharp, Sedalia; Dick Connelley, DMD, Salyersville; Chuck Givens, Richmond; Talmadge Hays, MD, Pineville; Norm Luba, Eastwood; Graham Martin, Esq., Salyersville; Tommy Short, Waco; and Rich Wilcke, Bethlehem. The executive committee is Connelley, president; Hays, vice-president; Luba, treasurer, Wilcke, secretary, and Martin, at-large.

Drafting of newly adopted bylaws was on the advice of counsel to ensure legal compliance with the KyQHRA’s designated role under State statutes and regulations to serve as the representative of horsemen licensed to run Quarter Horses and the other sprint-racing breeds legal for pari-mutuel racing in Kentucky. The KyQHRA is also the primary organization designated in new regulations for the Kentucky Quarter Horse, Paint Horse, Appaloosa and Arabian Development Fund (KY FUND).

Also agreed to in January by the boards of both organization is a new limited-liability partnership officially called the “Kentucky Sprint Racing and Stock Horse Alliance, LLP.” This partnership brings together the two primary American Quarter Horse organizations in the Commonwealth; establishes reciprocal associate memberships; and establishes a new Racing Council that gives representatives of Appaloosa and Paint racing interests the opportunity for input into issues and policies related to sprint racing.

A joint statement issued by Dr. Dick Connelley, KyQHRA president, and Dr. Bob Coleman, KyQHA president, lauded the Alliance as “…marking a new future of progress for the sprint racing and stock horse industries in Kentucky.”