Kentucky racing launches vet-scratch reforms after horsemen complaints

Trust, not just safety, is the issue Kentucky racing officials are trying to repair. After horsemen complained that regulatory vet scratches were piling up and cutting into race-day certainty, the Kentucky Horse Racing and Gaming Corporation rolled out three new measures aimed at giving trainers and owners a clearer path, a quicker hearing and, in some cases, a second look.

The package came together after chairman Jonathan Rabinowitz and vice chairman Charles O’Connor walked the backstretch at Churchill Downs during Kentucky Derby week and heard the same refrain from horsemen: vet scratches were becoming more frequent, harder to predict and harder to accept. That tension has spread through Kentucky’s racing business because a scratch does not just change a post parade. It reshapes wagering, alters race strategy and can knock a horse, a barn and even a claiming plan off course at the state’s biggest meets.

The first move is a review committee that will dig into state regulatory vet scratches, including the process, the procedures, the data and the statistics behind them. The committee includes owner representative Terry Finley, trainers’ representative Dale Romans, Charles O’Connor, Bill Landes and equine medical director Dr. George Mundy. It is scheduled to report to the board monthly beginning in June, giving horsemen a recurring venue to push for answers instead of waiting for a one-time announcement to fade.

The second initiative is even more direct: weekly office hours at Churchill Downs. They began Thursday, May 14, at 10 a.m. in the chapel at Churchill Downs, where horsemen can meet with executive director Jamie Eads and Dr. Mundy face to face. Those sessions are set to continue through the end of Churchill Downs’ Spring Meet, a sign that the agency expects the complaints to keep coming and wants to meet them in real time.

The third piece is the most consequential for the day-to-day break room conversation on the backstretch. Under a pilot program created with the Kentucky HBPA and the Kentucky Thoroughbred Association, a trainer or owner can request an examination, and if needed diagnostic testing, by an independent veterinarian after a horse is scratched on the advice of the state regulatory vet. That second-opinion route gives horsemen something they have long wanted: a structured way to challenge a decision that can feel opaque in the moment.

Rabinowitz said the moves were not about losing confidence in the veterinary team, but about tightening communication while keeping horse safety at the center. That balance matters in Kentucky, where the regulator oversees a racing product that drives major business, from Churchill Downs to the wider breeding and wagering economy. A recent investigation found Kentucky’s regulatory vet scratch rate has risen in recent years, and Derby-week scratches only sharpened the spotlight, including the scratch of Right to Party. The new reforms are meant to show horsemen, and bettors, that the next scratch will not land in the dark.