Tracy and Carol Farmer join group trying to eliminate use of performance-enhancing drugs on race days

Tracy and Carol Farmer (WHOA photo)

Tracy and Carol Farmer of Midway have joined the Water Hay Oats Alliance, a horse-industry group trying to eliminate performance-enhancing drugs in racing, WHOA announced Thursday.

"After many years as breeders and owners and now after my service on the commission, Carol and I are convinced that nothing short of strong, centralized and diversified leadership, made possible by federal law, will enable racing to survive and prosper as a sport and a business," Tracy Farmer said in a WHOA news release.

The drug issue has divided the horse industry for many years. U.S. Rep. Andy Barr has introduced bills to ban use of performance-enhancing drugs on a horse the day it races, but no other House members from Kentucky have joined him. The owners of Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore support a ban, but Louisville's influential Churchill Downs does not, and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is neutral on the issue, reports Lesley Clark of McClatchy Newspapers.

Barr told Clark, "The reputation of American horse racing is really contingent on us replacing this diverse patchwork of conflicting and inconsistent rules regarding medication policies with uniformity" among the states, through federal law.

Farmer, who has been vice chairman of the Kentucky Racing Commission and head of its special committee on drug regulation and enforcement, said likewise: "Our lack of consistent rules, and erratic enforcement of existing ones, has soiled our public image with fans and bettors and turned a beautiful and exciting endeavor into an endangered species. Now that we are out of regulating and back into racing, we are pleased to add our support to this cause."

Other members of WHOA include former Keeneland Race Course president James "Ted" Bassett of Midway, owner-breeders Seth and Arthur Hancock, Will and Bill Farish and Jim Squires, trainer John Ward, Old Friends owner Michael Blowen, and former Gov. Steve Beshear and his wife Jane.

The Farmers own Shadowlawn Farm south of Midway. They have "raised and raced many top quality thoroughbreds including Albert the Great, Commentator, Sun King, Sir Shackleton, Royal Assault, and 1997 American Champion Older Mare, Hidden Lake," the release notes. They endowed the Tracy Farmer Center for Sustainability and the Environment at the University of Kentucky.

Carol Farmer has been active in equine-welfare causes as a founder and board member of the Kentucky Equine Humane Center. She has also been a board member of The Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation and "continues to work as an advocate for racehorse retirement," the release said. Tracy Farmer, a native of Jackson County, has had various successful business ventures, including banking, automobile dealerships and real-estate development. He is a former chair of the state Democratic Party and remains active in politics.