By Patrick Crowley
The Cincinnati Enquirer

COVINGTON - In political campaigns, as in horse racing, there are no sure things.

So Kentucky's horse racing industry might be breathing a little easier now that a proposal to bring casino-style gambling to Ohio's racetracks is in trouble in the Ohio General Assembly.

Some previous backers of the slots plan are now hedging and even pulling their support.

But the Kentucky industry is still concerned about the possibility of slots in Ohio. This week, while in Northern Kentucky to testify before a Kentucky General Assembly subcommittee, Kentucky horse racing officials, owners and breeders still expressed deep concerns about the potential of increased competition from slots at Ohio's seven tracks, including River Downs in Anderson Township.

"That would create pressure that we may not be able to withstand," said Tom Jackson, who breeds standardbred horses at a farm in Scott County near Lexington. "Other states are taking steps to attract horses, such as using gaming to increase purses, that we don't have in Kentucky, and that is hurting the industry in this state."

Jackson was among those who testified Wednesday during the inaugural meeting of the agriculture subcommittee on horse farming, a new panel of lawmakers that will study and try to assist Kentucky's $3.4 billion horse industry.

The committee convened in Covington as part of a two-day Northern Kentucky visit by nearly 80 state lawmakers.

Even though horse farming subcommittee co-chairman Sen. Damon Thayer, R-Georgetown, proclaimed at the meeting's outset that the committee "would not be a forum for gambling," the subject was clearly on the minds of those present.

"Whether people want to hear it or not," Jackson said, "it is clear that we are taking a direct impact ... from gaming. And it's going to very difficult for many of the farms to work through without some form of assistance or programs."

For the last two years Kentucky's horse racing industry - led by owners and operators of Thoroughbred race tracks, including Turfway Park in Florence and Louisville's Churchill Downs have aggressively but unsuccessfully lobbied Kentucky lawmakers to allow video gambling at the tracks.

But lawmakers have dodged the issue, refusing to call bills expanding gambling for a vote in the last two legislative sessions.

Advocates say that if Ohio adopts slots at tracks, Kentucky's horse racing industry will suffer even more.

"Right now we have these competitors, the riverboats, who are monsters as it relates to the level of business they do," said Turfway Park president Bob Elliston. "We've been kind of fighting for the scraps a little bit with River Downs and Lebanon (Raceway). If they get slots in Ohio and they get the resources to put $100 million into their facilities, it will put even more pressure on us ... in terms of our ability to compete."

State Rep. Royce Adams, D-Dry Ridge, who has raised horses, said the best hope for gaming is to put the issue on the ballot in the form of a constitutional amendment so the voters can decide its fate.

"That is certainly the most popular thing to do," said Adams, a subcommittee member.

"It's really a tough call for legislators, because in my district alone my calls have run 3-1 opposed to it. So to me, the best way to do this is to let the people vote on it. That's a better representation of the whole commonwealth instead of 138 legislators making the decision."

E-mail pcrowley@enquirer.com