For his decades of championing horse racing and working to promote and improve the industry in the commonwealth and beyond, outgoing Kentucky State Senator Damon Thayer has been named recipient of the 2024 Warner L. Jones Jr. Horseman of the Year Award presented by the Louisville-based Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners (KTO).
Thayer — who has served in the General Assembly for 22 years and as Kentucky Senate Majority Floor Leader since 2013 — will be feted at the KTO’s annual awards dinner, Saturday Nov. 23 at the Kentucky Derby Museum. The cost is $150 per person, with cocktails at 6 p.m. and dinner at 7 p.m. To purchase tickets, call Marlene Meyer at 502-458-5820 or email nanainky@att.net. The deadline for reservations is Nov. 14.
“It’s a great honor to win an award named for Warner Jones, who was a legendary horseman and had the respect of so many people from various facets of the industry,” Thayer said. “To be on the list of those who have been honored with the award is a real privilege to me. Next to my two adult children, Daniel and Katie, horse racing is my first love. I’m just an old 4-H horse-club kid. To be honored by this group and to be considered a horseman is pretty special.”
Thayer, who announced last December that he was not running for re-election, has advocated for the horse racing, breeding and overall equine industries throughout his time in the state senate, representing his home county of Scott, Grant and parts of Fayette and Kenton.
Though his contributions to racing run deep, Thayer’s signature legislative initiative goes down as shepherding through the 2021 passage of Senate Bill 120, which updated the state’s definition of pari-mutuel wagering specifically to include historical horse racing (HHR) gaming. In the 3 1/2 years since, Kentucky has emerged as the premier racing circuit, offering America’s highest purses, and with the racetrack communities benefiting from many millions of dollars in economic development and job creation.
KTO President Tom Drury, a Louisville-based trainer, said the fact that he will keep his entire stable in Kentucky this winter instead of shipping a division out of state is thanks to Thayer and his ability to sell pro-racing legislation to fellow state senators.
“He put us where Kentucky racing is supposed to be as far as the food chain goes,” Drury said. “When I first met him, I spoke at the senate hearings (to protect HHR). He really worked hard behind the scenes, and look at us now. When did you ever think you’d go to Turfway Park and run for $80,000 maiden purses? Look at where Kentucky racing is now, just across the board. (Globally prominent) Godolphin was the leading owner at Ellis Park this summer!”
The Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners is an educational and social organization dedicated to the betterment of racing in the state. Membership is open not only to owners but anyone interested in the sport, including prospective owners. (The KTO is separate from the Lexington-based Kentucky Thoroughbred Association-Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders.)
The Warner Jones award recognizes individuals for outstanding contributions to Kentucky racing and sharing the passion exemplified by Jones, who spent 50 years on the Churchill Downs board, including eight as chairman during the iconic track’s resurgence in the late 1980s. Jones was the inaugural award winner in 1988, six years before his death.
Thayer has been connected with the industry since he was that 4-H kid and self-described “below-average barrel racer.” At a regional 4-H leadership meeting, Thayer’s dad, Dan, met Harry Hubel, a thoroughbred owner-breeder in Clare, Mich., about 90 minutes from the Thayers’ home in Grayling. That led to going to Detroit’s now-shuttered Hazel Park to watch one of Hubel’s horses run. Mild Speculator didn’t win, but Thayer’s general course in life was cemented.
Hubel’s son Dexter later introduced Thayer to Detroit-area horsemen Mike Vance and his wife Patty, who took him under their wing. As a teenager, Thayer learned about running a racing stable from the Vances, walking hots, grooming and cleaning stalls at Hazel Park and Detroit Race Course (DRC).
While majoring in communications at Michigan State University, Thayer worked summers for Bob Raymond in DRC’s publicity department. He skipped his senior year mid-term exams in 1988 to work on the media notes team for the 1988 Breeders’ Cup at Churchill Downs.
Upon graduation, Thayer served as publicity director at Thistledown under well-regarded track executive Mike Mackey, followed by working for highly respected Tim Capps at the Maryland Jockey Club. He heard Jerry Carroll speak at a conference, and his cold call to the Turfway Park majority owner led Thayer to Kentucky.
His communications role at Turfway expanded into overseeing virtually every department. Working in management at the Northern Kentucky track, Thayer helped owner Jerry Carroll and track president Mark Simendinger create and develop the Kentucky Cup Day of Champions into a prominent series that attracted the likes of Derby winner Thunder Gulch and champions Serena’s Song and Tabasco Cat. He also oversaw the operation of Kentucky Downs after the renamed Dueling Grounds was bought out of bankruptcy by a partnership that included Turfway and Churchill Downs.
Thayer left Turfway to work as Vice President/Event Management for the Breeders’ Cup Ltd. — running for the Kentucky Senate in 2003 with the blessing of then-Breeders’ Cup President D.G Van Clief Jr. — before leaving and opening Thayer Communications and Consulting LLC.
While he regards SB 120 as the biggest legislative victory he helped engineer, Thayer more recently worked with key allies across the aisle and in both legislative chambers to legalize sports betting in Kentucky (structured so bookmakers have to partner with racetracks), to create breeders’ incentive funds that benefit all Kentucky horse breeds with funding from the 6 percent sales tax on stud fees, and to strengthen the Kentucky-bred incentive programs for both thoroughbred and standardbred racing. His work was vital in standardizing the parimutuel tax rate across the board, from HHR to online betting platforms, simulcasting and on-track wagering. That legislation also required tracks to pay out on bets to the nearest penny rather than rounding down to the dime and — a policy change near and dear to Thayer — allowing Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund purse supplements to be applied to claiming races.
These days, Thayer also is a horse owner as a partner in a group of horses campaigned by CJ Thoroughbreds, including two-time Grade 2 winner and Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf starter Hang the Moon.
Said Drury: “I could go on for days about what Damon has done for horse racing.”
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