BOURBON COUNTY, KY. — Arthur Hancock, a fourth-generation thoroughbred breeder, pointed out his office window on a recent morning to illustrate a fundamental difference between horse racing and casino gambling.
A shimmering copper sun was rising over his 1,800-acre bluegrass farm. A clutch of lithe prize ponies grazed under a gunmetal sky.
"Look out there," said Hancock, 64. "This is a whole different world."
Las Vegas it was not. But Vegas-style gambling is threatening to intrude on Kentucky's genteel horse culture. And to Hancock's chagrin, it is his fellow horsemen who have been its most fervent advocates.
They want voters and legislators to approve a constitutional amendment that would legalize casinos in Kentucky. And they want some of those casinos located at racetracks, where a portion of casino earnings would be used to fatten racing purses.
The strategy already has been embraced by 10 states, including California, to help the beleaguered horse racing industry, which since the 1980s has faced increasing competition from casinos.
Many Kentucky breeders and trainers believe the plan is crucial to saving their state's signature industry. Racing jobs and thoroughbreds, they say, are already flowing to states with bigger purses.
"We're the horse capital of the world, and I don't see how we're going to survive if we don't do something about it," said Buff Bradley, a trainer at Turfway Park, south of Cincinnati.
The debate is about more than saving the racing industry. Supporters, including recently elected Democratic Gov. Steve Beshear, hope to use casino revenues to generate millions for a cash-strapped state government. Opponents say the funding will come from Kentuckians gambling away their milk money -- a troubling prospect for a state with the sixth-highest poverty rate in the nation.
But the issue also is tangled in the mystique of an industry central to Kentucky's identity and economy.
Horses serve as an important symbol here -- the state license plate features a horse and the motto "unbridled spirit." And the horse business has fared better than other key industries, such as manufacturing and tobacco. One study from the mid-1990s showed that more than 30,000 jobs were connected to horse racing. More recently, advocates for the broader horse industry estimated its yearly economic impact at $4 billion.
