810 KAR 1:008. Trainers

      Section 1. License Required. No horse may be raced in this state unless the trainer thereof has been granted a current trainer's license.

 

      Section 2. Requirements for Trainer's License. (1) In addition to administrative regulations applicable to licensees under 810 KAR 1:003, a holder of a trainer's license:

      (a) Shall be a person eighteen (18) years of age or older. No trainer may be licensed to train under an assumed or stable name;

      (b) Shall be qualified by experience or competence to care for and train race horses as determined by a standard examination prescribed and given at any time by the stewards;

      (c) Shall have in his charge a horse eligible to race;

      (d) Shall not engage in an activity directly or indirectly involving the racing performance of horses on association grounds other than those registered as being in his charge.

      (2) A licensed trainer shall not also be currently licensed to participate in racing in this state as a jockey, apprentice jockey, jockey's agent, veterinarian, assistant veterinarian, dental technician, farrier, apprentice farrier, or as an association racing department employee, except as provided by 810 KAR 1:009.

      (3) The authority may deny, suspend, or revoke a trainer's license for the spouse, or any member of the immediate family or household, or a licensee ineligible to hold a trainer's license under subsection (1)(d) of this section, unless there is a showing on the part of the applicant or licensed trainer, and the authority so finds that his participation in racing as a trainer shall in no way circumvent the intent of this administrative regulation by permitting a person, under the control or direction of a licensee ineligible to hold a trainer's license to serve in essence as a substitute for the ineligible person.

 

      Section 3. Duties and Responsibilities. A licensed trainer shall bear primary responsibility for the proper care, health, training condition, safety, and protection against the administration of prohibited drugs or medication of horses in his charge. A licensed trainer:

      (1) Shall register with the racing secretary all persons in his employ and insure that those persons are duly licensed within twenty-four (24) hours after the employees arrive on association grounds, or are employed. Upon discharge of an employee, a trainer shall promptly notify the Thoroughbred Racing and Protective Bureau and track security and authority license administrator.

      (2) Shall carry workers' compensation insurance covering his employees in connection with racing as required by KRS Chapter 342.

      (3) Shall register with the racing secretary all horses in his charge in accordance with 810 KAR 1:007. No licensed trainer may take or keep in his charge a horse owned wholly or in part, or controlled by, a person unlicensed as an owner. No licensed trainer shall assume responsibility for a horse not under his active care and supervision, except as provided by subsection (6) of this section.

      (4) Shall bear primary responsibility for horses he enters as to eligibility; weight allowance claimed; physical fitness to perform creditably at the distance entered; absence of prohibited drugs or medications; proper shoes, bandages, and equipment; and timely arrival in the saddling paddock. A licensed trainer shall be jointly responsible with the licensed owner for horses he enters as to stakes payments and jockey fees due.

      (5) Shall furnish the name of the jockey engaged to ride each horse entered, if possible at the time of entry, but not later than scratch time. If no jockey has been named to ride a horse entered to race by scratch time, then the stewards shall select the best rider available to ride the horse.

      (6) Shall personally attend his horses in the paddock and supervise the saddling thereof, unless excused by the stewards. If a licensed trainer is to be absent from association grounds where his horses are stabled, he shall provide a substitute, his licensed assistant trainer or another licensed trainer, to attend the saddling of horses already entered and to assume complete responsibility for horses to be entered. The substitute shall be approved by the stewards and shall sign in the presence of the stewards a form furnished by the authority accepting complete responsibility for horses the substitute enters.

      (7) May attend the taking and testing of urine, blood, sweat, saliva specimen, or other sample from a horse in his charge by the authority veterinarian and authority chemist, or may delegate one of his licensed employees to do so.

      (8) Shall maintain the stable area assigned to him in a clean, neat, and sanitary condition in all times, and insure that fire-prevention laws are strictly observed in his stable area.

      (9) Shall promptly report to the authority veterinarian or horse identifier any sickness, or death of any horse in his charge.

 

      Section 4. Restrictions on Ownership. No licensed trainer shall have any interest, by ownership or lease in the racing or breeding qualities, in a horse of which he is not the trainer at any race meeting at which such trainer is in charge of a racing stable.

 

      Section 5. Horses Suspended. No horse in the charge of a trainer whose license has been revoked or suspended, shall be permitted to race during the period of the trainer's suspension. Upon application by the owners of the suspended horse, the stewards may approve the transfer of the horses to the care of another licensed trainer, and upon the approved transfer, the horse may be entered to race.

 

      Section 6. Assistant Trainer. A licensed owner or licensed trainer may employ an assistant trainer. The assistant trainer shall be licensed before acting in such capacity on behalf of his employer. Qualifications for obtaining an assistant trainer's license shall be prescribed by the stewards. A licensed assistant trainer shall assume the same duties and responsibilities as imposed on the holder of a trainer's license. The licensed trainer shall be jointly responsible with his assistant trainer for all acts and omissions of the assistant trainer involving a racing matter. (KRSC Ch. 8, 8.01 to.06; 1 Ky.R. 901; eff. 5-14-75; Am. 10 Ky.R. 668; eff. 12-2-83; 18 Ky.R. 1997; eff. 2-19-92; TAm eff. 8-9-2007.)

Notation

      RELATES TO: KRS 230.210-230.360

      STATUTORY AUTHORITY: KRS Chapter 13A

      NECESSITY, FUNCTION, AND CONFORMITY: To regulate conditions under which thoroughbred racing shall be conducted in Kentucky. The function of this administrative regulation is to outline the requirements for trainers.