LEXINGTON, KY—DECEMBER 1, 2015—The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission was stopped today (Tuesday) from considering a request by Keeneland to go forward with a new Quarter Horse track in Corbin after a struggling harness track in the state filed suit.

The nearly bankrupt harness track Thunder Ridge filed a request on Monday evening for a temporary restraining order to stop consideration of Keeneland’s plans. A judge in Floyd County, where Thunder Ridge is located, granted the injunction.

Although the commission and Keeneland separately filed legal actions seeking to have the injunction lifted, an appeals court allowed it to remain in place temporarily, requiring the commission to suspend the item on today's agenda.

Keeneland and Thunder Ridge have been in discussions for more than a year over Keeneland’s plan to buy the track’s racing license and transfer it to the southeastern part of the state. Keeneland abruptly changed their mind on the plan last week, ending talks while applying to the commission for an entirely new license for a Quarter Horse track. The license, the state’s ninth, is the last available under state law.

Jason Nemes, the attorney for Thunder Ridge, said after the meeting that Thunder Ridge and Keeneland “still have a contract” in regard to Keeneland’s plan to acquire the track. He said the track filed the request for the restraining order because “this whole process just needs to slow down” while Thunder Ridge attempts to discern the impact of the issuance of a ninth license.

“That’s something we all need to go through, the tracks and the commission,” Nemes said. “There’s the possibility of dilution in the market, with having more tracks than are maybe needed, all those things.”

Keeneland has a powerful presence in Kentucky, and its requests are generally viewed favorably by the racing commission. Thunder Ridge, on the other hand, has been taken to task by the commission over the past year because of unpaid bills to other tracks and what commission staff called inadequate communication from the track’s owner.

Keeneland has been looking at the southeastern part of Kentucky for a gambling parlor due to the success of so-called “historical horse racing” machines at Kentucky Downs, a track near the border of Tennessee in the middle part of the state. In addition, Kentucky’s legislature is expected to once again consider legalizing casinos next year, and previous plans to authorize casino gambling have often tied the licenses to racetracks.

Keeneland is already a partner with the Red Mile, a harness track in downtown Lexington, on a gambling parlor housing 800 of the historical horse racing devices.