Dr. Bruce Howard, who has served as the equine medical director for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission since 2019, will be retiring at the end of this year. The announcement came during a regularly-scheduled meeting of the KHRC on Oct. 31.
Howard joined the commission as a regulatory veterinarian in 2013 and progressed to chief racing veterinarian in 2016. Prior to his career with the KHRC, Howard worked in private veterinary practice and has also been an assistant trainer of Thoroughbreds and a broodmare manager.
“Dr. Howard is diplomatic, kind, funny, and helpful,” said KHRC executive director Jamie Eads as part of the announcement. “I think what I admire most about Dr. Howard is his calm disposition. I know I'm not the only one that thinks this, but it's not going to be the same without him.”
Howard thanked the veterinary and staff teams he has worked with so closely in the past decade, as well as the commissioners he has served. He plans to embark on a world cruise with his wife after completing his last day at the KHRC.
“These last ten years have been a change in my career from when I left private practice,” he said. “The last four especially, as medical director, have been challenging but very gratifying. We've made a lot of changes with rule changes, we've integrated under HISA and HIWU, and many other things.
“It's bittersweet that I'm leaving. It's a great ten years, but I'll be watching the Kentucky Derby from India this year.”
Howard also gave the standard veterinary division report, which detailed safety results from three recent Kentucky race meets. The September meet at Churchill Downs and Kentucky Downs' boutique meets both completed with no racing or training fatalities. This included 1,100 starts at Churchill and 792 at Kentucky Downs. Ellis Park's summer meet saw 1,658 starts and one musculoskeletal death in racing and one sudden death in training.
Also at the KHRC meeting, the commission approved a previously-proposed increase to jockey mount fees. This will result in a minimum fee of $125 for all races and a $500 minimum for races with purses of $1 million or higher.
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