Longtime NTRA executive Hendershot to retire

Peggy Hendershot, whose long tenure with the National Thoroughbred Racing Association culminated with her appointment as president of the NTRA’s federal political action committee, will retire at the end of the year, the organization announced on Tuesday.

Hendershot has served as the president of Horse PAC since 2002, after the bipartisan fundraising organization was formed to support candidates and political parties deemed important to pressing racing’s issues at the federal level. The PAC has raised $4 million since its inception, the NTRA said.

“I am honored to have served alongside members of the Horse PAC board, the NTRA’s legislative team, and the many industry stakeholders who believe in the power of legislative advocacy,” Hendershot said in a release.

A successor for Hendershot has not been named, according to the NTRA’s executive vice president, Keith Chamblin. The Horse PAC board meets on Nov. 27, according to Chamblin, and will discuss succession plans then.

During Hendershot’s tenure, the NTRA’s most impactful lobbying victory was its push for the IRS and Treasury Department to change tax-reporting and withholding rules for parimutuel winnings that have been highly favorable to horseplayers. The changes took effect last year after nearly a decade of unsuccessful efforts to get legislators to approve bills that would have implemented the changes.

Also during her tenure, the NTRA lobbied for the racing industry to retain its exemption on a federal ban on Internet gambling, a provision that has allowed account-wagering to establish roots in most racing jurisdictions across the U.S. without interference from federal agencies.

Hendershot, an alumna of the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program, was one of the original staff members of Thoroughbred Racing Communications, an industry publicity arm that was folded into the NTRA in 1999. While at the NTRA, Hendershot also served as executive director of NTRA charities and continues to serve on the board of the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund.

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