Maline to retire from Kentucky HBPA after 46 years of service

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Marty Maline, the executive director of the Kentucky Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association since 1976, will retire at the end of the year, the organization announced on Friday.

Maline, 72, started as a part-time employee of the Kentucky HBPA working out of the office of the attorney for the association. After a single day, he was moved to full-time. He has worked under seven presidents of the organization, including Rick Hiles, the current president who was recently elected to his eighth term.

“We’re just losing a good man, and the horsemen are losing a good friend,” said Hiles. “I’m really going to miss him.”

Maline will be replaced by Joe Clabes, a longtime Kentucky HBPA consultant, who will serve as “interim” executive director, the Kentucky HBPA said. Maline will stay on through the end of the year and work with Clabes during a “transition” period.

Maline has represented the Kentucky HBPA in meetings with racetrack executives, government officials, and legislators. Under his tenure, the Kentucky HBPA won a landmark 1993 case clarifying horsemen’s rights under the 1978 Interstate Horseracing Act. Maline was also instrumental in getting legislative and regulatory support in Kentucky for the installation of the slots-like gambling devices known as historical horseracing machines, which have propelled Kentucky tracks into a major-league circuit.

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The Kentucky HBPA has also expanded from a single full-time employee to an organization with 11 full-time employees, and it now operates satellite offices on the backstretches of Churchill, Keeneland, Turfway, and Ellis Park.

“That was really important to horsemen, to be able to communicate directly to the HBPA,” Maline said. “And getting the right staff was really the key, to get people who were dedicated. At the [beginning], we didn’t have a lot of money, but we got good people involved.”

In a release, Maline said he is confident the Kentucky HBPA is in good hands, in part because of the involvement of younger trainers in the organization. Last year, a trio of young trainers – Jason Barkley, Norm Casse, and Bentley Combs – were elected to the board.

“I think more than anything, maybe it’s time to turn it over to a younger person with a lot of enthusiasm, and they can all improve the organization,” Maline said. “We’re in good shape.”

Clabes, who has been a bloodstock advisor and served as the head of the lobbying organization called Kentucky Equine Education Project for 2 1/2 years, said that “meeting the standard [Maline] has set will be a challenge.”

Clabes is the son of the owner-trainer-breeder Gene Clabes and the Kentucky Journalism Hall of Fame member Judy Clabes.

“As a second-generation horseman, I am honored that Rick and the board have placed their faith in me, and I look forward to helping to build on the solid foundation they have created,” Clabes said.

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