Horse-racing is a multi-million-dollar industry in Kentucky. When, in 1923, reformers threatened Kentucky horse-racing by trying to repeal the law legalizing pari-mutuel betting, the industry's chief defendant was no florid turfman, no julep-sipping blue grass gentleman, no raucous paddock tout, but the Rev. Thomas Leven Settle, rector of the Church of the Good Shepherd (Episcopalian) of Lexington. The Legislature, awed by the unfamiliar spectacle of a churchman defending racing, listened to his arguments that repeal of the law would result in worse evils, and were convinced.
When this happened the Church...
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