Six equine research projects totaling nearly $400,000 over a two-year period have been approved by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.

All of the research, approved by the commission Jan. 5, will be conducted by the Kentucky Equine Initiative at the University of Kentucky. Approval by the commission came on a recommendation from the KHRC's Equine Drug Research Council, which approved the projects during a meeting that preceded the commission meeting.

While the commission approved the research grants with little or no discussion, there was considerable discussion about the viability of some of the projects and the procedures that would be used during the drug research council's consideration of the proposals.

The commission approved the grants with the caveat that a portion of any profits derived by the University of Kentucky from the research be directed toward equine research. The grants are the result of work by an EDRC research advisory group that began in May 2009. There were 13 proposals submitted before the Nov. 1 deadline, with the advisory group then performing independent reviews of the proposals. After additional consideration, the proposals were given a preliminary ranking and then submitted to external reviewers with expertise within the respective field to be researched