LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Jockey Jose Santos and Sackatoga Stable last week filed a lawsuit seeking unspecified damages against the Miami Herald and its parent company, Knight Ridder, alleging the jockey was libeled in an article published a week after Santos won the Kentucky Derby last May aboard Sackatoga's .

Mahmoud Fustok, owner of Buckram Oak Farm, has severed his business relationship with Nick Zito and is in the process of giving the horses formerly trained by Zito, including the standout 3-year-old Eurosilver, to other trainers.

Jockey John McKee took off his remaining mounts at Churchill Downs on Friday after suffering a deep thigh bruise when he was thrown from his mount, Flashy, at the start of the third race. McKee, the leading rider at Oaklawn Park this year, was expected back Saturday.

Regional bias overcame logic in Derby picks

It's hard to figure out, but once again the handicapping experts at Daily Racing Form were way off the mark on their selections for the Kentucky Derby. If you take a close look at the top four Derby selections from all but one of the Form's panel of experts you will not see the name of Smarty Jones in their top four selections. Only Jay Hovdey nailed it.

Two former employees of the New York Racing Association's mutuel department pleaded guilty on Thursday in federal court to charges that they conspired to defraud the government.

Vincent Hogan, NYRA's director of mutuels from 1998 to 2002, and Clem Imperato, NYRA's vice president of mutuels from 1988 to 1996, entered the pleas in U.S. District Court in Central Islip, N.Y. Hogan and Imperato are scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 10 and face maximum sentences of five years in prison, three years of supervised release, a $250,000 fine, and restitution.

The final television rating for NBC's broadcast of the Kentucky Derby on Saturday was up 16 percent from last year's telecast, NBC announced Thursday.

The rating for the broadcast was a 7.4 with an 18 share. Each rating point represents approximately 1.1 million households. Share measures the percentage of televisions in use that were tuned to the broadcast.

NBC said that the rating was the highest since an 8.1 rating in 2001, NBC's first year broadcasting the Derby.

Account-wagering companies based in Oregon had their best first-quarter handle numbers yet in the first three months of 2004, according to figures compiled by the Oregon Racing Commission.

AmericaTab, Television Games Network, and Youbet.com posted double-digit increases in handle for the first quarter, despite a blackout of signals from Magna Entertainment Corp. Youbet.com, in fact, had the best quarter ever posted by any account-wagering company based in Oregon, taking in $70.5 million in wagers, an increase of 35 percent over the first quarter last year.

Russell Baze, the leading rider at Bay Meadows, received a five-day suspension Thursday after being disqualified from second in Wednesday's first race when his mount, Gone Party Hoppin, drifted out and caused interference on the clubhouse turn. Baze will be out May 14-20. . . . Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack signed a bill on Thursday that will allow Prairie Meadows Race Track and Casino to operate blackjack and craps tables.

Magna Entertainment Corp., the owner of Gulfstream Park and Santa Anita and the operator of 11 other tracks, had net income of $21.1 million in the first quarter of 2004, up $8.4 million from the first quarter last year.

The gain in net income was principally owed to Magna's decision not to record income tax expenses in the quarter. Last year in the first quarter, income tax expense was $9.5 million. Magna lost $105.1 million in 2003, and said in a release that it expects to pay "nominal" taxes this year.

Churchill Downs Inc. lost $11.7 million in the first quarter of 2004, or 89 cents per share, roughly identical to the company's net loss of $11.5 million in the first quarter of 2003.

The net loss came on revenue of $37.7 million, compared with revenue of $35.7 million in 2003. Operating expenses in the first quarter of this year were $47.5 million, compared with operating expenses of $45.5 million in 2003.