Leaping Plum, the 13-year-old who made 10 consecutive starts in the four-furlong Grasmick Handicap at Fonner Park and won the race eight times, has been retired after a fourth-place finish in this year's Grasmick. Leaping Plum will be turned out at a farm near Brookings, S.D. . . . Spritely Walker staked his claim to the title of the best Louisiana-bred in training Friday night, when he drove to a three-quarter length win over a game Zarb's Luck in the $50,000 Bayou State at Delta Downs. The victory was the fourth in a row for Spritely Walker.

Magna Entertainment Corp. has shut off a betting syndicate that was receiving rebates through the company's account-wagering platform, in response to vociferous objections from the Thoroughbred Owners of California.

The syndicate, which was led by Don Johnson, a former racetrack executive, had begun betting through Magna's account-wagering company, XpressBet, three weeks ago. Magna cut the syndicate off on Wednesday, after the TOC confronted Magna with its concerns over the practice of awarding rebates to selected customers.

Lack of a DQ in New Orleans seen as robbery

Anyone who watched last Sunday's New Orleans Handicap witnessed a crime. It was quite a race, but it should have been a better one ("New Orleans 'Cap roughly run from start to finish," March 3).

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association has formed a task force to examine causes for a puzzling decline in purses last year, which came in the face of increases in handle and other indicators measuring horse racing's popularity.

The task force, which will meet for the first time March 18-19 in New York, will examine the practice of rebating and its effect on payoffs, the growth of betting exchanges, signal piracy, and the continued migration of bettors from tracks to offtrack facilities, a release from the NTRA said.

Extremely wet track conditions forced the cancellation of Friday's card at Fonner Park. Racing was expected to resume Saturday.

Handle by California residents through Magna Entertainment Corp.'s account-wagering platform has declined sharply in 2004 compared with the same period last year despite efforts by the company to drive business to its site.

According to figures provided by several California racing officials, handle through Magna's XpressBet in January and February has dropped 22 percent compared with the same period last year. At the same time, handle from California residents is up markedly at XpressBet's two competitors, Television Games Network and Youbet.com.

Almost all the leading contenders for the Triple Crown, including trainer Nick Zito's pair of Birdstone and Eurosilver, as well as 2003's champion male juvenile, Action This Day, are among 157 nominees to the Grade 1, $750,000 Toyota Blue Grass Stakes. The 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-olds will be run Saturday, April 10, three weeks before the Kentucky Derby, and be televised live on NBC from 4:30 to 6 p.m. Eastern. . . . Churchill Downs will install two large-screen video display boards in its infield tote boards. Each board will measure approximately 18 feet high by 36 feet wide.

Bettors face a unique wagering menu Saturday on the Santa Anita Handicap card, when two guaranteed pools will be offered on multiple-race wagers - the local pick six, and the weekly cross-country Magna 5 pick five. The issue is whether bettors have sufficient capital to support both pools the same day.

Mike Ziegler, vice president and assistant general manager at the track, is confident. Ziegler said, "There are a lot of people" at Magna Entertainment Company, owner of Santa Anita, "working hard to make sure both these bets hit the number."

A federal judge on Tuesday appointed a Manhattan law firm that specializes in fraud investigations to monitor the operations of the New York Racing Association for the next 16 months.

The judge, Arthur D. Spatt of Federal District Court in New York, appointed Getnick and Getnick as NYRA's inspector general, a post created last year after NYRA reached a deal with federal prosecutors to avoid prosecution on several fraud counts. Getnick and Getnick was one of four law firms appointed by New York City to monitor the cleanup effort at the former site of the World Trade Center.

Bud Baedeker, a longtime California handicapper and pioneer in the tip sheet business, died Saturday in New York City. He was 90.

Baedeker launched the handicapping tip sheet Baedeker's Guide in 1938, and it remains in business.

He is survived is survived by two sons, Bob Baedeker, a handicapper and racing commentator who operates the Baedeker Guide, and Rick Baedeker, president of Hollywood Park; a daughter, Kathy; and his wife, Helen.