Officials at Magna Entertainment Corp. have told the Thoroughbred Owners of California that the company's account-wagering business, XpressBet, has stopped offering rebates to customers, representatives of the owners' group said Monday.

The owners received the assurance on Saturday during a meeting at Santa Anita with Magna's CEO, Jim McAlpine. The owners' group requested the meeting after it had asked Magna to stop awarding rebates through XpressBet because of concerns over the financial impacts of the practice.

A backstretch worker at Gulfstream Park has been charged with aggravated manslaughter after his 9-month-old daughter died Saturday after being left unattended in a parked car at the track for 45 minutes.

The father, identified by the Hallandale Beach, Fla., police as Antonio Balta, left the child in the car while attending the races at Gulfstream on Saturday, according to a police spokesman Monday. Balta remained in custody.

The passenger window of Balta's car had been left open a half-inch while Balta was at the track, the police said. Temperatures were in the low 80's.

Roger Holbrook was convicted last week by a Lawrenceburn, Ind., jury of the murder of his former wife, trainer Barbara Holbrook, who was found shot at her home in November 2002.

Holbrook was apprehended in a small Tennessee town in May 2003 after being the subject of an "America's Most Wanted" television segment. He is scheduled to be sentenced April 1.

A shocking winner at Golden Gate Fields resulted in a payoff of $18,513.60 to 25 ticket-holders in Saturday's Magna 5 pick five bet.

Three of the five races were won by favorites, but Noble Masterpiece returned $121.60 when he won the fifth race at Golden Gate Fields, a claiming race on turf. The race was the fourth race in the five-race sequence.

Three juveniles shared the fastest eighth-mile time of 10.20 seconds in last weekend's final under-tack show for the March 16-17 Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's 2-year-old sale in Ocala, Fla. They were Hip No. 137, a Good and Tough-Erv's Duck filly; Hip No. 144, a Gilded Time-Excellence filly; and Hip No. 287, a Chief Seattle-Miss Virginia colt. . . . Lil's Lad, winner of the 1998 Fountain of Youth, has relocated from Lane's End in Kentucky to Pennsylvania.

* Britt's Jules ($5.80) won his two-turn debut when he drove to a 4 1/2-length victory in the $50,000 Sportsman's Paradise for 3-year-olds at Delta Downs.

* After racing in Southern California the past two years, Death Trappe ($4) made a successful return to his home state, scoring a 4 1/4- length win in the $25,950 Ogataul Handicap for older Nebraska-breds at Fonner Park.

* Josie G. ($3.20), shuffled back and blocked on the second turn, won the $30,000 Sam Houston Race Park Oaks by 1 1/2 lengths.

ARCADIA, Calif. - A shock winner at Golden Gate Fields resulted in a payoff of $18,513.60 to 25 ticket-holders in Saturday's Magna 5.

Three of the five races were won by favorites, but Noble Masterpiece was the surprise, returning $121.60 when he won the fifth race at Golden Gate Fields, a claiming race on turf. The Golden Gate race was the fourth race in the five-race sequence.

Thomas Bartlett Clark, 61, author of "Down on the Backside" and longtime volunteer with the Arizona chapter of the Racetrack Chaplaincy of America, died March 6 after a battle with cancer. Donations in his memory may be made to the Race Track Chaplaincy program at Turf Paradise or to the Hospice of the Valley, 1510 E. Flower St., Phoenix, AZ, 85014. . . . The Oxley Foundation, based in Tulsa, Okla., has issued a challenge grant of up to $1 million to Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation to raise funds dedicated to the safety and health of horses.

ARCADIA, Calif. - The introduction of slot machines to California racetracks could lead to an annual increase of $310 million in Thoroughbred purses, according to a report presented Friday at Santa Anita by Rick Baedeker, president of Hollywood Park. But the slots proposal faces several daunting hurdles.

The report was presented to a small group of racing officials who are seeking slot machines for racetracks through the Gaming Revenue Act of 2004. The measure could appear on the November ballot, if a petition supporting the measure gains enough signatures in coming weeks.

Legal rebating is no enemy to the game