Average daily all-sources handle for this year's Belmont Park spring/summer meet was $10,917,735, down 8.8 percent compared to the 2018 figure of $11,967,486, according to numbers provided by the New York Racing Association.
Churchill Downs and Keeneland have submitted proposed rule changes to a Kentucky regulatory body seeking a limited phase-out of the raceday use of the anti-bleeding medication Lasix and restrictions on the use of other therapeutic medications, according to officials for the tracks.
Trainer Marcus Vitali has been suspended a year by the stewards at Delaware Park after track security and witnesses alleged that they observed the trainer removing a substance from a dorm that was being searched, according to Delaware racing officials.
Del Mar Thoroughbred Club is a private company that has the right to exclude individuals from its premises, the track’s attorney has argued in asking a court to reject a temporary restraining order sought by the banned trainer Jerry Hollendorfer.
Handle on Thoroughbred races last weekend was down $20.1 million, or 14.9 percent, compared to similar dates last year and down $30.5 million, or 21 percent, compared to the weekend of July 28-29 last year, illustrating the massive impact of the heat wave that hit the Midwest and East Coast.
A decline in Thoroughbred racing days led to a significant drop in all-sources handle at all California tracks in the first six months of 2019, according to figures released at the California Horse Racing Board meeting on July 18.
The mid-day decision by Monmouth Park on Saturday to cancel six races and delay the remainder of its card for five hours resulted in huge declines in handle on a day when high heat and humidity had already taken its toll on the gate.
Jockey Assael Espinoza took off his mounts at Del Mar on Friday, a day after he was involved in a collision during training hours that resulted in the death of two horses.
It is roughly halfway through an expanded meet at Monmouth Park in Oceanside, N.J., this year, and the track's management is so far pleased with the trajectory the track is on.
Breeders’ Cup and FanDuel, the gambling conglomerate that owns the account-wagering and horse racing broadcasting network TVG, have reached a sponsorship agreement that will give FanDuel and TVG broad promotional and broadcast abilities surrounding the two-day event, the companies announced Wednesday.
