For the second time in as many months, California Senator Dianne Feinstein has called for a suspension of racing at Santa Anita in reaction to a series of equine fatalities at the track.
Santa Anita and the Thoroughbred Owners of California have agreed to continue a $10,000 increase in purses for all overnight races through the end of the track’s spring-summer meeting on June 23, according to a statement published by the TOC on Friday.
Del Mar may run fewer races per day during its summer meeting from July 17 to Sept. 2 after officials expressed concern on Thursday about the number of race-ready horses based in Southern California.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker appointed Marcus Davis and Benjamin Reyes to the Illinois Racing Board on Wednesday. Davis and Reyes fill vacancies on the nine-member board, which still has only eight commissioners pending a final appointment.
Betting on the Preakness Stakes set a record for the third year in a row, according to the chart of the race, while the overnight rating for the broadcast of the race dropped sharply in the absence of the horses that ran best in the Kentucky Derby two weeks earlier.
The overnight rating for the Preakness Stakes broadcast declined sharply compared to last year’s overnight, dropping 22 percent to a 4.3 with a 10 share, according to figures released on Sunday by NBC.
Total betting on the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore and the entire-14-race card on Saturday set records, according to charts of the races, extending a strong spring for racing’s big events, at least financially.
Handle on the Black-Eyed Susan card at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore on Friday set a record and was up 19.8 percent over handle on the same day last year, according to figures released by the track’s owner.
Gary West, the co-owner of Maximum Security, the horse disqualified from first in the Kentucky Derby, has offered to wager $5 million head-to-head against the owners of four of the horses who raced in the Derby in any of Maximum Security’s next matchups with the horses.
A dispute between the simulcast-marketing arms of The Stronach Group and Churchill Downs Inc. has led to a blackout at some wagering sites of the signal from Pimlico Race Course, where the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes, will be run on Saturday.
