The sale of Ruidoso Downs closed Thursday, according to an announcement from the New Mexico track on Friday. The transaction includes the purchase of an onsite casino and the Ruidoso Horse Sale Co.
Trainer Jimmy Iselin is to begin serving a 30-day suspension Wednesday following a denial of his appeal by the New York Gaming Commission of a medication positive from 2016.
Last week, new tax rules went into effect allowing horseplayers to treat the entire amount wagered in a pool for the purposes of determining tax liability, dramatically limiting the number of payouts that will now qualify for automatic tax reporting and withholding. The revisions, which were approved by the IRS and Treasury after a lobbying campaign spearheaded by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, had long been advocated by horseplayers, including Steven Crist, the former publisher of the Daily Racing Form who retired last year. Crist, who was known as the King of the Pick Six, is still playing the races from his home near Belmont Park on Long Island, and, earlier this week, he took a break from walking his greyhounds to speak to DRF Reporter Matt Hegarty about the tax changes and how they will affect horseplayers and the industry.
Robert Kulina, the longtime racing executive who has spent nearly the entirety of his professional career at Monmouth Park in New Jersey, will retire at the end of this year, Kulina said on Friday.
Wagering on U.S. races in the third quarter of 2017, when marquee meets were held at Saratoga Racecourse and Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, was up 3.7 percent even though the number of races held nationwide fell 2.1 percent, according to figures distributed by Equibase on Wednesday.
An international racing consortium has approved a model rule that calls for stewards to determine whether a horse’s finish position was compromised when determining the order of finish in the event of interference by another horse.
All-sources handle at the 11-day September meet that ended Sunday at Churchill Downs was up 2.4 percent over the comparable 2016 meet, according to figures released Monday by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.
While current Thoroughbred racing stars contest the stakes-rich opening weekend at Keeneland, several hundred retired racehorses will be vying for their own rich prize nearby at the Kentucky Horse Park.
A plane carrying feed and veterinary supplies intended for horses at the heavily damaged Camarero Race Track in Puerto Rico landed on the island’s main airport in San Juan this morning, according to the organizers of the shipment.
Antioco Murgia, a jockey who rode with some success in Kentucky last year before being banned while he fought a criminal rape charge, was licensed on Friday after being found not guilty earlier this week, according to Barbara Borden, the state steward.
