Wagering on Thoroughbred races held at U.S. tracks topped $12 billion for the first time in more than a decade in 2021, according to year-end handle figures distributed by Equibase on Wednesday.
Fox Sports, the television network that has dramatically expanded live coverage of horse racing over the past five years through a partnership with the New York Racing Association, has secured the rights to broadcast NYRA's Belmont Stakes, the third leg of the Triple Crown, beginning next year, according to NYRA and the network.
The timely implementation of new national rules governing the racing industry’s medication and drug policies suffered a significant blow on Thursday when the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority announced that it had been unable to reach a contractual agreement with a private, non-profit company to enforce the policies.
Brad Cox, a leading contender for the Eclipse Award for outstanding trainer, broke the single-season earnings mark set by Chad Brown in 2019 on Friday when 2-year-old In Dreams won a $100,000 allowance race at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark. With the win, worth $60,000, Cox has total earnings of $31,135,781 with two weeks of racing left in the year.
Disgraced Thoroughbred trainer Jorge Navarro, who went from claiming trainer to conditioner of multiple graded stakes winners who sometimes gave hard-to-believe performances, was sentenced Friday to five years in prison after pleading guilty to one felony charge of conspiracy to commit drug adulteration or misbranding.
The Illinois Racing Board on Thursday narrowly voted to reject plans by Churchill Downs Inc. to continue operating off-track betting parlors in the state despite the cessation of racing at the company’s Arlington Park in the northwest suburbs of Chicago.
Louis Cella, the president of Oaklawn Park, has been appointed to serve on the Management Committee of Equibase, the data company owned in partnership by a racetrack trade group and The Jockey Club.
The California Horse Racing Board approved a six-month racing license for Golden Gate Fields starting later this month after a lengthy discussion at its monthly meeting on Wednesday concerning recent equine fatalities in racing and training at the Northern California track.
Jay Privman, the national correspondent for Daily Racing Form since 1998, has been selected for induction into the National Museum of Racing’s Joe Hirsch Media Roll of Honor, along with the late writers Walter Haight and Jack Mann, the museum announced on Tuesday.
The 2021 handle on live Thoroughbred racing at Woodbine produced an all-sources handle of $505,348,339, the third-highest season total in Woodbine’s history.
