The defendants in a lawsuit seeking to invalidate the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority have filed a motion to dismiss the action, contending that the plaintiffs have no standing in the case and that the lawsuit fails “to state a claim on the merits.”
Total handle on the Kentucky Derby on Saturday at Churchill Downs in Louisville was down 3.7 percent when compared to the total amount bet on the 2019 edition of the race, the last time the race was held on the first Saturday in May, according to charts of the races.
The California Horse Racing Board has issued a complaint against trainer Jeff Metz for a finding of a bisphosphonate in the post-race urine sample of a horse that raced in September of last year, but the attorney for Metz said that the trainer “never” administered the substance to the horse and predicted that he will be exonerated.
Churchill Downs Inc. and Nevada casinos remain dead-locked in a longstanding dispute over the company's simulcast signals, but race books in the state were given authorization last week to offer fixed-odds bets on this Saturday's Kentucky Derby, in defiance of Churchill's demands.
The states of Oklahoma and West Virginia, and their respective racing commissions and several other racing-related entities, have filed a lawsuit challenging the legality of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, the structure created by a law passed late last year to former a national regulatory body for racing.
Churchill Downs Inc. has dropped its plans to build a hotel and casino at its Louisville property but is eyeing the downtown Louisville market as a potential site for a new casino, officials of the company said on a conference call with analysts on Thursday morning.
Churchill Downs Inc. had net income of $36.1 million in the first quarter of 2021, according to financial statements released late on Wednesday, a sharp turnaround from a $23.4 million loss in the first quarter of last year, when many of the company’s operations were curtailed by the emerging coronavirus pandemic.
The full Kentucky Horse Racing Commission on Tuesday approved a motion to contract with a revamped testing laboratory at the University of Kentucky for its future drug-testing programs.
The Arkansas Racing Commission on Tuesday voted unanimously to overrule a stewards’ ruling issued last year disqualifying two horses trained by Bob Baffert and suspending the trainer for 15 days, following two days of testimony to hear the trainer’s appeal.
Attorneys for trainer Bob Baffert during a nine-hour hearing Monday pursued multiple lines of inquiry to cast doubt on the basis for penalties levied by Arkansas stewards last year after two of Baffert’s horses tested positive for a regulated therapeutic medication following races at Oaklawn Park.
