The attorney general of North Dakota and other state regulators are looking into whether Racing Services Inc., the offtrack betting operator in the state, deliberately underreported some of its recent handle figures to avoid paying taxes, state officials said Tuesday.

Ferdinand, the 1986 Kentucky Derby winner and the 1987 Horse of the Year, died in Japan last year at age 19, according to an Associated Press report.

Yoskhikazu Watanabe, Ferdinand's former owner, told a Tokyo-based AP reporter that the horse was "disposed of during the last year." Watanabe did not provide further details about the death.

New York City Off-Track Betting Company reached an agreement in principle on Tuesday afternoon to take the Breeders' Cup future wager that is being offered this weekend. The company, which operates all the offtrack betting parlors in New York City, offered betting on only two of the four rounds of the Breeders' Cup future wager last year. . . . The New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association has donated $35,000 to the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation for an upcoming expansion of the foundation's facility at the Wallkill State Correctional Facility in Wallkill, N.Y.

An article about the Claiming Crown on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday misstated the name of the trainer of Daunting, winner of the Claiming Crown Jewel. The trainer is Mark Glatt, not Jeff Mullins.

The Breeders' Cup set the fields on Monday for its first of four this weekend, giving bettors the opportunity to make wagers on four races exactly three months before the events are scheduled to run.

Fields were set for future bets on the Classic, Distaff, Sprint, and Turf, scheduled for Oct. 25 at Santa Anita as part of the eight-race Breeders' Cup card. A Breeders' Cup-designated panel picked 23 individual horses and a field entry for each race.

A Belmont notebook item Sunday about Gygistar misstated the intended next race for the horse. He is being pointed to the Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap on Aug. 10, not the Amsterdam Stakes on Aug. 2.

Robert L. Via, a trackman and chart caller for Daily Racing Form for more than 37 years, died Friday at 68 near his home in Charles Town, W. Va. Funeral services were to be held Tuesday at Charles Town Presbyterian Church.

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed a bill on Saturday legalizing slot machines at 11 sites in the state, including nine racetracks.

The legislation differs substantially from a bill passed in June by the state Senate that also legalized slots. Some Senate leaders have said that the two bills will be difficult to reconcile when the Senate reconvenes on July 28.

Euros finish one-two in American Derby

Evolving Tactics, the even-money favorite, gamely held off a belated run by Californian to post a neck victory Sunday in the Grade 2, $250,000 American Derby at Arlington Park.

Patrick Smullen was aboard Evolving Tactics ($4), an Irish-bred colt. Making his U.S. debut for trainer Dermot Weld, Evolving Tactics got a great tracking trip from just behind front-running Gato Gato Gato before powering to the front after turning for home.

Spoken Fur: Frankel's triple threat

ELMONT, N.Y. - The day before trainer Bobby Frankel won the third leg of Thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown with Empire Maker, a good-looking 3-year-old filly arrived in his barn from Kentucky.

Little did Frankel know then that Spoken Fur would give him an opportunity to still win a triple crown in 2003.