ARCADIA, Calif. - Approximately 25 law enforcement officers seized Santa Anita’s recently introduced slot-styled parimutuel gaming machines late Saturday afternoon.

Shortly after 4 p.m. Saturday, with one race remaining on the nine-race program, officers wearing California Department of Justice uniforms arrived at a small grandstand pavilion where the 26 machines were based, observers said.

The machines were ordered turned off. In the next hour, officers began to transport the machines onto a U-Haul truck and an unmarked van parked in the track’s garden.

The New York Racing Association plans to build 15 efficiency apartments on the grounds of Belmont Park dedicated for use by assistant trainers in a bid to attract out-of-state outfits to New York when downstate racing shifts to one facility later this year. 

The plan was part of NYRA’s capital budget presented and approved Friday during a 90-minute Franchise Oversight Board (FOB) meeting held in Schenectady. The hope is that the new housing will be built by the third quarter of 2026.  

Fdd Dreams, winner of the Ruidoso and All American derbies in New Mexico in the spring and summer and the Champion of Champions against older horses at Los Alamitos last month, was named 2025 Quarter Horse World Champion at a ceremony in Oklahoma City on Wednesday evening.

The California Horse Racing Board on Wednesday postponed the possible allocation of 2026 racing dates at three fairs in Northern California until a special meeting in February, pending the resolution of legal issues and greater involvement from fair officials.

Free Like a Girl, who rose from a $5,500 yearling purchase to the all-time leading earner among Louisiana-breds, recently had to be euthanized due to a severe hind leg injury sustained inside a trailer, according to co-owner Carl Deville.

Free Like a Girl was retired from racing this fall and was scheduled to be bred this year to Into Mischief. She earned $2,565,628 during her career and continues to lead all Louisiana-breds in earnings.

Ed Bowen, the longtime racing historian, author, and journalist who died in January 2025, will be posthumously awarded the Eclipse Award of Merit in recognition of a lifetime of outstanding achievement in the Thoroughbred industry, it was announced Tuesday.

Bowen will be celebrated at the Eclipse Awards ceremony on Jan. 22 at The Breakers Palm Beach in Florida.

A provisional suspension handed trainer Rudy Rodriguez on Dec. 16 for allegations he endangered the welfare of horses in his care has been lifted by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) and Rodriguez is now permitted to work, enter, and race horses beginning Thursday. 

Trevor Denman’s world today is a long way from the California tracks where he spent decades developing a reputation as a ground-breaking race caller.

Denman’s home is a farm in southern Minnesota, about 75 miles south of Minneapolis-St. Paul.

“You should see my farm,” he said in a weekend interview, looking onto the property. “There’s a forest line over there and small mountains to my left. I’ve got a mile-long driveway. This is heaven.”