Thomas Conway, a horse owner and former Kentucky Horse Racing Commission member, died on Saturday at Baptist Health Hospital on Sept. 18 of complications arising from a recent fall, according to family members. Conway, who was the father of former Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway, was 83.

ELMONT, N.Y. – Wayne Potts, the leading trainer at Monmouth Park, on Sept. 30 will begin serving a 20-day suspension from the New York stewards for his role in the transfer to him of a claimed horse at Saratoga against the rules of the New York State Gaming Commission.

Potts, who also was fined $2,000, was initially given a 30-day suspension, but got a reduced penalty for waiving his right of appeal. The remaining 10 days will be stayed, provided he doesn’t violate the same rule within the next year. The suspension runs through Oct. 19.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Neil Howard, whose feats with Summer Squall and Mineshaft helped make him among the most highly respected trainers in America in recent decades, is disbanding his stable at Churchill Downs to work as an assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey.

McGaughey said the hiring of Howard, whom he called a “very good friend for a long time,” comes when purses on the Kentucky circuit have become so huge that he feels compelled to have a substantially increased presence here.

The California Horse Racing Board recently dismissed a complaint against veteran trainer Jeff Metz regarding a positive test for a bisphosphonate found in one of his runners in 2020, clearing the trainer of any potential sanction.

The racing board reached the decision in a closed session of its monthly teleconference meeting on Sept. 15, the board said in a statement released Friday.

CYPRESS, Calif. - Los Alamitos has canceled Thursday's racing after failing to draw sufficient entries on Saturday, racing secretary Bob Moreno said.

Moreno was hoping to fill an eight-race program, but had sufficient entries for only “four or five” races.

Racing will be conducted from Friday, Sept. 24 through Sunday, Sept. 26, the final weekend of the three-week season, which is run as the Los Angeles County Fair meeting.

Rock Your World, one of California’s leading 3-year-olds, will be held out of the Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing on Sept. 25 in favor of the Grade 2 Twilight Derby at Santa Anita on Oct. 31, trainer John Sadler wrote in a text message Saturday.

Sadler wrote that he would prefer to “wait” for the Twilight Derby for Rock Your World’s next start.

Jockey Tomas Mejia has been suspended for 10 years and fined $5,000 by stewards at Monmouth Park in New Jersey for possession of a buzzer, the term for an electrical device that is typically used to urge a horse to run faster, according to ruling dated Sept. 15.

Gary Barber, Peter Blum, Angie Moore, and the broodmare Drumette were among the primary honorees as the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association hosted its national awards dinner at Hill ‘n’ Dale at Xalapa in Paris, Ky., on Saturday night.

Jockey Jose Valdivia Jr. has dropped his appeal of a 10-day careless riding suspension and will sit out the final six days of the Los Alamitos meeting that ends Sept. 26, and the first four days of the Santa Anita meeting that starts Oct. 1, according to his agent, Nick Hines.

The suspension will not prevent Valdivia from riding in any so-called "designated" races, essentially stakes. There are a number of graded stakes races Oct. 1-3 at Santa Anita that serve as preps for Breeders' Cup races Nov. 5-6 at Del Mar.

Mean Mary, a five-time graded stakes-winning mare and a top contender for the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf in November at Del Mar, has been retired from racing due to injury, trainer Graham Motion confirmed Friday morning.

Mean Mary, most recently second in the Grade 1 Beverly D. on Aug. 14 at Arlington Park, was diagnosed with “significant bone bruising of the inside condyle in her right front fetlock causing an area of weakness that is susceptible to further injury if she were to continue in training,” Motion said via text.