Charlatan, a two-time Grade 1 winner at 3 who lost his only start this year when second in the $20 million Saudi Cup in February, has been retired to Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm in Kentucky, according to farm president John Sikura.

Charlatan is scheduled to arrive at the farm on Friday and will begin his stallion career in 2022.

A 4-year-old colt by Speightstown, Charlatan was taken out of training in mid-May after concern arose about the condition of an ankle following a fast five-furlong breeze in 59 seconds at Churchill Downs.

Due to record heat expected in the Pacific Northwest, Emerald Downs in Auburn, Wash., and Hastings, across the border in Vancouver, British Columbia, have called off upcoming racing days.

Emerald has canceled Sunday with Hastings scrapping Monday.

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Next month, an unprecedented 11-day gap is scheduled between the end of the Los Alamitos summer meeting, which runs from Friday through July 5, and the start of the Del Mar summer season on July 16.

The break was designed by California racing officials as a way to boost field size for the start of the Del Mar meeting. Los Alamitos could gain from the calendar as well, as the only track offering daytime opportunities for Thoroughbreds in Southern California in coming weeks.

Equine fatalities at California racetracks and training centers have declined sharply in the current fiscal year that ends on June 30, according to figures provided by the California Horse Racing Board.

Through Tuesday, the racing board had recorded 72 fatalities in racing and training or other incidents such as illnesses or stable accidents, compared to 122 in the 2019-20 fiscal year. The figure was 144 in the 2018-19 fiscal year when the issue gained international news following a series of fatalities in racing and training at Santa Anita in the early months of 2019.

LEXINGTON, KY – The full Kentucky Horse Racing Commission on Tuesday gave unanimous approval to a set of new rules that will limit riders to a total of six overhand whip strikes in a race.

A bill allowing New Jersey racetracks to offer fixed-odds wagering passed both houses of the state legislature on Monday and has been sent to Gov. Phil Murphy, who is expected to sign the bill.

The legislation formalizes a bet type that Monmouth Park offered during its 2018 and 2019 meet, after the track opened a sports book on its property. Dennis Drazin, the president of the company that operates Monmouth under a lease with the state, said that the hope is to offer a full slate of fixed-odds bets for the July 17 card, the day of the Haskell Stakes.

A Kentucky judge has ordered the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission to allow further testing on a urine sample from Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit at the request of the horse’s connections.

A New York agency charged with overseeing the operations and finances of the New York Racing Association gave approval Wednesday to a project that will lead to the construction of a tunnel to the infield at Belmont Park and perhaps to the installation of an artificial surface at the track.

The New York Racing Franchise Oversight Board on Wednesday technically approved the construction of a backstretch retaining wall at Belmont, but that project is a precursor to the construction of the tunnel, according to NYRA officials who participated in the meeting via teleconference.

The Jockeys’ Guild has informed its members that riders will no longer be provided Guild-supplemented benefits as of July 1 in the event of being injured at tracks in New Jersey, where riders are covered by the state’s worker’s compensation program, in protest of new rules in the state that prohibit jockeys from using the whip “except for reasons of safety.”

Bob Baffert, the embattled trainer, has filed a lawsuit against the New York Racing Association seeking the lifting of a ban the racetrack operator placed on him in mid-May, after his Kentucky Derby winner Medina Spirit tested positive for a regulated medication.