Steve Sexton, a former top executive at Churchill Downs who was also heavily involved in the opening of Lone Star Park in Texas, died Monday in Dallas after being diagnosed recently with a brain tumor, according to friends and relatives. He was 57, according to several media reports.

Sexton had worked outside of racing since resigning as an executive vice president at Churchill Downs in 2011 after eight years at the track. Prior to his Churchill post, Sexton was the president of Churchill’s Arlington Park property outside of Chicago.

Ramon Preciado, the embattled Pennsylvania-based trainer, will have his license revoked as of Dec. 22 as the result of a ruling by state stewards on his latest medication violation, according to a copy of the ruling provided by the state horse-racing commission.

Stradivari, an allowance winner who ran in two legs of this year’s Triple Crown, was euthanized due to complications stemming from a lateral condylar fracture in his right foreleg while training in July.

The story was initially reported by The Paulick Report.

Stradivari, a 3-year-old son of Medaglia d’Oro, was co-owned by the Coolmore partnership and breeder John Gunther. He was trained by Todd Pletcher.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Woodbine’s 133-day meet closed last Sunday with gains in all-sources handle for the second consecutive year.

Woodbine recorded all-sources handle of $469,452,009, up 7.1 percent from last year’s total of $438,185,077. The figure was boosted by record handle on three of Woodbine’s biggest race days: cards headlined by the Queen’s Plate, Woodbine Mile, and Canadian International. Wagering within the greater Toronto area was up 4.1 percent.

Del Mar will provide a consolation payout of $81.60 to pick six ticketholders with five of six winners from last Sunday’s program, the closing day of the autumn meeting that was mired in confusion regarding payouts for the newly structured pick six.

At its 15-day autumn meeting, Del Mar offered for the first time a jackpot structure to its pick six that featured a carryover unless the bet was hit by a single ticketholder. For Sunday’s closing day, the entire pool had to be distributed – $780,563 bet that day and a carryover of $89,411 from the single ticket pool.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – There is a pick-six carryover of $227,352 entering Thursday’s card at Aqueduct after the wager was not hit for a third consecutive program.

The carryover was cemented when Justenufflaughter, an 18-1 shot, rallied from off the pace to win Wednesday’s eighth and final race. It was the 4-year-old filly’s first victory in 25 starts. She defeated 4-5 favorite Katie Ice, to whom there were two live pick-six tickets, each worth $113,676.

Charismatic, the 1999 Horse of the Year and dual classic winner, is settling in to pensioned life at Old Friends after returning to Kentucky following more than a decade in Japan.

Kerwin Clark, Stewart Elliott, Julien Leparoux, Glen Murphy, and Scott Stevens are the finalists for the 2017 Santa Anita George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, the track announced Wednesday.

The winner will be announced in February after a vote by jockeys throughout the nation. The award recognizes a rider for achievement in the saddle and for personal character. The winner will receive the award at a ceremony at Santa Anita in late winter or spring.

Leslie “Les” Ahrens, a well-known jockey on the Chicago circuit who later turned to training, died Tuesday morning in Fort Myers, Fla., from injuries he suffered in a motorcycle accident last week.

Ahrens, 66, grew up in the Chicago area and rode his first race in 1968 at age 18. A free spirit who once rode in Greece for a year in the 1980s, Ahrens was well liked and respected on the racetrack.

He won the Illinois Derby on Flag Officer in 1977, and then rode the horse to a 10^th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, the only Derby mount of his career.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Del Mar’s pick six ended in controversy on Sunday when it was announced that only those nailing all six winners would be paid, and that no one hitting five of six would get consolations, something that was not conveyed to bettors or media prior to closing day.