Greenwood ACRA announced Friday that Atlantic City Race Course, which has primarily operated as a simulcast center since 1999, will close permanently Jan. 16.

Atlantic City Race Course opened in 1946 with a star-studded group of investors that included Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, Harry James, Sammy Kaye, and Xavier Cugat. The advent of casino gambling in the 1970s in Atlantic City – about 12 miles away on the coast – hurt the track’s business, and it ran its last full meet in 1998. At the time, the track was owned by Robert Levy, whose father, Leon Levy, was an original investor.

Charles Town Races is expected to begin broadcasting in high definition “within the next several weeks,” the track announced Friday, joining a slowly growing roster of tracks that have invested in a broadcast capability that is standard in all major sports.

Turfway Park in northern Kentucky canceled its Friday night races due to bitter cold.

The high temperature in Florence was forecast to reach only 19 degrees by midday and fall into the low teens at night, when the track would have been racing. Factoring in wind chill, temperatures were forecast to be sub-zero over that period.

No cancelation decision beyond Friday has been made, said Tia Murphy, stakes coordinator at Turfway.

Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., has canceled opening weekend due to freezing temperatures, the track announced Thursday morning. Oaklawn was to open on Friday and race Saturday and Sunday. The new opening date has been set for Thursday, Jan. 15.

Oaklawn made an early decision to cancel the opening weekend as a convenience to patrons and horsemen, said Jennifer Hoyt, a spokeswoman for the track. She said officials inspected the track surface and spoke with horsemen early Thursday morning, when it was 9 degrees in Hot Springs.

The purse of the All American Futurity for Quarter Horses will be a record $3 million when the storied race for 2-year-olds is renewed on Labor Day, Ruidoso Downs announced Wednesday. Last year, the 440-yard race was worth $2.6 million.

The estimated $3 million purse is the largest for any 2-year-old race, including Thoroughbred races, according to the release issued by Ruidoso. The winner of the All American will earn 50 percent of the purse.

Bayern and California Chrome, two members of an outstanding class of 3-year-olds in 2014, and the top older turf runner Main Sequence are the three finalists for Horse of the Year, it was announced Wednesday.

A combination of cold temperatures and a fast, frozen track helped produce 10 track records during the first two days of the 2015 season at Mahoning Valley Race Course near Youngstown, Ohio.

Through the first 21 days of its inaugural meet in November and December, Mahoning Valley's dirt track played extremely slow, with only one horse, stakes winner Star Harbour, running six furlongs faster than 1:13. Star Harbour recorded a time of 1:12.89 winning the Mahoning Valley Sprint on Nov. 29.

Jimmy Beck, 72, a former long-time steward at Beulah Park in Ohio and a starter at Ellis Park in Kentucky, died Monday in Grove City, Ohio.

After a long career as a starter, Beck earned a senior steward certification from the Racing Official Accreditation program at the University of Louisville. He worked as a steward at Beulah Park, where he was employed for 25 years, since 2000 and was also a steward at Ellis Park and Mt. Pleasant Meadows in Michigan.

Charles Town has canceled its Wednesday night card due to expected cold temperatures.

Wednesday night temperatures in the Charles Town, W.Va., area are expected to be in the 0- to 10-degree range with winds between 10 and 25 miles per hour expected and gusts up to 35 miles per hour possible.

“We are anticipating very dangerous wind chills,” said Charles McIntosh, the track’s racing secretary.

The $30,000 Blue Ridge Handicap, the Wednesday night feature at Charles Town, had attracted Lucy’s Bob Boy, a 21-time winner at Charles Town.