Rick Violette, the New York-based trainer, was narrowly re-elected for the third time as president of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, according to a statement released on Tuesday night, defeating a challenge by the founder of a racing partnership group in a campaign that had national overtones.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission is likely to appeal a recent ruling that called for the commission to reinstate John Veitch to his former position of chief state steward, the chairman of the commission said Tuesday after a regularly scheduled meeting.

Robert Beck said he “would anticipate” the appeal, based on discussions the commission had in a closed session at the end of the meeting. The commission has until Friday to file the appeal, and Beck said the decision to appeal likely will not be evident until the deadline is reached.

At least the fields are huge.

Turfway Park, having sunk about as low as it can go without being shuttered, opens Thursday evening with the maximum fields of 12 in all but one of nine races. There are no superstars, but horseplayers will have what they often ask for: plenty of wagering options and the promise of pricey mutuels.

“There hasn’t been racing here since the end of March, so naturally, the local horsemen are eager to be in action,” said Tyler Picklesimer, racing secretary at Turfway in northern Kentucky.

How many soon-to-be 9-year-old horses, after winning 28 races, including 22 stakes, in 44 career starts, could earn their highest Beyer Speed Figure in start No. 45? How many soon-to-be 9-year-old horses could get their biggest margin of victory in more than four years? How many soon-to-be 9-year-old horses could run against a really accomplished group of sprinters last Saturday at Penn National and make every last one of them disappear in the stretch?

The answer to all of those questions is the same horse: Ben’s Cat.

Seriously, how is this possible?

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – All-sources handle at the Churchill Downs fall meet that ended Sunday was down significantly again, continuing a downward trend at this historic track.

Gross handle at a 24-day meet that began Oct. 26 was $95,225,100, for a daily average of $3,967,712. The gross was down 19 percent from the 2013 fall meet, where handle was $117.6 million for 25 days, and the daily average was down 16.7 percent.

Major simulcast sites in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, and several other states on Monday dropped the signals from tracks controlled by one of the U.S.’s largest racing companies due to an impasse over the terms of a new contract, officials for both sides of the talks have confirmed.

After showing a profit in 2014 for the first time in 13 years, the New York Racing Association once again plans to raise prices to its customers as well as simulcast partners to help it maintain profitability in 2015.

In a meeting with the Franchise Oversight Board on Monday, Susanne Stover, NYRA’s chief financial officer, said that “NYRA plans to selectively increase prices for group sales and parking and the fee charged for NYRA’s simulcast signal” in 2015.

Stover did not say what those increases would be for 2015.

Quarter Horse trainer Jose De La Torre, who trained the Quarter Horses of the Year in 2012 and 2013, was suspended 38 months and fined $160,000 by the California Horse Racing Board last month for a series of clenbuterol positives over the last six years, the board announced Monday.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Despite the thermometer reaching 60 degrees in these parts Monday, it’s beginning to look a lot like winter.

On Sunday and Monday, there was a bevy of horse vans lined up on the Belmont backstretch, loading horses to take south. The racing office has conceded to Mother Nature and will not card turf races beyond Thursday. Finally, in the biggest sign of all, Wednesday marks the opening of Aqueduct’s inner track.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Del Mar on Sunday completed a wildly successful fall meeting that had strong numbers in every category a track manager could want, ranging from attendance to handle, purses to field size, to injuries.

The 15-day season, which took over part of the fall dates formerly held by Hollywood Park, had an average attendance of 9,055, an increase of 187 percent over what Hollywood Park averaged during its final season last year, and the average attendance ranks second on the Southern California circuit this year only to Del Mar’s summer meet.