Jeannine Edwards, the ESPN reporter and horsewoman, will once again host the Eclipse Awards ceremony, scheduled for Jan. 17 at Gulfstream Park Racing and Casino in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

This will be the fourth consecutive time that Edwards has hosted the ceremony, which honors the horses and humans selected for year-end Eclipse Awards.

Edwards, who has reported for ESPN since 1995, spent 10 years at the racetrack as an exercise rider, apprentice jockey, and trainer of Thoroughbreds in Maryland before launching her broadcast career. 

Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., plans to run eight fewer live racing dates in 2015 under a schedule approved on Thursday by the New Jersey Racing Commission.

The schedule calls for Monmouth to run 49 live race cards, down from 57 this year, with racing on a Saturday and Sunday schedule from May 9 until the end of June. After that, Monmouth plans to run on a Friday through Sunday schedule until closing day, on Sept. 7, Labor Day.

Zia Park-based trainers Justin Evans and Joel Marr will be out to defend the Hobbs, N.M., track from an onslaught of shippers for Wednesday’s $1.1 million Land of Enchantment card. Evans, who has a double-digit lead in the trainer standings, has Belleofthebeach in the $300,000 Zia Park Oaks and the streaking Alsono in the $200,000 Zia Park Derby. Marr will be represented in the Zia Park Derby by the undefeated Proceed.

“I think the local horses could have the upper hand because they’ve been training over the track,” Evans said.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Woodbine has announced a 133-day Thoroughbred meet for 2015, which mirrors the 2014 schedule.

Pending Ontario Racing Commission approval, opening day for the 60th Woodbine season is Saturday, April 11, with closing day scheduled for Sunday, Dec. 6.

Racing will be conducted with a 1 p.m. post time every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, beginning April 24. Holiday Monday cards, also with a 1 p.m. start, are on May 18, Aug. 3, Sept. 7, and Oct. 12. The Canada Day program on Wednesday, July 1, also has a 1 p.m. post time.

Rosie Napravnik, who recently announced her retirement from riding to start a family, heads a list of five riders named Thursday by Santa Anita as finalists for the 2015 George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award.

James Graham, Mike Luzzi, Leslie Mawing, and Corey Nakatani – all men – are the other finalists for the award, which has been presented annually by Santa Anita since 1950. The award is held in conjunction with the Jockeys’ Guild and is voted on by jockeys nationwide.

Eddie Musselman, the publisher of the controversial newsletter “Indian Charlie,” has filed a lawsuit seeking a judgment that would keep Churchill Downs from enforcing a ban that denies him access to the grounds, according to court records.

Attorneys representing Parx Racing in suburban Philadelphia and jockeys who ride at the track remain in discussions over a resolution to a dispute involving a waiver distributed by the track two weeks ago that many riders refused to sign, according to the attorney representing the track’s jockey colony.

The attorneys have now reached three separate one-week extension to the negotiations, with Parx declining to enforce a policy banning any rider who does not sign the waiver. The current extension runs through Nov. 27, according to Alan Pincus, an attorney representing the riders.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Churchill Downs has canceled its 10-race Thursday program, marking the second straight cancellation because of a frozen racetrack.

This is the first time for back-to-back cancellations at Churchill due to cold since Nov. 23-24, 1970, according to a media release issued early Wednesday evening by the track. Cancellation of a 10-race Wednesday card was announced early Tuesday.

The California Horse Racing Board passed a rule on Wednesday limiting jockeys to three consecutive strikes with a whip before they must pause to allow a horse to respond.

The rule is expected to take effect in coming weeks, and will be in place for both Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse races. In recent months, racing board officials held meetings with owners and trainers and the Jockey’s Guild to discuss the issue.

A jockey found in violation would face sanction, most likely a fine.

The stewards of Indiana Grand Race Course in Shelbyville, Ind., have suspended an assistant trainer for allegedly having a horse injected on raceday, citing an incident that also is part of an aggressive effort by the state racing commission to ban a veterinarian for 20 years.