There is still one month remaining in 2011, and trainer Graham Motion plans to cherish every single remaining minute of it.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - John Veitch, the former state steward for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission who was fired on Monday, filed an appeal of his dismissal on Wednesday with the Kentucky Personnel Board, contending that he has been discriminated against because of his age and that the state violated his rights by failing to provide a cause for his dismissal.

A stalemate in negotiations over the simulcast rates paid by Canadian parimutuel outlets is jeopardizing the Canadian importation of signals from Florida’s Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs, which both open on Dec. 3, according to officials involved in the negotiations.

By Matt Hegarty
A federal agriculture bill passed by Congress and signed by President Obama on Nov. 18 did not include a prohibition on funding the inspection of horse meat for the first time since 2006, leading to concerns among some animal-rights organizations that horse slaughterhouses would reopen in the United States.

Phil Hanrahan, a retired Army brigadier general and an attorney with a long background in racing, has been hired by the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association as its chief executive officer, the horsemen’s association announced on Tuesday.

Hanrahan, who will start in the organization's Lexington, Ky., office on Dec. 19, will replace Remi Bellocq, who resigned earlier this year after 10 years as the organization’s chief executive to head up an equine program at Bluegrass Community and Technical College, also in Lexington.

Barry Irwin, the former racing writer who is the principal of the racing syndicate Team Valor International, has instituted a writing award named after the late harness racing giant Stanley Bergstein that includes a $25,000 payment to the recipient, Irwin announced on Tuesday.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - John Veitch was dismissed as chief state steward for the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission on Monday, according to his lawyer, five months after the commission conducted hearings into whether Veitch had broken racing rules when handling the Life At Ten incident at the 2010 Breeders' Cup.

Manuel Gilman, who worked as a racetrack official for more than 40 years - most of them spent as the chief examining veterinarian at the New York Racing Association - died on Friday, according to the Blood-Horse website. He was 91.

Gilman, a native of Kew Gardens, N.Y., began working at New York's major racetracks in 1947 and in 1950 became the chief examining veterinarian for what would become NYRA, which operates Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga. He served in that capacity until 1982, when he became general manager for the Harbor View Farm of Patrice and Lou Wolfson.

Fan baffled by money given statebred runners

Fact: On Sunday, Nov. 13, in the eighth race at Aqueduct, a 2-year-old New York-bred maiden colt with two New York-bred maiden claiming losses to his name won at 91-1 in a New York Stallion Stakes race with a purse valued at $100,000.

Question: In what way, shape, or form is the quality of the Thoroughbred sport enhanced when a racing institution such as the New York Racing Association writes these kinds of races with these kinds of purses for these kinds of animals?

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Upon appeal, the Ontario Racing Commission has altered the suspension it issued to owner-breeder Bruno Schickedanz on Dec. 20, 2010, regarding the breakdown of Wake At Noon during morning training hours at Woodbine. As a result, Schickedanz will not have to serve the suspension and instead will be placed on probation.

The commission originally issued Schickedanz a 12-month suspension, beginning Jan. 1, 2011, with six months to be stayed. Schickedanz appealed that ruling and did not serve any of the suspension. The new ruling was issued Nov. 9.