The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority on Tuesday released a tranche of proposed new rules for public comment and review, including a major modification of rules it suspended late last year requiring immediate suspensions of trainers facing violations for banned drugs.
The Racetrack Television Network will again offer a livestream of the University of Arizona Global Symposium on Racing this year, with all proceeds from subscriptions going toward the university’s Race Track Industry Program, the network announced on Tuesday.
Metformin, a banned drug in horse racing that is an ingredient in commonly prescribed medications to treat diabetes in humans, will be subjected to a higher threshold level before being called as a positive under a proposed new rule for the sport, according to the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority.
Total handle, handle per race, and average purse per race were all up at the recently concluded meet at Horseshoe Indianapolis in Shelbyville, Ind., according to an analysis by Daily Racing Form.
Total handle increased 2.3 percent compared to last year, to $263.3 million, despite Horseshoe running 40 less races this year. The average amount bet per race was up 6.7 percent, to $282,842, according to the analysis.
The Maryland Jockey Club announced Thursday that it has received approval from the Maryland Racing Commission to conduct 120 days of live racing at Laurel Park in 2026. Mirroring this year’s racing calendar, races will be run at the track from January to June and will resume in September after a summer hiatus.
Average viewership for the live broadcasts of Breeders’ Cup races on the Saturday, Nov. 1 card at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club was up 6 percent compared to the Saturday races last year, according to NBC, the broadcast partner of Breeders’ Cup.
The average viewership for the eight Saturday Breeders’ Cup races broadcast on NBC or on its streaming platform Peacock was just under 900,000, according to the network. The viewership figure peaked at 1.4 million viewers from 6:15 to 6:30 p.m. Eastern, during the pre-race and live race coverage of the Classic, NBC said.
Charles “Stormy” Bidwell Jr., a member of an influential sporting family from Chicago and the former owner and president of Chicago’s defunct Sportsman’s Park, died on Nov. 3 in Northfield, Illinois, according to his family and news reports. Bidwell Jr. was 97.
Total commingled wagering on Thoroughbred races at U.S. racetracks in October rose 9 percent compared to the same month last year, but the result was heavily skewed by the inclusion this year of the Breeders’ Cup’s Friday card on Oct. 31.
The total betting figure rose $71.6 million, from $796.3 million in October of last year to $867.9 million this year. Total betting on a 10-race card that included five Breeders’ Cup races on Oct. 31 was $62 million, according to Breeders’ Cup officials. Last year, the Friday Breeders’ Cup card was held on Nov. 1.
Total commingled betting on the nine Breeders’ Cup races held on Saturday at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Southern California was up 6 percent compared to wagering on the same nine races last year, when the event was also held at Del Mar, according to charts of the races.
The jump in Saturday betting reversed a nearly 11 percent decline in handle on the five Breeders’ Cup races held on Friday, which was Halloween. Total handle on the Saturday races was $113.16 million, compared to Saturday handle last year of $106.76 million.
Two of the companies named as defendants in a recent class-action lawsuit regarding computer-assisted wagering have said in a joint statement that they will “vigorously defend” themselves.
AmTote International and Elite Turf Club, two companies owned by 1/ST Racing and Gaming, are the first companies to respond to the lawsuit, which was filed last Friday. The suit alleges that racetracks and bet-processing companies have conspired “to divert money in the betting pools” from everyday players to the CAW groups.
