Aidan Butler, who has overseen the racing operations at Santa Anita Park and Golden Gate Fields in California for the tracks’ parent company for two years, has been named the chief operating officer of the company and will relocate to Florida as part of his new job responsibilities.

Butler, who joined the parent company, The Stronach Group, in 2018, will focus on East Coast racing operations for the company and also will become the president of a new division, 1/ST Content. The Stronach Group has been rebranding its racing assets under the “1/ST” brand for approximately a year.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission on Tuesday ratified 2021 race dates while tabling a discussion on penalties that will be applied to violations of a pending rule restricting use of the whip in a race.

Jeffrey Cannizzo, who has led the New York Thoroughbred Breeders Inc. for 13 years, has accepted a position with the New York Racing Association to be its senior director of government affairs, the two organizations said Tuesday.

Cannizzo, whose job as executive director of the NYTB entailed frequent contact with state legislators, will start his new position at NYRA as of Jan. 4, according to the association. NYRA, which is heavily regulated, operates Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga under a franchise agreement with the state.

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and three tracks in the state have joined together to petition the state Supreme Court to revisit a ruling issued late last month that invalidated a type of gambling machine in wide use at state tracks.

The New York Gaming Commission will discuss potential new regulations on the use of the whip at a meeting scheduled for Monday morning, according to an agenda for the meeting distributed on Thursday.

Brad Maione, a spokesman for the commission, said on Thursday that a list of individuals who have been invited to discuss the agenda item was “in formation at this time.” At an earlier commission meeting, commission members said that they anticipated inviting representatives from a broad range of constituencies to weigh in on any potential new rules.

Chris Polzin was named director of racing and racing secretary at Indiana Grand last week and will take up his duties there Oct. 26.

Polzin replaces Kevin Greely, who unexpectedly parted company with Indiana Grand last month.

Polzin is the longtime racing secretary and director of racing at Arlington International outside Chicago. Polzin is a native of the Chicago area and grew up around racing because his father, Elmer Polzin, covered the sport for various Chicago publications.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Kentucky Equine Drug Research Council has approved a proposal to provide as much as $30,000 in funding toward a multi-state study of furosemide use and bleeding in 2-year-old horses.

The proposal was approved unanimously by the council at a Friday meeting and will be sent to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission for its approval. The commission routinely approves proposals that have already been sanctioned by the EDRC.

Supporters of federal legislation that would create a national regulatory body for racing have named seven members to a committee that would be responsible for selecting the organization’s board of directors.

Wagering on U.S. races was up 30 percent in September compared to the same month last year, according to figures released on Monday by Equibase, an increase fueled in part by the rescheduling of the Kentucky Derby to the first Saturday in the month.

Gerald Lawrence, a racetrack executive who had senior leadership positions at some of the most prominent racetracks in the country, died Thursday, according to an obituary prepared by his family. He was 81.

Lawrence, a Pennsylvania native who was the executive director of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party before beginning a nearly 40-year career in racing, was at points in his career the general manager of Churchill Downs in Louisville and the New York Racing Association tracks.