Lawmakers in both houses of the New Jersey legislature have introduced bills that would formally authorize fixed-odds wagering on horse races, according to racing officials in the state.

The bills would clear up a gray legal matter in New Jersey, where fixed-odds betting on sports was legalized in 2018 following a Supreme Court ruling that gave states the power to authorize the practice, said Dennis Drazin, the president of the company that operates Monmouth Park and a sportsbook on the track property.

Churchill Downs is planning to run next year’s Kentucky Derby on its traditional date on the first Saturday of May, but the track is currently limiting ticket sales to 40 percent to 50 percent of reserved-seating capacity due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the company’s chief executive said Thursday.

A working group of horse racing constituencies in seven states along the eastern seaboard will push to ban the use of the bronchial dilator clenbuterol without a prescription from the horse’s veterinarian and approval from regulatory authorities, the group said on Tuesday.

Jockey Carlos Hernandez was injured in an automobile accident near Monmouth Park on Saturday night following the closing-day card at the Oceanport, N.J., track, according to his agent John Salamone.

Hernandez had seven mounts at Monmouth on Saturday. He won the first race on the card and finished second in the third. According to Salamone, Hernandez went out to dinner after the races and at approximately 9:30 p.m. was involved in a three-car accident.

A group of racing companies seeking changes to racing rules and protocols has ratified eight new goals, a number of which pertain to oversight and regulation of horses while training.

The new goals, which were ratified by the Thoroughbred Safety Coalition’s Steering Committee, indicate that the group continues to broaden its focus and will seek more restrictions on how horses are medicated and treated prior to racing and training.

The 2021 Thoroughbred racing calendar in Southern California will closely resemble schedules from 2014 through 2019, with racing at Los Alamitos in September, a two-month summer season preceded by an open week at Del Mar similar to this year, and the bulk of the racing dates at Santa Anita.

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.