Handle on the Black-Eyed Susan card at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore on Friday set a record and was up 19.8 percent over handle on the same day last year, according to figures released by the track’s owner.

Total handle of $22.3 million on the 14-race card was up 12 percent over the record set in 2017, when handle was $19.9 million. The Friday card this year was conducted under sunny skies over a fast track, while the races on the latter part of the card last year were conducted over a muddy track after a thunderstorm in the afternoon.

Gary West, the co-owner of Maximum Security, the horse disqualified from first in the Kentucky Derby, has offered to wager $5 million head-to-head against the owners of four of the horses who raced in the Derby in any of Maximum Security’s next matchups with the horses.

A dispute between the simulcast-marketing arms of The Stronach Group and Churchill Downs Inc. has led to a blackout at some wagering sites of the signal from Pimlico Race Course, where the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes, will be run on Saturday.

The owners of Maximum Security, the colt disqualified from first in the May 4 Kentucky Derby, have filed a federal lawsuit in a U.S. District Court in Kentucky seeking to overturn the stewards’ decision and declare the horse the official winner.

BALTIMORE – Kim Boniface, the daughter of J. William and Joan Boniface, one of the most prominent families in Maryland horse racing and breeding over the past half-century, died Sunday at age 51.

Boniface, an accomplished horsewoman, trainer, and amateur jockey, was found unresponsive Friday at the family’s Bonita Farm in Darlington, Md.

As a Thoroughbred trainer, Boniface sent out 55 winners over the years, including Field Cat in the Transylvania Stakes at Keeneland in 2000. Her last starter came Nov. 5, 2018. Her last winner was Dialin at Delaware Park on Aug. 9, 2018.

The Jockey Club on Friday released the results of a poll it funded that attempts to gauge voter response to issues facing horse racing and initiatives that the organization supports.

Attorneys for the owner of Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore have asked a judge to throw out a lawsuit by the city that seeks to obtain ownership of the track and its signature race, the Preakness Stakes.

The motion to dismiss, filed by an attorney for Pimlico’s owner, The Stronach Group, states that the city has no right to condemn the track, due in part to existing state regulations that grant the power of regulation and control over horse racing to the state of Maryland.

Murray Rojas, the Penn National-based trainer who was found guilty two years ago of 14 counts of misbranding prescription drugs, was sentenced to 27 months in prison on Monday.

Rojas is scheduled to begin her sentence on June 3. The sentencing document issued by U.S. District Judge Silvia H. Rambo also states that Rojas will be on probation for two years following her jail time, in which she will not be able to participate in any horse industry activities without approval from her probation officer.

The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission will not hear an appeal filed Monday morning by the connections of Maximum Security regarding the disqualification of that horse from Saturday’s 145th Kentucky Derby.

The commission, in a letter sent by its general counsel, John L. Forgy, to representatives of Gary and Mary West, owners of Maximum Security, cited Kentucky administrative regulations that the “stewards’ disqualification determination is not subject to appeal.”

Thus, the letter continued, “your request for an appeal is denied.”

Handle on the Kentucky Derby, the Kentucky Oaks, and both of the races’ undercards set records last weekend at Churchill Downs, continuing upward trends for big-event days at a time when the sport overall is being buffeted by criticism.