Wonder Gadot was named 2018 Canadian Horse of the Year at the 44th annual Sovereign Awards ceremony at Chateau Le Jardin in Vaughan, Ontario, on Thursday night, beating out Mr Havercamp and Pink Lloyd. The three finalists were revealed right before the winner was announced.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The California Horse Racing Board voted on Thursday for tougher medication rules at all state racetracks for the next 12 months during a meeting in which several animal rights activists called for the racing board to immediately halt racing at Santa Anita following a series of equine fatalities since late December.

Churchill Downs Inc. said Thursday it will build an equine medical center on the backstretch of its flagship track in Louisville and hire an equine medical director to oversee all of its live-racing properties as part of a handful of measures that the company said would “improve safety protocols and procedures” at its tracks.

The Japan Racing Association will offer separate-pool wagering on the Kentucky Derby this year, provided that Master Fencer, a Japanese-bred colt, is entered in the race, officials of Churchill Downs said on Wednesday.

Churchill Downs plans to offer as many as six head-to-head matchups on both the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks cards this year, as well as offer a pick six combining the six Grade 1 races on both cards, officials said on Tuesday.

Maximus Mischief, winner of the Remsen Stakes last fall, has been retired, trainer Butch Reid said Tuesday.

Maximus Mischief won his first three starts, then suffered his lone defeat when third in the Grade 2 Holy Bull Stakes, his only start at age 3, on Feb. 2 at Gulfstream Park. He was taken out of training after that race with what was described as a soft-tissue injury.

"We didn't feel he would come back at the level he deserves to be at, so we're going to give him a chance to make babies," said Reid, who trained Maximus Mischief for Cash Is King LLC and LC Racing.

An official for The Stronach Group said on Monday afternoon that the company still plans to hold the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore next year despite the closure of the north end of the track’s grandstand due to “the deterioration and degradation of the building.”

Roughly half of the grandstand at Pimlico Race Course has been deemed structurally unsound by an engineer hired by the track’s owner, necessitating the closure of the area just one month before the Preakness Stakes, the track’s signature race, is scheduled to be run.

Steve Davidowitz, whose “Betting Thoroughbreds” is considered one of the most influential handicapping books ever written, has died, his son, Brad, said Sunday.

Davidowitz, 77, was found at his apartment in Summerlin, Nev., a suburb of Las Vegas where he most recently lived.

Europe’s most prestigious race, the Group 1 Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe, has been added to the roster of races that guarantee the winner an all-expenses paid spot in the Breeders’ Cup, the organization announced on Thursday.