The backstretch of Parx Racing in Bensalem, Pa., was placed under quarantine Friday afternoon after a horse stabled there became ill. During the quarantine, horses will be allowed to ship to Parx, but no horses will be allowed to leave the grounds.

A horse trained by Ramon Martin spiked a fever on Tuesday and was sent to the Mid-Atlantic Equine Center in Ringoes, N.J. According to Rodney Belgrave, the center's director of internal medicine, the horse was tested with a nasal swab and was determined to have the non-neurological strain of the equine herpesvirus.

The New York Racing Association, Maryland Jockey Club, and Charles Town Race Track on Friday morning placed a ban on horses shipping in from Parx Racing after a horse stabled there became ill this week.

Aqueduct scratched horses on its Friday card trained by Parx-based horsemen Carlos Guerrero, Michael Moore, Uriah St. Lewis, and Harold Wyner. Laurel scratched a horse trained by Joseph Taylor.

As of Friday morning, Penn National Race Course had not placed any restrictions on horses shipping to or from Parx, according to Eric Johnston, the track's director of racing.

Jill Byrne, the veteran racing broadcaster and racing executive, has been hired by Colonial Downs in New Kent, Va., as vice president of racing, according to the track.

Byrne, who has spent the last two years as senior director of industry relations for Breeders’ Cup Ltd., will be responsible for industry relations, simulcasting operations at Colonial’s off-track betting locations, live racing operations at the track, and marketing duties to horsemen and bettors, Colonial said.

Churchill Downs officials announced Thursday in conjunction with the release of its 2019 spring stakes schedule that the purse for the Kentucky Derby has been increased to $3 million, the first raise for America’s most prestigious race in 14 years.

Kentucky Downs has filed a lawsuit contesting the decision by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission to award a license to a partnership between Churchill Downs and Keeneland for a harness track and casino in Oak Grove, Ky., near the Tennessee border.

It was a Grade 1 kind of year for jockey Jose Ortiz in 2018.

He won 10 such races aboard 10 different horses, with perhaps the most memorable victory coming on Dec. 1.

That’s when Patternrecognition won the Cigar Mile at Aqueduct. It’s a race Ortiz will never forget. It came just hours after his wife, Taylor, gave birth to the couple’s son, Derek.

“My head is spinning around,” Ortiz told Daily Racing Form’s David Grening in the winner’s circle.

Apprentice jockey Reylu Gutierrez took a somewhat unconventional path to the starting gate despite the fact that he is a son of a trainer. Gutierrez secured a college degree before he pursued a career in the saddle.

The approach proved effective.

Gutierrez is a finalist for the Eclipse Award for outstanding apprentice of 2018 after a year in which he won 109 races and had mount earnings of $3,360,314. His wins and earnings ranked second among all apprentices in 2018.

If Roy H is named champion male sprinter for the second year in a row, he will become only the second horse to top the division twice since the Eclipse Awards were established in 1971. Housebuster was voted North America’s best sprinter in 1990 and 1991.

Just as in 2017, Roy H concluded his season by winning the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. He seized control of the Churchill Downs race in upper stretch and quickly opened up, cruising home comfortably to score by 3 1/4 lengths while giving rider Paco Lopez his first Breeders’ Cup victory.

Hampered by Mother Nature but helped by Justify’s Triple Crown bid, the New York Racing Association showed a 3.6 percent decline in all-sources handle in 2018 compared to the previous year.

According to figures released Friday by NYRA, all-sources handle for 219 days of racing in 2018 was $2,113,408,494, down $78.3 million from the 2017 figure of $2,191,731,339. There were 225 cards of racing in 2017. NYRA operates racing at Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga.

Average daily handle on NYRA races in 2018 was $9,650,267 compared to $9,741,028 in 2017, down just under 1 percent.