Terry Wallace, who was the track announcer for Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., for 37 years, died Thursday after a lengthy illness, according to a press release from the track. Wallace had retired from his post in 2011. 

Wallace was 74. 

Two-time Eclipse Award winner Julien Leparoux and accomplished veteran riders Joe Bravo, Kerwin Clark, John Davila Jr., and Scott Stevens are the finalists for the prestigious George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, it was announced on Thursday by Santa Anita, which has presented the award annually since 1950.

TUCSON, Ariz. – One of the topics being discussed among racing officials over the past two days outside the conference rooms at the University of Arizona Symposium on Racing and Gaming is whether the recent popular vote in Florida to ban dog racing could happen to horse racing in one or more states soon.

And many of those racing officials are now acknowledging openly that they are increasingly anxious that it could.

TUCSON, Ariz. – Sports wagering is expected to gain a foothold in a number of U.S. jurisdictions over the next year, according to speakers on Wednesday morning panels at the University of Arizona Symposium on Racing, but it’s still an open question as to whether racing will benefit from the expansion, at least overall, panelists said.

TUCSON, Ariz. - What do a dog, a ratio, and a randomly generated test have in common?

They are all tools developed recently by racing regulators to address integrity concerns at racetracks, according to panelists appearing on Tuesday afternoon at the annual Symposium on Racing.

TUCSON, Ariz. - The anticipated expansion of sports wagering in the U.S. over the next several years will present significant integrity challenges to sports leagues, and, by extension, racing, as the activity migrates to more complex forms of betting and draws more attention, the keynote speaker at the University of Arizona Symposium on Racing said on Tuesday morning at the conference’s opening session.

David Heerensperger, who won multiple Grade 1 races but is probably best known for owning the star-crossed Hawksley Hill, died on Sunday in his native Washington. He was 82.

Hawksley Hill – whom Heerensperger owned with wife at the time, Jill -- was involved in one of the most famous races in Breeders’ Cup history. He had the lead in deep stretch in the 1998 Mile on turf at Churchill Downs, only to have Da Hoss re-rally and prevail by a head, giving Da Hoss – who was racing for only the second time in two years – his second win in the race.

TUCSON, Ariz. – The most prominent topic at the Race Track Industry Program’s annual racing symposium this year is not a racing one. It’s sports betting.

Beginning Tuesday, racing officials from around the world will gather in Tucson for the RTIP’s Symposium on Racing and Gaming for two days of discussions over topics deemed to be worthy of discussion. In addition to welfare and integrity and marketing and simulcasting, the topics that perennially populate the agenda, three panels scheduled for the two days will address sports betting, more than any other topic.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – There was a sense of relief along with that of accomplishment for John Velazquez Friday as he became the 18th jockey to ride 6,000 winners in North America. He accomplished the feat when he rode Singapore Trader to victory in Aqueduct’s fifth race.

Appropriately enough, the milestone came aboard a horse trained by Todd Pletcher, for whom Velazquez has ridden 1,750 winners in his career.

“I guess it was meant to be,” said Velazquez, who noted that his 5,000th winner also came for Pletcher on Galloping Giraffe at Belmont Park on June 14, 2013.

Golden Gate Fields received provisional approval from the California Horse Racing Board on Thursday to run its winter-spring meeting beginning on Dec. 26 after reaching an agreement with the Thoroughbred Owners of California on simulcast signals for races imported from outside of the state.

The racing board met at Del Mar on Thursday and heard testimony from officials of the parent company of Golden Gate Fields – The Stronach Group – and the TOC, the state’s official representative of Thoroughbred horsemen in California.