By Matt Hegarty and Jim Dunleavy
Georganne Hale, a longtime Maryland racing official, is being replaced as director of racing of the Maryland Jockey Club and will take on a new role as vice president of racing development in Maryland, Tim Ritvo, chief operating officer of The Stronach Group, confirmed Monday.
The Stronach Group owns the MJC tracks of Laurel Park and Pimlico.
LOUISVILLE, Ky. – All-sources handle at the Churchill Downs spring meet that ended Saturday was up about 6.6 percent, according to preliminary figures released Monday by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.
Gross handle for the 38-day meet, which began April 28, was reported at more than $448.7 million, with the stipulation from a commission spokesman that the total might be slightly higher when full figures were accounted for.
The gross handle at the 2017 spring meet, which also ran 38 days, was almost $419.2 million.
The Indiana Horse Racing Commission on Wednesday unanimously approved Caesars Entertainment Corp.’s purchase of Indiana Grand Racing and Casino, Hoosier Park Racing and Casino, and several off-track betting parlors from Centaur Gaming LLC.
Centaur, which is based in Indianapolis, has owned Hoosier since purchasing it from Churchill Downs Inc. in 2007, the year casinos located at racetracks - widely known as racinos - became legal in Indiana. Hoosier once hosted Thoroughbred racing but now is strictly a harness track.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – North American racetracks should attempt to improve their reporting of non-fatal racehorse injuries because of the potential benefits of using the data to predict fatal injuries, an epidemiologist who studies the data said on Wednesday at the Welfare and Safety of the Racehorse Summit at Keeneland Racecourse.
Eight individuals have been nominated to fill seven open seats on the Breeders’ Cup board of directors, including four individuals who are already on the board, according to a list of nominees released Tuesday by Breeders’ Cup.
The four nominees who are currently serving terms scheduled to expire this year are Barbara Banke, the owner of Stonestreet Farm; William S. Farish Jr., a top official at his family’s Lane’s End Farm; Dan Pride, chief operating officer of Godolphin; and Elliot Walden, president and chief executive of WinStar Farm.
A lottery game designed to pay off based on live horseracing results has been selected by the Kentucky Lottery Corporation for a test run next year, according to the developer of the game and the lottery.
The game, which is called “Win Place Show,” will be offered at approximately 45 retail locations in Kentucky for a 90-day period beginning March 24 of next year. Players will be able to buy a $2 ticket that includes three random selections in an upcoming race, with tickets paying out based on the order of finish in the race.
A congressional hearing Friday to discuss federal legislation that would nationalize some aspects of racing regulation and ban the race-day use of the anti-bleeding medication furosemide yielded no consensus from either the racing industry or legislators on the bill, underscoring the slim chances for the legislation’s passage anytime soon.
The National Thoroughbred Welfare Organization, founded by prominent owner Rick Porter, announced Wednesday that Delta Downs and Evangeline Downs, the sister tracks in Louisiana operated by Boyd Gaming, have committed funds to assist with the rehoming of horses in Louisiana.
A bill that will allow the New York Racing Association to tap the bonding authority of a state agency passed both houses of the state legislature on Wednesday night and will be sent to Gov. Andrew Cuomo for his signature.
Reps. Paul Tonko and Andy Barr, the co-sponsors of legislation that would appoint a federal overseer for Thoroughbred racing’s drug policies, will provide testimony during a hearing on Friday to discuss the bill, according to the congressional subcommittee that has organized the hearing.