John Heims, the director of media relations at Monmouth Park, will serve as the racing secretary for the track next year, replacing Mike Anifantis, a top official of the track said on Thursday.

The Oregon Racing Commission is conducting a probe into a race on Monday at Portland Meadows in which more than $9,000 in bets were placed on a 74-1 first-time starter to show, racing officials in the state confirmed this week.

The horse, Seismic Belle, finished last in the seven-horse maiden-claiming race, which was won by the 4-5 favorite. The massive show betting on the horse triggered relatively large payouts on the top three finishers, with the winner paying $6.80 to show, the second-place finisher paying $18.20, and the third-place finisher paying $13.

Churchill Downs Inc. has reached an agreement to sell its mobile-gaming company, Big Fish Games, for nearly $1 billion, three years after acquiring the business, the company announced late on Wednesday.

Churchill will sell Big Fish for $990 million in cash to Aristocrat Technologies, an Australian company. Churchill had purchased Big Fish for $485 million in cash in 2014, but the deal had other riders attached that raised the total price to $885 million.

DEL MAR, Calif. – The success of Del Mar’s fall meeting, which ended Sunday, can best be illustrated by the fact that even without the handle figures from this year’s Breeders’ Cup, the track was still up in terms of average daily handle from a year ago, with the best numbers posted yet for this now 4-year-old season.

It was a meeting to remember, beginning with the first Breeders’ Cup held at this track, and concluding with a series of outstanding stakes races carried over from the days when Hollywood Park had these fall dates. The racing was good and safe, the business robust.

A Pennsylvania state judge has granted stays to three trainers based at Parx racetrack near Philadelphia who had been suspended for failing to comply with subpoenas issued by the state’s racing commission early this month, according to court filings.

Commonwealth Court Judge Anne Covey issued the stays on Wednesday following hearings that morning. The rulings will lift the suspensions until the racing commission issues decisions on appeals filed by the trainers. Those hearings have been scheduled for next Wednesday, according to Alan Pincus, who represents the trainers.

The California Horse Racing Board on Thursday granted conditional approvals to racing applications for upcoming meets at Santa Anita Park in Southern California and Golden Gate Fields in Northern California, with the approvals ostensibly contingent on the tracks reaching agreements with horsemen by the beginning of December.

The same number of Thoroughbred dates will be held in New Jersey in 2018 as this year but the Monmouth Park meet will be extended two days and the all-turf Meadowlands meet will be reduced by two days.

The New Jersey Racing Commission approved the 2018 racing dates Wednesday.

Monmouth will open on Kentucky Derby Day, May 5, a week earlier than this season. The meet will continue through Sept. 9.

Roman Chapa, the Texas journeyman jockey who was suspended for five years in 2015 for using an illegal electrical device on a horse, has been placed on probation for 10 years after pleading guilty to a criminal charge of making a false statement to a state investigator, according to court records.

Hall of Famer and two-time Breeders’ Cup Mile winner Lure died Wednesday morning at his longtime home, Claiborne Farm, due to the infirmities of old age. The son of Danzig was 28.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The New York Racing Association and New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association are starting a program that will make it less expensive for owners and trainers to race at the Aqueduct winter and spring meets from Dec. 6 through March 31.