The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission on Tuesday unanimously approved a schedule of racing dates for next year that looks nearly identical to the schedule for the past two years.

This is the second year in the row in which there has been no public discord over the dates assignments, following several years of wrangling between Churchill Downs, Kentucky Downs, and tangentially, Keeneland, over dates in September. The sides smoothed over their differences last year just prior to submitting their 2017 applications.

The sale of Ruidoso Downs closed Thursday, according to an announcement from the New Mexico track on Friday. The transaction includes the purchase of an onsite casino and the Ruidoso Horse Sale Co.

The new ownership group is comprised of Stan Sigman, John Andreini, Narciso Flores, and Johnny Trotter. The men are all breeders and owners, and they purchased the track from R.D. Hubbard. Hubbard, 82, purchased Ruidoso in a partnership in 1988 but later became its sole owner. He is a longtime breeder and owner and plans to continue to race at Ruidoso. 

Trainer Jimmy Iselin is to begin serving a 30-day suspension Wednesday following a denial of his appeal by the New York Gaming Commission of a medication positive from 2016.

Rahy’s Bandit, who won the fourth race at Belmont Park on June 12, 2016, was found to have the muscle relaxant methocarbamol, commonly known as Robaxin, in her system. Rahy’s Bandit was disqualified from first-place in the $16,000-claiming event, the first-place purse of $16,800 was forfeited, and she was ordered unplaced in the order of finish.

Last week, new tax rules went into effect allowing horseplayers to treat the entire amount wagered in a pool for the purposes of determining tax liability, dramatically limiting the number of payouts that will now qualify for automatic tax reporting and withholding. The revisions, which were approved by the IRS and Treasury after a lobbying campaign spearheaded by the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, had long been advocated by horseplayers, including Steven Crist, the former publisher of the Daily Racing Form who retired last year.

Robert Kulina, the longtime racing executive who has spent nearly the entirety of his professional career at Monmouth Park in New Jersey, will retire at the end of this year, Kulina said on Friday.

Wagering on U.S. races in the third quarter of 2017, when marquee meets were held at Saratoga Racecourse and Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, was up 3.7 percent even though the number of races held nationwide fell 2.1 percent, according to figures distributed by Equibase on Wednesday.

The quarterly figures for handle showed decent growth for the first time this year, after a slight decline in the first quarter and a slight increase in the second quarter. Year-to-date, handle on U.S. races is up 1.4 percent, according to Equibase, with the number of races down 1.6 percent.

An international racing consortium has approved a model rule that calls for stewards to determine whether a horse’s finish position was compromised when determining the order of finish in the event of interference by another horse.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – All-sources handle at the 11-day September meet at Churchill Downs, which began Sept. 15 and closed Sunday, was up 2.4 percent over the comparable 2016 meet, according to figures released Monday by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.

Gross handle was nearly $38.75 million, for a per-day average of $3,522,492 at the meet, up marginally over the 11-day meet in 2016. Handle at the 2016 meet was up nearly 14 percent over 2015.

Churchill Downs Inc. does not release handle and attendance for its tracks except for major dates.

While current Thoroughbred racing stars contest the stakes-rich opening weekend at Keeneland hoping to move on to the Breeders’ Cup, several hundred retired racehorses will be vying for their own rich prize nearby at the Kentucky Horse Park.

A plane carrying feed and veterinary supplies intended for horses at the heavily damaged Camarero Race Track in Puerto Rico landed on the island’s main airport in San Juan this morning, according to the organizers of the shipment.

The plane was carrying nearly 20 tons of hay, medicine, veterinary supplies, and two satellite phones to assist in the efforts to transport the supplies to Camarero, which was heavily damaged by Hurricane Maria nearly two weeks ago. There are approximately 800 horses at the racetrack, and officials have said that the horses are facing dire conditions.