New York racetracks will start using penny breakage for payouts made with betting accounts starting Sept. 1 as the result of language tucked into a massive state budget package signed into law by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul on Friday. 

The language eliminates a handful of calculations that are presently used to determine breakage in New York and instead rounds the payouts to the nearest penny, with a provision that would allow for nickel breakage for on-track wagers. Breaking on-track payouts to the nickel would ease the burden for mutuel tellers on cash transactions. 

Total wagering on Thoroughbred races held at U.S. tracks in April dropped 5.16 percent while the number of races held declined 6.15 percent compared to the same month last year, according to figures distributed by Equibase on Monday.

A coalition of businesses that rely heavily on guest-worker visas used the backdrop of the Kentucky Derby on Thursday to press for the adoption of new immigration rules that would increase the availability of the visas for agricultural and backstretch workers  and set them on a path to citizenship. 

Kimberly Graci, a trainer based at Penn National who has racked up more than 600 wins in her career, has accepted a lifetime ban from racing as part of an agreed order to resolve charges that she violated rules on starting horses within a mandated stand-down time after they had received intra-articular injections of regulated medications. 

Jose Salinas, one of a dozen trainers based at Penn National to be charged with running horses within a required stand-down period after injections of painkillers, has been suspended 60 days after an arbiter rejected testimony that he was not at fault.

Handle figures for the spring meet at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Ky., dropped significantly compared to last year as the havoc caused by torrential rain on the track’s scheduled opening weekend took its toll.

The full Florida House of Representatives passed a bill late on Friday that would allow Gulfstream Park to cease live racing in 2030 while still retaining its casino license, advancing a bill whose ultimate political prospects have weakened considerably.

The House approved the bill on Friday evening by a lopsided vote of 70-34. The bill includes a raft of provisions relating to gambling and its regulation in Florida, in addition to the language allowing Gulfstream Park to decouple its racing and casino licenses as of Oct. 1, 2030.

Officials with the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority said during a streaming town hall-style meeting on Thursday that they are exploring ways to find outside funding for the authority’s programs but dismissed outright the idea of seeking federal dollars because of the current political and financial climate.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Breeder Ivan Dalos, Eclipse champion Ghostzapper, and trainer Mike Doyle are among the 2025 inductees into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame.