Ralph Ziadie has started 12 horses at the Gulfstream Park West meet at Calder Race Course in south Florida since the meet opened Oct. 8, an indication that officials at the track have concluded a probe that sought to determine whether his son Kirk, who is banned from the track, has a role in training the horses or is tied to the horses financially.

ARCADIA, Calif. - Trainer Bob Baffert and jockey Martin Garcia, who have teamed to win Grade 1 races such as the Breeders’ Cup Classic, Santa Anita Derby, and Los Alamitos Futurity the last two years, are working together after a break of nearly six months.

Garcia worked horses for Baffert at Santa Anita on Sunday for the first time since April. The two parted ways because of differences in the spring, after having formed a partnership in recent seasons that saw Garcia frequently work and ride Baffert’s leading runners.

The Arkansas Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that a proposed ballot measure asking voters to approve three new casinos in the state should be disqualified, granting a victory to the two racetracks in the state that opposed the proposal.

The court ruled that the language of the ballot measure did not adequately inform voters of the consequences of the approval, and it ordered officials to ignore any votes cast on the measure in the upcoming Nov. 8 election.

The Belmont Futurity, a race for 2-year-old Thoroughbreds at Belmont Park, and the $1 million Yonkers International Trot, a 1 ¼-mile race at Yonkers Raceway for top Standardbreds, will be linked through a daily double this year when they are held Saturday afternoon, the two tracks announced on Wednesday.

The daily double, which will have a minimum of $2 and a 20 percent takeout, is a rare instance in the U.S. of a linked wager comprising races for two different breeds. The pool for the bet will be hosted by Yonkers.

Mick Peterson, an equine biomechanics expert who has played leading roles in recent efforts to assess the safety of racetracks, has been named the director of the University of Kentucky’s Ag Equine Programs, according to the Lexington-based university.

Peterson, a mechanical engineering professor at the University of Maine since 1999, will start in his new position in January, UK said.

The Texas Racing Commission was scheduled to hear a presentation on out-of-competition testing during its Tuesday meeting in Austin. New Mexico Racing Commission representatives Izzy Trejo and Ray Willis were scheduled to speak on the policy, which is in place in New Mexico.

There is no out-of-competition testing in Texas. The commission could form a committee to further study the topic, according to its options on the agenda.

Jockey Dennis Collins, who could be facing permanent paralysis from the waist down following a Sept. 25 spill at the Downs at Albuquerque, was scheduled to be flown to a rehabilitation facility in Phoenix late Friday, according to Heather Brock, his fiancée and a trainer based at Turf Paradise.

Collins, 53, has been at the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque since sustaining an extensive T-4 compression fracture when thrown from a horse he was riding on the final card of the meet. He underwent surgery the next day to stabilize his spine, according to Brock.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Five winners of the inaugural Thoroughbred Industry Employee Awards were announced at a luncheon ceremony at Keeneland Racecourse on Friday.

The winners were:

- James Sebastian, of Claiborne Farm, for the Dedication to Breeding Award;

- Jose "Vinny" Castenada, of Marty Jones Racing Stable, for the Dedication to Racing Award;

- Victor Espinoza, of Brookdale Farm, for the Leadership Award – Farm;

- Melissa Cohen, assistant for trainer Richard Violette’s stable, for the Leadership Award – Racing;

There was a collective sigh of relief heard around south Florida after Hurricane Matthew passed by early Friday morning. A large part of that sigh came from horsemen stabled at Gulfstream Park, Gulfstream Park West, and the area’s two training facilities, Palm Meadows and Palm Beach Downs.

Because of erroneous information forwarded this week by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, a Daily Racing Form article concerning handle at the recently ended September meet at Churchill Downs was incorrect.

All-sources handle for an 11-day meet that ran Sept. 16 to Oct. 2 was actually $37,839,942, an increase of nearly 14 percent over the corresponding 11-day meet in 2015, where $33.2 million was handled. The earlier story incorrectly reported an increase of just 1 percent over last year on 2016 handle of $33,611,462.