The organization that assigns grades to U.S. stakes races has decided that the time is right to begin reducing the number of graded races in the U.S., citing the sharp decline in the foal crop from 2007-12 and a comparable decline in the number of races held in recent years.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – All-sources handle on racing at the New York Racing Association tracks was up 5.6 percent through the first six months of 2016 when compared with 2015. The catastrophic injury rate is down over that same time period. And the first third of the Saratoga meet is doing well.

A newly established crowd-funding group has begun soliciting interest from potential investors in a bid to buy a slot in the $12 million Pegasus World Cup, the owner-funded race scheduled for Jan. 28 at Gulfstream Park in Florida.

The company, led by former Thoroughbred owner Jim McDonald, launched a site Tuesday that allows potential investors to indicate how much they might consider contributing to the effort, from a minimum of $250 to a maximum of $10,000.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A panel at a law conference discussing the current state of the New York Racing Association franchise ended with a former official of the administration of Gov. Andrew Cuomo sharply criticizing his former boss’s policies toward the franchise.

The Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission has adopted regulations that will allow the commission to levy additional penalties against licensees who have racked up multiple violations of medication rules over a specified period of time.

The U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday ruled that a New Jersey law seeking the legalization of sports betting violates a 1992 federal prohibition of the practice, the third time the state’s effort has been blocked by a court.

The appeals court upheld a lower court ruling that the state’s most recent law, passed in 2014, violated the 1992 Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act, a federal law that prohibits sports betting except in Nevada and in limited circumstances in three other states.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Racing officials continued to clash on the need for federal legislation that would seek to nationalize the sport’s medication policies during a panel Tuesday morning at a conference in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., underlining the persistence of an issue that has polarized large racing constituencies for several years.

With one fewer week of racing and the lack of a Triple Crown opportunity at the Belmont Stakes, all-sources handle was predictably down at the 2016 Belmont spring-summer meet.

All-sources handle was $620,612,113, down 4.1 percent from the 2015 figure of $647,740,050. Ontrack handle was $82,620,672, down 6.4 percent from the 2015 figure of $88,293,037.

Doug Reed, who recently retired as the head of the University of Arizona’s Race Track Industry Program, will work full time on a consulting practice he began last summer, Reed announced on Monday.

The consulting company, called Racing, Gaming and Entertainment, was started by Reed in July of last year. Reed announced his retirement from the RTIP last winter, and he formally stepped down in June after 22 years with the program. He remains a director emeritus of the RTIP.

Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico was forced to cancel Saturday’s card after a storm of heavy rain and hail hit before the first race. The track had two stakes on the program, and it has not been determined whether those stakes will be rescheduled, according to a release from Ruidoso.

The stakes were the $50,000 Aspen Cup for 3-year-old fillies at six furlongs, and the Grade 3, $50,000 Mr Jet Moore Handicap for Quarter Horses.