The betting hub malfunction that led a handful of racetracks to cancel their cards Tuesday was caused by a power outage at the hub in New Jersey, according to an official with the hub’s operator.
Jennifer Conning, a spokeswoman for Sportech, said the company’s Quantum Data Center in Mount Laurel, N.J., lost power Tuesday morning, but the cause of the power loss had not yet been determined.
CHICAGO – The Illinois Racing Board passed two contested agenda items during a marathon January meeting Tuesday, one concerning the assembling of race cards and the other regarding Arlington’s application for stall space at the 2016 meet.
NEW YORK – New York horsemen who repeatedly commit medication violations will be subject to additional penalties under a points system adopted Tuesday by the New York State Gaming Commission.
In line with a national model rule proposed in December 2014 and revised last summer by the Association of Racing Commissioners International, trainers would accrue points based on the class of medication and whether the drug’s intended use is for therapeutic purposes.
A handful of racetracks across the U.S. canceled racing on Tuesday when a national betting hub malfunctioned and the tracks were unable to accept simulcast bets on their races.
Turf Paradise in Phoenix, Sam Houston in Texas, Mahoning Valley in Ohio, and Monticello and Yonkers in New York all canceled wagering on their cards by 3 p.m. when problems with the betting hub could not be quickly resolved. The betting hub is operated by Sportech, previously known as Scientific Games.
Lifelong horseman Ted Bates, who was once general manager of Fasig-Tipton Kentucky, died on Jan. 22 at the age of 92.
Born in Louisville, Ky., Bates graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1952 with a degree in agriculture and went to work at several Lexington, Ky.-area farms. He worked at Coldstream Farm, Elizabeth Arden’s Maine Chance Farm, and Calumet Farm before taking over as general manager of Foxtail Farm in Nicholasville, Ky.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Marc Guilfoil, a longtime official with the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, has been promoted to executive director, the administration of newly elected Gov. Matt Bevin announced on Tuesday.
Guilfoil was most recently the commission’s director of racing, and he has served as the deputy executive director of the commission in the past. Guilfoil, a native of Kentucky, has been with the KHRC since 1988, one year after graduating from the University of Kentucky with a B.S. in agriculture.
Mike Gonzalez, a former jockey agent who until last spring was working on the New York Racing Association circuit, was arrested Monday and faces two criminal charges punishable by as many as five years in prison, according to the Queens County (N.Y.) district attorney’s office.
Moving on comes with the territory at Old Friends Equine Retirement in Georgetown, Ky. Normally, the emptiness comes from a departed member of the farm’s vaunted roster of equines, but this time, the hole in the farm was quite literal.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – John Ward, the Kentucky Derby-winning trainer who has been the executive director of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission since 2012, has left the commission but plans to remain in the racing industry.
Ward said on Monday that he was informed by members of the administration of Gov. Matt Bevin, a Republican with Tea Party ties, that there would “be a change” at the commission. He then worked with the administration to leave the commission in an orderly manner, Ward said, and his last working day was Thursday.
Los Alamitos has canceled its night programs for Quarter Horses and lower-level Thoroughbreds on Feb. 5-6 to conduct maintenance on the lighting system, according to a statement released over the weekend.
The track did not have a program scheduled for Feb. 7 to avoid a conflict with the Super Bowl. The track will race this weekend, from Friday through Sunday, and resume racing on Friday, Feb. 12. That weekend will include the Los Alamitos Winter Derby on Feb. 13 and the Los Alamitos Winter Championship on Feb. 14.