Michael Anifantis has been named the new director of racing at Monmouth Park. He will replace longtime department head Mike Dempsey, who announced this week that he would be retiring at the end of the year.
Anifantis, whose first job in racing was as a claims clerk at Monmouth in the 1970s, was the track’s assistant racing secretary this year. He currently is the racing secretary at Hialeah Park.
A move to create new rules to prevent racehorses in Illinois from being sold for slaughter was voted down and tabled until at least next month during a meeting of the Illinois Racing Board on Tuesday, prompting Kathy Byrne, the commissioner who has pushed for enhanced anti-slaughter regulation and submitted the item on the Tuesday agenda, to withdraw the proposal and hastily leave the meeting, saying she was resigning her post.
A long-awaited New York State Gaming Commission report examining allegations made by an animal-rights group against trainer Steve Asmussen will be released to the public on Monday after being presented to the full commission at a regular meeting, officials for the commission said on Wednesday.
All-sources wagering at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Ky., on Oct. 30-31, when 13 Breeders’ Cup races were held at the track over two days, was $155.5 million, a slight decline from all-sources wagering at Santa Anita over the two-day event last year, according to final handle figures distributed by Breeders’ Cup on Tuesday.
The Virginia Racing Commission on Tuesday rejected an application by Colonial Downs in New Kent for a four-day race meet next year, opening the door for a horsemen’s group to play a larger role in racing in the state, according to the commission’s executive director.
Mike Dempsey, the longtime director of racing at Monmouth Park, will retire at the end of the year, according to a release put out by the track Tuesday.
Dempsey, 60, went to work as a claims clerk at Monmouth in 1979 after graduating from the University of Arizona Racetrack Industry Program. He is a native of Monmouth County, N.J.
A large wager that was canceled just minutes before the first race on Saturday at Del Mar prompted an investigation by officials from the racetrack, the California Horse Racing Board, and TVG, through which the wager was placed and then canceled.
CHELTENHAM, England - The Iroquois Steeplechase in Tennessee and Cheltenham Racecourse in western England are launching a $500,000 bonus for a horse that can win the Ladbrokes World Hurdle at Cheltenham and the Calvin Houghland Iroquois Hurdle.
The series will start in the spring with the World Hurdle at Cheltenham on March 17. The winner of that race will be eligible for the bonus if successful in the Iroquois Hurdle on May 16. Both races are Grade 1 events at three miles.
LEXINGTON, Ky. – A Fayette County Circuit Court judge on Friday granted a motion by Keeneland and the Breeders’ Cup to be dismissed from a lawsuit that sought to prevent the organizations from distributing the purse of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint because of a dispute between the owner and trainer of the winning horse, Runhappy, according to the attorney representing the trainer.
