Vic Stauffer, the longtime racetrack announcer who has worked as a steward for the California Horse Racing Board since 2011, resigned his CHRB position on Thursday last week, effective immediately, according to Stauffer and CHRB officials.

Representatives of Thoroughbred and harness horsemen’s groups told the Ohio State Racing Commission this week that they would press the commission to adopt separate medication rules for each breed, according to a description of the meeting provided by commission officials.

Seventy-nine years ago, Central Kentucky horseman Hal Price Headley shook hands with Chicago-based concessionaire Joe Wolken, and a partnership for the ages was formed. The mastermind and co-founder of Keeneland Racecourse took a leap of faith that day during the depths of the Great Depression that a small, family-run business called Turf Catering could provide food service worthy of the model track he was building in the heart of Kentucky horse country. “World class” is what Headley was looking for, and world class is what he got.

David Lehr, who replaced his brother Butch as track superintendent at Churchill Downs in 2012, is retiring from that post effective May 31, it was announced Tuesday by the Louisville, Ky., track.

Plans to expand video lottery terminal gaming at a New York racetrack and an off-track betting venue were halted during state budget negotiations, BloodHorse reports.

Among the proposals shot down was a plan to introduce 1,000 VLTs operated by Nassau Off-Track Betting Corp. at Belmont Park. Nassau OTB was approved to open a 1,000-unit facility in 2013, but has struggled to find a base of operations.

Despite a record-shattering Belmont Stakes Day – which out-handled the previous year’s event by more than $60 million – total all-sources handle on the New York Racing Association’s races in 2014 was down $20 million, or 0.9 percent, compared with 2013, according to figures released by NYRA on Friday.

All-sources handle on races conducted in 2014 at NYRA’s three tracks – Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga – was $2,177,979,073, compared with $2,198,393,408 in 2013.

A racing-industry organization that issues recommendations on medication policy has approved a proposal that would set two threshold levels for cobalt, a first step in what is likely to be the widespread adoption of cobalt regulations later this year in racing jurisdictions across the U.S.

The sale of reserved seats for the Saratoga season will be rolled out on three dates beginning Monday, according to the New York Racing Association.

Season seating packages for the full 40-day meet will go on sale March 30 at 10 a.m. Eastern. Weekly seating packages will be available starting April 20. Daily seats will go on sale May 11. The number of weekly and daily seats may be limited as the full-season packages take first priority.

Horses competing in the 11 Grade 1 races that carry purses of $1 million or more at New York Racing Association tracks will be subject to enhanced security measures, it was announced Tuesday afternoon in a joint press release issued by NYRA and the New York Gaming Commission.

There are two sets of similar protocols for the 11 races, three that fall into Group A and eight that are in Group B.

The Delaware Horse Racing Commission has reached a five-year deal with Truesdail Laboratory in California to perform the state’s drug testing, according to the executive director of the commission.

Delaware becomes the second state in the last month to select Truesdail for its drug-testing program, following the Indiana Horse Racing Commission. Both states had opted out of their long-term contracts with the LGC Sciences Lab in Lexington, Ky., late last year after that lab had run into delays in conducting drug tests.