SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Frank Gabriel, hired in February to be the racing secretary at Belmont Park and Saratoga, is leaving the New York Racing Association and returning to Dubai, where he had spent the previous nine years as the CEO of the Dubai Racing Club, which operates Meydan Racecourse.

Gabriel confirmed his decision to leave NYRA to Daily Racing Form earlier this week. His last day at NYRA is Thursday, when entries are being taken for the final two cards of the Saratoga meet.

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- A committee of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission on Wednesday tabled a proposal that would allow the state’s tracks to offer races that would only be open to horses that did not receive race day administrations of the anti-bleeding medication furosemide.

Belterra Park, the racetrack-casino that replaced River Downs in Cincinnati, will cut purses by 20 percent beginning Saturday due to lower-than-expected revenue from slot machines at the track, horsemen’s officials said Tuesday.

The purse cuts will go into effect beginning with the track’s next-to-last condition book, approximately two-thirds of the way through the track’s meet. Belterra Park had been distributing approximately $80,000 a day in purses, a number that will be pared to approximately $64,000 daily for the remainder of the meet, through mid-October.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- With one week remaining in the 2014 Saratoga season, all-sources handle is down five percent while on-track handle is up nearly one percent when compared to the same time frame last year.

New York Racing Association officials, including its former chief executive and general counsel, “missed several opportunities” to discover that the association was charging a takeout rate in some superexotic pools that was in excess of the law for a 16-month period in 2010 and 2011, according to a long-delayed report issued by the inspector general of New York on Monday.

Hazel Park Raceway will cut purses by 25 percent beginning Aug. 29, according to an announcement in the track’s Saturday overnights.

The Detroit-area track is in its first season of Thoroughbred racing in three decades after converting from a harness venue earlier this year.

George Kutlenios, president of the Michigan Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association, said the cut was a mutual decision between the horsemen and track management as they wait to see whether purse pool funds will be needed for Northville Downs.

The Association of Racing Commissioners International has approved language in its model rules defining “stacking” of painkillers and providing for new penalties for the practice, the RCI announced Wednesday.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – All-sources handle is down 5.3 percent, while ontrack handle is flat, through the first 28 days of the 2014 Saratoga meet compared with last year.

Arapahoe Park in Aurora, Colo., closed out its 38-date mixed meet Sunday with average daily handle on its live races running about even with last year and attendance up sharply. The track provided the numbers at the request of Daily Racing Form .

Arapahoe handled an average of $150,896 a day on its live races from all sources at this meet, off 1 percent from last year’s $153,181 during a 39-date season. Of the total handle, an average of $93,457 a day was bet offsite, down 5 percent, and an average of $57,439 a day was bet ontrack, up 6 percent.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – As The Jockey Club attempts to build support for the appointment of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency to oversee the sport’s drug-testing programs, it will use the results of a recent study the organization commissioned to make the point that racing’s state-by-state approach to drug testing falls short in many ways.