Either one of Curlin’s two seasons on the racetrack – as the champion 3-year-old and Horse of the Year in 2007 or as the champion older male and Horse of the Year in 2008 – would have made him a candidate for enshrinement in racing’s Hall of Fame. Taken together, they make him one of the institution’s most accomplished members.

“What is your occupation, Colonel?”

“I’m a speculator, racehorse breeder, and gambler.”

“What do you gamble in?”

“Almost anything.”

– E.R. Bradley, questioned by Senator Huey Long, before a 1934 Senate committee investigating gambling

Throughout a 21-race career, Ashado excelled at the highest levels, winning 11 graded stakes and two divisional Eclipse Awards. Those feats earned her a place in the 2014 class inducted into the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame.

Owned by a Starlight Racing partnership headed by Louisville, Ky., businessman Jack Wolf, Ashado becomes the first horse trained by future Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

“What an honor it is for a horse,” Wolf said. “She really does deserve it.”

Buoyed by a successful Belmont Stakes Day card, all-sources handle was up 4 percent, while ontrack handle was up 8 percent, at the Belmont Park spring/summer meet, according to figures released Monday by the New York Racing Association.

All-sources handle on Belmont’s races for the 54-day meet was $592 million, up from the $569.6 million in 2013, when 56 cards were run. Ontrack handle was $84,626,885, compared with $78,472,865 in 2013.

Attendance at Belmont Park for the spring/summer meet was 302,512, up 7 percent from 282,488 in 2013.

Wagering on U.S. races was down 3.5 percent in July compared with the same month last year, according to figures released Monday by Equibase, as racetracks continued to cut both the number of racing dates and races from their schedules.

Colorado residents will vote on whether to allow slot machines at Arapahoe Park in Aurora after a citizen-led initiative on gaming was recently approved for the ballot by Colorado Secretary of State Scott Gessler. 

Churchill Downs Inc. had net income of $57.3 million in the second quarter of 2014 on record quarterly revenue of $303.7 million, according to financial statements released Wednesday.

All of Churchill’s major business segments experienced growth in the quarter, with racing revenue from its four tracks up slightly, by 1 percent; revenue from its casinos up 23 percent; and revenues from the company’s mostly racing-related online business up 9 percent, according to the statements.

Dr. Robert O’Neil, an equine veterinarian who has served on Florida’s Board of Veterinary Medicine since 1993, has been hired by the Stronach Group as its first equine health and safety director, a position announced earlier this year as part of a broad initiative to reform medication and equine-health policies at the company’s tracks.

A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit lodged last year by the banned trainer Richard Dutrow against New York regulators and the Association of Racing Commissioners International, contending that Dutrow did not have cause to argue his case in a matter that had already been decided by state courts.

Churchill Downs Inc. has reached an agreement allowing the company to buy a 25 percent stake in the parent company of Saratoga Casino and Raceway, the companies announced Wednesday.

The agreement, which is subject to regulatory approval, further strengthens a partnership between the two companies, which have already joined together on a bid for one of four casino licenses that New York plans to issue later this year. The bid is seeking a casino in East Greenbush near Albany, and it is one of 17 proposals for the four available licenses.