The Virginia Racing Commission has extended a deadline to Thursday for Colonial Downs and Virginia’s horsemen to come to an agreement on a live race meet this year, according to the executive director of the commission.

The deadline was extended from Monday, when the Virginia Racing Commission had first mandated the two sides reach a deal. Bernie Hettel, the executive director of the commission, said the commission agreed to extend the deadline because the two sides were making progress toward an agreement.

Business figures for the Preakness Stakes on Saturday at Pimlico Race Course were all up compared to last year, with reported attendance at the track a record and handle on the race shooting up 8.3 percent, an indication that this year’s winner, California Chrome, will be heading to the Belmont Stakes as one of the more popular horses in recent history.

The New Jersey Racing Commission on Wednesday approved the publication of rules that would govern the practice of exchange wagering in the state, opening the regulations up to a 60-day public-comment period, according to commission officials.

Frank Zanzuccki, the executive director of the state racing commission, said the rules will be made available for public comment beginning June 16. After the 60-day public-comment period, the commission will be able to pass the rules as initially written or consider amendments to the rules, under standard operating procedures in the state.

Colonial Downs has once again cut off talks with the organization representing trainers in Virginia after the track said the organization rejected a plan that would require it to pay the track for the revenue lost this year due to a shutdown of Thoroughbred simulcasting, the track said late Tuesday.

Colonial broke off the talks six days before a deadline set by the state’s racing commission for the two sides to come to an agreement. Without an agreement by May 19, it’s unlikely that a live Thoroughbred meet will be run in Virginia this year.

The University of Florida’s equine department has issued a warning to horse owners that a compounded drug prepared by a Lexington, Ky., pharmacy to treat equine protozoal myeloencephalitis is a likely factor in the death of two horses and the sickness of six others.

Churchill Downs Inc. has joined a bid by the owners of a harness track and casino in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., to build a freestanding casino just outside of Albany, N.Y., the two companies announced Tuesday.

Kentucky Derby winner California Chrome embodies that sweetest of horse-racing tales: a dream come true. From humble origins, this blaze-faced beauty from the West is proof on four flying hooves that lightning doesn’t care where it strikes and that the dream of finding “the one” is accessible to anyone bold enough to envision it.

In this Triple Crown season come two racing books worth considering, both featuring Cinderella stories to inspire the dreamers among us.

Personnel from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and U.S. Customs confiscated items sent by a Canadian supplier to Weatherford Compounding Pharmacy in Fort Worth, Texas, during a site visit Tuesday, the attorney for the business said Friday.

Florida’s horsemen have agreed to accept less money from a slot-machine operation at Calder Race Course in a proposal that seeks to end head-to-head racing between Calder and its south Florida neighbor, Gulfstream Park, according to officials of the group representing horsemen in the state.

Lloyd Hughes, the first jockey to win the Preakness Stakes three times, and the racehorse Clifford, who won 42 of 62 starts in the 1890s, were announced Friday as inductees into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame by the Hall’s 12-member Historic Review Committee.

Those two will join contemporary inductees Ashado, Curlin, trainer Gary Jones, and jockey Alex Solis as this year’s Hall of Fame class. All will be inducted Aug. 8 at the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., where the Hall of Fame is located.