The Eclipse Awards ceremony will continue to be held at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., through 2016 under a two-year renewal deal the track reached with the ceremony’s organizers, the National Thoroughbred Racing Association announced Wednesday.

The deal makes Gulfstream the host of the ceremony for four consecutive years from 2013-16. The ceremony, which includes the announcement of Horse of the Year, is annually held in late January.

The 2015 ceremony is scheduled for January 17. It will be held in Gulfstream’s Sport of Kings Theater.

A racing medication policy group has recommended that horsemen be able to use the bronchodilator albuterol up to 72 hours prior to a race as an alternative to the more strictly regulated drug clenbuterol, the group, the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium, said after conducting a board meeting Monday.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Lexington’s two racetracks, Keeneland and the Red Mile, have separately applied to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission for licenses to operate Instant Racing machines, the slot machine-like devices already operated by two Thoroughbred tracks in the state, according to officials with knowledge of the applications.

The applications will be discussed at the commission’s April 2 meeting, according to the officials. The filing of the applications was first reported by the Blood-Horse.

Legislators in West Virginia helped to close a budget gap for the next fiscal year by diverting 10 percent of the amount the state’s racing industries receive from slot machines to the state’s general fund.

The two houses of the state legislature approved the move as part of the $22.2 billion 2014-15 state budget passed Friday night. Gov. Earl Ray Tromblin is expected to sign the budget into law.

An in-depth look at purse statistics

A diminishing pool of runners is a double-edged sword for those involved in racing. Racetracks need runners – lots of them – to fill daily cards and generate the handle needed to be successful. From the standpoint of a racehorse owner, however, fewer runners means less competition and a greater chance to win purse money.

The Jockey Club has released the 2014 edition of its industry Fact Book on its website, as well as individual Fact Books for many states and Canadian provinces.

The online Fact Book is a statistical and informational guide to Thoroughbred breeding, racing and auction sales in North America. It also features a directory of state, national and international organizations. Information in the State Fact Books is updated monthly.

The New York Gaming Commission on Wednesday unanimously approved a rule requiring horsemen to notify track personnel within 72 hours of a horse being gelded ontrack, and, following the meeting, the commission said it would require that the individual votes of stewards in cases of disqualifications be made public.

The New York Gaming Commission on Wednesday afternoon will consider a rule requiring horsemen to notify track personnel within 72 hours of gelding a horse if the horse is gelded on-track, according to a listing of agenda items added to the commission’s website.

Ohio’s two northern Thoroughbred tracks will run a coordinated year-round racing schedule with at least 200 live race cards a year beginning in 2015 under a 10-year deal the tracks have reached with the state’s horsemen, the tracks and horsemen’s organization said Monday.

David Skorton, chairman of the New York Racing Association’s Reorganization Board, has been hired to head the Smithsonian Institution beginning in summer 2015, the Smithsonian and Skorton’s current employer, Cornell University in New York, announced Monday.