Nearly a dozen representatives of the Florida parimutuel industry, including Eclipse Award-winning trainer Dale Romans, appeared on Wednesday afternoon at a Florida Senate Gaming Committee hearing in Coconut Creek to extol the industry’s economic impact as part of a campaign to vie for influence during an upcoming effort to rewrite the state’s gambling laws.

 Daily Racing Form (DRF) has established a long-term hosting agreement with NTRA to become the “official online qualifying site” for National Handicapping Championship (NHC) qualifying tournaments.  DRF simultaneously established an exclusive, long-term hosting agreement with Breeders’ Cup Limited to conduct online tournaments leading to the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge.    

Penn National Gaming Inc. had net income of $41.3 million in the third quarter of 2013, down 11 percent from the net income the company posted in the third quarter of last year, according to financial statements released by the company Thursday.

The Maryland Racing Commission on Tuesday approved a rule that will void any claim of a horse that dies during a race or is euthanized on the track as a result of an injury, according to the commission’s executive director, J. Mike Hopkins.

Hopkins said that the rule will likely go into effect “within the next four to six weeks, at the very most by the first of the year.”

The rule had been provisionally approved earlier this year with the support of the state’s horsemen.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Ontario’s Liberal government will provide $400 million in public funding for the horse-racing industry over five years in a plan announced Friday morning by the province’s premier, Kathleen Wynne.

Thoroughbred purses for Woodbine – before funds from Ontario’s Thoroughbred Improvement Program are included – would total $56 million for a 133-day meeting, the same money and number of race dates as for the 2013 Woodbine meeting. The $56 million includes government funding as well as purse money from handle at Woodbine.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The winners of the off-the-turf Shadwell Turf Mile and Bourbon Stakes at Keeneland last weekend both will still receive a credit for entry fees into Breeders’ Cup races even though the races automatically lost their Win and You’re In designation after being moved to the main track, Breeders’ Cup officials said Friday.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Racetracks are likely to continue to lower the minimum wager on many bets but are unlikely to put any significant downward pressure on takeout rates, officials of racetracks said on Wednesday during the closing session of the three-day Simulcast Conference in downtown Lexington.

On a year-to-year basis, the number of new owners entering Thoroughbred racing has fallen 22 percent from a decade ago, with some comparing the experience of getting started to being handed a board game without instructions.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Eleven win and exacta bets were made on an unidentified race three weeks ago after the race had already been run, the Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau’s director of wagering analysis disclosed Tuesday during a presentation at the Simulcasting Conference here.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – There is a storm on racing’s horizon. And it doesn’t appear as if the sport is preparing for it.

The storm is a serious contraction in the number of horses of racing age, a decline that has already started. The contraction is expected to accelerate significantly over the next two years because of the dramatic decline in the foal crop from 2009-11, with serious repercussions on the ability of racetracks to card races with full, competitive fields.