SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – A law set to go into effect Jan. 1 in New York will require out-of-state account-wagering operators to pay a 5-cent fee for every dollar wagered through their operations by a New York resident, with the brunt of those fees going to their New York competitors.

DEL MAR, Calif. – Betfair Hollywood Park, which ceases live racing permanently in December, will remain open as an auxiliary training location for at least a month into 2014, according to discussions at Thursday’s California Horse Racing Board meeting.

Hollywood Park officials told industry executives at a meeting on Wednesday that its backstretch will be available through January 2014, and possibly longer “depending on what happens with their commercial venture,” David Israel, the CHRB chairman, said at the racing board’s meeting.

The Massachusetts Racing Commission voted Thursday to approve the posting for public comment of a set of uniform medication rules and new penalty guidelines that have been endorsed by eight states, the commission announced.

The approval is the first step in the formal rule-making process under Massachusetts regulations. The rules will be posted for a 30-day public-comment period Sept. 6, the commission said.  A public hearing has been scheduled for Oct. 9 to discuss the response to the rules.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – Sandra Meyrick, an experienced lawyer, adjudicator and community volunteer, has been appointed to the Ontario Racing Commission for a two-year term effective Aug. 7.

Rod Seiling, chair of the ORC, announced Meyrick’s appointment in a news release on Tuesday.

“Throughout my career I’ve had a passion for the law and justice,” said Meyrick, who was called to the Ontario bar in 1990. “I am honored to apply my administrative tribunal experience to serve the horse racing community in Ontario.”

The Jockey Club has elected four new members, including Bill Thomason, who was elevated to chief executive officer of the Keeneland Association in 2012.

Thomason was the financial and administrative manager at Mill Ridge Farm in central Kentucky for 28 years before being hired by Keeneland as its chief financial officer in 2010. He is a board member of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, the Thoroughbred Racing Associations, the Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau, and the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Horses entered in Saturday’s Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga will be required to be on the grounds of the track Wednesday and will be subject to additional scrutiny and security protocols, New York’s racing regulators and Saratoga’s operator, the New York Racing Association, announced Monday.

The Michigan Sire Stakes, the Great Lakes State’s premier day of racing, will be held Sunday, Sept. 22 at Mount Pleasant Meadows.

The six-division series is open to Michigan-sired horses, foaled in any state, that were nominated and remain eligible for the Sire Stakes program. Each race will feature an estimated purse of $50,000.

Each division will be separated by males and females, with the two juvenile races contested at 5 furlongs. The 3-year-old races are carded for 6 furlongs, while the divisions for older horses will be run at 1 1/16 miles.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Some racing officials involved with the effort to gain approval for uniform medication rules in U.S. racing jurisdictions reacted with frustration at the portrayal of the sport and its ongoing reform efforts during the Jockey Club’s Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing on Sunday.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The Jockey Club will push for federal regulation of horse racing if the vast majority of racing states do not adopt a set of uniform medication rules that has already been endorsed by a handful of major racing organizations, the chairman of The Jockey Club said Sunday at the close of the Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – The Jockey Club will continue to press the argument that the future of the U.S. racing industry depends on the sport’s willingness to toughen its medication policies, a position that will be defended on several fronts Sunday morning during the organization’s Round Table Conference on Matters Pertaining to Racing.