As foal crops continue to decline in the United States, a handful of tracks are invigorating or implementing policies that reward trainers and owners for starting horses in races, sometimes regardless of where the horse finishes, introducing subtle concerns about the impact of the policies on other tracks and the safety of horses and riders.

Kirk Breed, the executive director of the California Horse Racing Board since 2008, died on Wednesday after a two-year illness with cancer, the racing board announced.

Breed was 73 and had spent much of his adult life involved in horse racing, primarily in a management or regulatory role in California. A lifelong cowboy, Breed was most comfortable around horses, and spent vacations on weeklong trail rides through the western U.S.

“I have owned at least one horse my entire life,” he said in a statement released by the racing board in 2008.

Calvin Borel’s induction into the Racing Hall of Fame will be one of the highlights of the ceremony, especially to those who have followed his rise from the bush tracks of his native Louisiana to the heights of the sport. The 46-year-old jockey has long been regarded as one of the best riders on the Midwest circuit, but over the past 10 years, Borel has excelled on the national stage, posting three Kentucky Derby wins and receiving accolades for his work aboard 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra.

The globe-trotting Invasor proved that attitude might indeed be everything.

“Just total class,” said Rick Nichols, vice president and general manager of Shadwell Farm, when reflecting upon Invasor’s career. “He was just such an easy horse to do anything with. When we flew him to Dubai, he took everything in stride. He went on the plane, took a bite of hay, and fell asleep. That’s what it takes for a horse to fly around the world and compete – they’ve got to have a great attitude about life.”

Lure is one of a handful of horses elected to the Racing Hall of Fame who was not a divisional champion during his days on the racetrack. He joins the extraordinary company of such horses as Alydar, Exceller, Majestic Prince, Bold ’n Determined, and Gun Bow who fall into that category.

Forty-one years after his final race, Tuscalee is no longer with us, but he’s still steeplechasing’s all-time leader by wins with 37. His best season came in 1966, when he set a single-season record with 10 jumping victories from 13 starts, and the Thoroughbred Racing Associations named him the year’s champion steeplechaser.

One could easily argue that McDynamo was the best steeplechaser of the millennium’s first decade, and the numbers would back it up.

After two modest seasons on the flat, the son of Dynaformer was switched to the jumps in late 2001 by owner and trainer Michael Moran.

McDynamo competed in one steeplechase race that year, winning a maiden special weight race at Far Hills in New Jersey. That effort came under the supervision of new jumps trainer and former jockey Sanna Neilson Hendriks, as Moran set his charge on a new career path. In hindsight, he created a monster.

Housebuster was one of the best sprinters of his time, and he validated that by garnering back-to-back honors as champion male sprinter of 1990 and 1991. An oddity, though, is that he was able to earn the title both years without the benefit of winning the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

Bill Farish Jr. was elected the chairman of the Breeders’ Cup board of directors at a meeting of the board Wednesday, according to the organization, replacing Tom Ludt, who resigned earlier this year.

It’s the second go-around for Farish as the head of the Breeders’ Cup board. Farish also was chairman from 2006-11. He will serve a two-year term, the Breeders’ Cup said.

The California Office of Administrative law has approved rules allowing exchange wagering, but it could be months before the controversial form of betting is implemented, if at all.

Earlier this year, the Office of Administrative Law rejected a proposed set of rules governing exchange wagering, forcing the California Horse Racing Board to rewrite 25 rules. At the time, the Office of Administrative Law faulted the proposed rules for “failure to comply with the specified standards of necessity, consistency and clarify.”