Rohit Thukral, who has led Churchill Downs Inc’s online business since 2009, resigned on March 19, effective immediately, according to a filing by Churchill Downs with the SEC.

Thukral was the executive vice president of technology initiatives for Churchill Downs and the president of its twinspires.com account-wagering operation. Twinspires.com is the largest account-wagering operation in the country, when measured by handle.

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – A Hall of Fame jockey, two well-respected veterinarians, and a high ranking official of two industry organizations have been retained by the New York Racing Association to investigate the rash of breakdowns that occurred during Aqueduct’s inner-track meet.

The Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, a group formed by a handful of racing organizations to promote retirement services for racehorses, has posted a survey on its website, www.thoroughbredaftercare.org, and is asking retirement and retraining facilities to complete the form, the group said.

The Ohio Lottery Commission on Monday passed several rules governing slot machines at Ohio racetracks after Gov. John Kasich signed an executive order allowing the rules to go into effect on an expedited basis.

FRANKFORT, Ky. – The Kentucky executive branch ethics commission approved an advisory opinion Monday morning stating that the wife of John T. Ward Jr. can continue to train horses in Kentucky but should not race horses in the state so as to avoid a conflict of interest with her husband, the Kentucky Derby-winning trainer who last month was named executive director of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.

Mark Verge, a Los Angeles entrepreneur and horse owner, has been appointed to a senior position at the Stronach Group, the private company that owns Santa Anita Park and Gulfstream, Verge confirmed Thursday.

Two weeks after a report suggested that the government in Ontario, Canada, reconsider its agreements providing payments to the racing industry from the province's racetrack casinos, approximately 500 horse racing supporters rallied at the provincial capitol building. While the racing supporters chanted, calling for the legislature to protect racing, an armada of trucks pulled empty horse trailers around the racetrack-shaped roadway surrounding the building, a symbolic show of the impact that a clawback could have on the industry.

Both houses of the New York legislature have approved a bill that would provide for up to seven new casinos in the state. Final approval of the bill in the State Senate came on Thursday morning after legislative leaders and Gov. Andrew Cuomo reached a deal late on Wednesday night to push the legislation.

John Ward, the Kentucky Derby-winning trainer who was selected last month as the executive director of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, will appear before the state’s executive branch ethics committee next week to discuss whether the job will pose a conflict of interest with the training operation he co-owns with his wife, according to the Louisville Courier Journal.

The meeting is scheduled for Monday, the Courier-Journal said. Ward will appear voluntarily in front of the panel “so there is a total transparency to this scenario,” Ward told the newspaper.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario – The first dominos in the Ontario racetrack-slots program fell Wednesday morning with the news that slots areas at Fort Erie, Windsor Raceway, and Hiawatha Horse Park would be closed permanently by the end of April.

Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corporation chairman Paul Godfrey and Liberal government finance minister Dwight Duncan announced the casino closings at a press conference at Windsor Raceway.