If all goes according to plan, Magna Entertainment, the country's largest racetrack operator founded by Frank Stronach, will disappear later this year.

The demise of Magna Entertainment underlines the stark problems facing the racing industry. For the most part, racetracks cannot pay their bills by relying on racing alone and need subsidies from slot machines and entertainment to survive. Magna Entertainment, with its sprawling collection of racetracks and related corporate assets, was unable to reverse the trend.

An auction of Magna Entertainment's two Maryland racetracks, Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course, has been pushed back from Jan. 21 to Feb. 10, according to bankruptcy court filings.

Magna Entertainment requested the change in date, but the company's attorneys did not state a reason in the filings. The auction had already been postponed once, from Jan. 8 to Jan. 21.

Magna officials did not immediately return phone calls on Monday morning.

The New York Racing Association suffered a 10.24 percent decline in total handle on its races in 2009, slightly above the 9.88 percent drop in total handle industry-wide for the year.

Total handle on races at NYRA's three tracks - Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga - was about $2.2 billion on 250 cards of racing, compared with just below $2.5 billion on 249 cards conducted in 2008. Ontrack handle on NYRA races in 2009 was $249,789,824, a 9 percent decline from the $274,646,554 wagered in 2008.

The New York Racing Association has agreed to comply with a subpoena issued by the New York State Comptroller seeking the association's financial documents, the comptroller's office announced on Wednesday.

NYRA's decision is a political victory for the comptroller, Thomas P. Napoli, who issued the subpoena late last year after NYRA's chief executive, Charles Hayward, was quoted in various reports claiming that NYRA would need additional money from the state by early summer in order to keep operating its racetracks.

MI Developments, the parent company and largest creditor of the bankrupt racetrack company Magna Entertainment Corp., will take possession of Santa Anita Park, Gulfstream Park, Golden Gate Fields, and Magna's account-wagering company, XpressBet, after an agreement was reached with Magna's creditors' committee, several officials involved in the bankruptcy said on Monday.

Standardbred interests in New York have won a temporary restraining order against the New York State Racing and Wagering Board that will prevent the board from implementing a new out-of-competition testing program until a judge can hear arguments for and against the new policy.

Simulcast sites in seven states from Virginia to New England have been unable to offer wagering on Gulfstream Park, Santa Anita Park, and Fair Grounds because of a two-month impasse about the rate the sites should pay for the signals, a dispute that highlights a decline in the importance of bricks-and-mortar wagering sites in the age of the Internet.

NBC Sports will receive the Eclipse Award for National Television Feature for a short documentary appearing at the beginning of its May 16 Preakness Stakes broadcast focusing on Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird, it was announced Thursday. In addition, ESPN Radio has been named the recipient of the Eclipse Award for Audio/Multi-Media Internet for its live Kentucky Derby broadcast.

Handle on U.S. Thoroughbred races in 2009 plunged 9.9 percent compared to 2008, sending handle to its lowest level since 1996, according to Equibase, as the recession and myriad internal problems continued to hammer away at the U.S. racing industry's declining market share.

Betting on U.S. races, including wagers made in foreign countries, was $12.3 billion in 2009, down from $13.7 billion in 2008. Handle has declined 16.3 percent since 2007, when wagering on U.S. races was $14.7 billion.

Objections filed to OTB bankruptcy

By Matt Hegarty

The New York Racing Association and the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Associations are seeking to dismiss a bankruptcy petition by New York City Off-Track Betting Corporation, according to objections the two groups have filed with the bankruptcy court.