LEXINGTON, Ky. - A pair of six-figure colts topped Saturday's session at the Keeneland September yearling sale, one day after the auction endured its most severe declines so far this year.
Saturday's session sold 235 yearlings for $2,587,200, down 24 percent. The $11,009 average was down 20 percent from last year's equivalent session, and the $5,500 median fell 39 percent. Buybacks increased slightly from 25 percent last season to 27 percent.
Alan Marzelli, the longtime official who guided The Jockey Club through several decades of expansion into for-profit territories, will retire at the end of this year, the company announced on Friday.
Marzelli will be succeeded by Jim Gagliano, who has been The Jockey Club's executive vice president and chief administrative officer since 2005.
LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Keeneland September yearling sale ended its harrowing first week Thursday night with losses across the board. The nosedive was no less painful for being expected by consignors, and chances of a rebound appeared slim to consignors showing horses for week two's sessions.
The board of directors of Breeders' Cup Ltd. will be asked to approve a strategic plan that addresses the organization's direction for the next five to 10 years by the end of the second quarter of 2010, the organization announced Friday.
If the plan is approved by the end of June next year, Breeders' Cup will seek to implement the plan at the start of 2011, the organization said. Breeders' Cup officials have been working on the plan for the past several months in order to address significant changes inside and outside the organization that have altered its finances and mission.
Magna Entertainment Corp., the bankrupt racetrack owner, has withdrawn Santa Anita Park, Lone Star Park, and a handful of other assets from an auction scheduled for Tuesday, according to documents the company filed in U.S. bankruptcy court.
Wagering on U.S. races declined 12.5 percent in August compared to the same month a year earlier, according to statistics released on Friday by Equibase, the racing industry's data-collection company.
Total wagering on U.S. races during the month was $1.22 billion, a $172 million decline from betting of $1.39 billion in August last year. U.S. race days, however, were down 8 percent in August compared to last year, from 709 to 650, in part because of a drastic cutback at Ellis Park in Kentucky and a decision to hold five days of racing a week rather than six at Del Mar this year.
New York Gov. David Paterson signed an executive order Tuesday that will allow the New York City Off-Track Betting Corp. to file for bankruptcy, perhaps within the next 60 days, the governor's office announced.
In signing the executive order, Paterson said that he asked New York City OTB's chairman, Sandy Frucher, and the company's board of directors to prepare a restructuring plan within the next two months after concluding that "NYCOTB requires major restructuring to regain solvency," according to statement from Paterson's office.
A compact signed on Monday between Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and the state's Seminole Indian tribe has Florida's Thoroughbred industry deliberating whether to support the agreement in the state legislature, racing officials said Tuesday.
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Sophisticated computer programs that often send huge, payoff-changing wagers only seconds before the close of betting are now accounting for approximately 10 percent of the national wagering handle, according to estimates provided by racing officials who monitor the activity of the programs.