Greg Rayburn, a senior managing director of the corporate-restructuring consulting company FTI Palladium, has been named interim chief executive officer of the bankrupt racetrack operator Magna Entertainment Corp., Magna announced late on Tuesday night.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission on Tuesday approved a request by Ellis Park to run a 23-day meet in 2009, down sharply from the track's earlier request to run 48 days during the late-summer months.

Wagering on Thoroughbred races in the United States continued to plummet in March compared with the same month last year, falling 13.9 percent, according to figures released by Equibase on Friday.

Wagering dropped from $1.24 billion in March last year to $1.06 billion in March this year, according to the figures. The declines come on top of an 11.6 percent drop in February and a 1.6 percent drop in January, a month in which the handle figures were buoyed by an 8 percent increase in race days.

A second suitor for the Maryland tracks owned by the bankrupt racetrack operator Magna Entertainment Corp. has emerged.

Carl Verstandig, the chief executive of America's Realty, a real-estate development company, said Friday that his company is in discussions with Magna's bankruptcy adviser, Miller Buckfire, about a bid to buy Laurel Park and Pimlico Racecourse. But Verstandig said that the company would not bid on the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown, which is held annually at Pimlico in Baltimore every year.

The Cordish Cos., a Baltimore-based real estate development company, will attempt to buy Pimlico Race Course, Laurel Park, and Bowie Training Center in Maryland from bankrupt Magna Entertainment Corp., the company's chief, David Cordish, said Thursday.

Magna Entertainment Corp. plans to ask a Delaware bankruptcy judge to put off by several weeks the consideration of several motions that are currently scheduled for a hearing on Friday, including the approval of a plan to auction off its properties, according to court filings and an official involved in the bankruptcy.

MI Developments, the controlling shareholder of bankrupt racing operator Magna Entertainment Corp., plans to operate the assets it buys from Magna Entertainment through a wholly owned subsidiary until at least 2012, the company said Friday in a release accompanying documents detailing its 2008 financial performance.

Jockey Edgar Paucar added to his lead in the Beulah Park standings by winning five races there Wednesday. With the victories, Paucar led his closest competitor, Yuri Yaranga, 62-53 with 20 race dates left in the meet. . . . An autobiography of James E. "Ted" Bassett III, the longtime Keeneland Association executive, was released on Wednesday in central Kentucky bookstores and national online retailers.

Officials for Magna Entertainment Corp. said Thursday that the company will appeal a ruling by a Maryland judge that rejected the company's challenge to the state's casino licensing process.

Judge William C. Mulford of Anne Arundel Circuit Court ruled Wednesday that state officials were within their rights to disqualify the bid for a casino license made by Magna's Laurel Park because the company did not post a $28.5 million licensing fee associated with the bid. Mulford wrote in the ruling that the requirements were both "constitutional and lawful."

The online broadcast and account-wagering company Youbet.com has reported a $4.45 million loss in 2008, including an $11.2 million write-off for its subsidiary United Tote.

Despite the losses reported Thursday, the figures were significantly better than Youbet's 2007 year-end figures, which showed a $28.4 million loss, including $17.9 million in write-offs.

Excluding the United Tote write-off, the company reported total income of $5.4 million in 2008, compared with losses of $6.2 million, excluding write-offs, in 2007.