Magna Entertainment Corp., the country's largest racetrack operator, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a Delaware court on Thursday and has reached an agreement to sell the majority of its racing assets, including Gulfstream Park and Golden Gate Fields, to its parent company and largest creditor, MI Developments.

Wagering on Thoroughbred races in the U.S. was down 11.6 percent in February compared with February 2008, reflecting the slumping economy and a continuing downward trend in handle.

While it must be noted that there was one additional Friday of racing in 2008 because of the leap year, the gross handle of $999,915,818 this year fell well short of the $1.13 billion handled during February 2008. The total number of racing days in February 2009 was 359, just four short of the 363 offered in February 2008.

Shares in Magna Entertainment Corp. will be taken off the Toronto Stock Exchange beginning April 1, the company announced Tuesday.

The Toronto Stock Exchange notified Magna that the shares will be delisted as of April 1 in a letter sent on Monday, Magna said in a release. The exchange had earlier warned Magna that its shares were in jeopardy of being delisted because the company was not currently in compliance with its code.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Churchill Downs Inc. on Monday announced a comprehensive set of new and previously established safety rules that will go into effect at the upcoming spring meet at the company's flagship track, with the same rules being applied to all company tracks by the start of their respective 2010 meets.

The rules essentially run the gamut of safety and welfare for horses and jockeys. Many were spawned from CDI's "Safety From Start to Finish" initiative that was sparked in large part by the death of Eight Belles in the Kentucky Derby last year.

Magna Entertainment Corp. said Friday it has defaulted on a loan that is secured by its Maryland racing properties, including Laurel Park and Pimlico Racecourse.

According to Magna, the bank that holds the loan, PNC Bank, has "chosen not to exercise its rights and remedies under such loan agreement at this time." According to Magna's most recent financial statements, the loan had net borrowings of $1.6 million as of Sept. 30, 2008.

Scientific Games Inc., the parent company of one of the three dominant bet-processing companies in the U.S. racing industry, said late Thursday that the company has hired a financial adviser to explore the possibility of selling its racing-related businesses.

In a release and on a conference call Friday morning, officials of Scientific Games said that the adviser has been asked to "evaluate available alternatives" for the bet-processing unit, known as Scientific Games Racing and formerly called Autotote. The company would not comment further on the plan.

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association distributed a list of compliance criteria for its new health and safety accreditation program to racetracks on Wednesday and said it plans to formally launch the program in late March.

Breeders nominated 14,602 foals to the Breeders' Cup in 2008, according to the organization, an 8.9 percent decline compared to foal nominations in 2007.

Though the decline was steep, Breeders' Cup's senior vice president of nominations, Dora Delgado, said that the organization had budgeted for a larger drop. The percentage of the foal crop that was nominated, Delgado said, was 49.7 percent in 2008, compared to 50.8 percent in 2007.

One of two defendants in a case linked to the defunct offshore rebate shop International Racing Group has pleaded guilty to two felony charges of conducting an illegal gambling business and money laundering, according to court documents.

Sentencing for the defendant, Jeffrey Jelinsky, has been scheduled for May 29 in U.S. District Court in Nevada. The plea agreement states that prosecutors are recommending that Jelinsky serve a 21-month prison term, be subject to three years of parole, and forfeit all assets linked to the illegal gambling business.

Robert Elliston arrived at Turfway Park in northern Kentucky in 1999 from U.S. Bank, where he was the vice president of commercial lending for seven years. A native of Kentucky who lives in Florence with his wife and two daughters, Elliston, Turfway's president and CEO, had always followed horse racing and had owned several horses, so the jump into the complexities of the racing world was not as dramatic as can be imagined.