Churchill Downs Inc. has issued a house rule banning the use of certain toe-grab horseshoes at its four racetracks effective immediately, the company announced Tuesday.

Parimutuel wagering on U.S. races fell almost 10 percent during the third quarter of this year, according to the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and Equibase Co.

Betting on U.S. races in this country and Canada came to $3,489,171,872 during the third quarter of 2008, a drop of 9.85 percent over the same quarter last year, the NTRA and Equibase reported. Purses declined by 2.37 percent during the third quarter, with race days down by just more than 1 percent.

The Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company fall mixed sale’s open sessions ended Wednesday with sharply lower prices compared to last year. The 2008 auction featured two open sessions, as compared to three last year, and sold 277 horses for $1,486,200, averaging $5,365. The median was $3,000. The gross was down 50 percent in large measure to the smaller catalog; last year the open sessions sold 413 horses. But the 2008 average also was down, by 26 percent, and median plummeted 29 percent.

The buy-back rate for the open sessions was 35 percent as compared to 29 percent in 2007.

The Tattersalls October Book 1 yearling sale outpaced its opening session when the second day of selling on Wednesday rang up gains in gross and median.

The second session sold 146 yearlings, up from last year’s 132, and saw a 10-percent increase in gross, to about $31,657,962. Median climbed 23 percent to approximately $156,219. Average price remained almost on par with last year, drifting slightly down from 119,705 guineas to the 2008 figure of 119,370, or about $216,835.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Despite aggressive spending by Darley Stable, the Tattersalls October yearling sale’s three-day Book 1 sale opened Tuesday in England with a slight decline in average and a 7 percent drop in median.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Ocala Breeders’ Sales Company’s fall mixed sale kicked off Monday with a consignor-preferred session that sold a six-figure horse but was marred by a high buy-back rate.

The session-topping horse was Hip No. 328, a $105,000 Exchange Rate filly purchased by Twin Peeks Racing. The bay filly is out of stakes winner Passionate Bird and was consigned by Horses of Course Inc.

A Kentucky bankruptcy court judge has scheduled a hearing for Nov. 17 to approve the reorganization plan of the Jockeys' Guild, according to court filings.

Judge David T. Stosberg of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of Kentucky scheduled the hearing after the Jockeys' Guild appeared in court Sept. 23 to present its reorganization plan. The Jockeys' Guild filed for bankruptcy in October last year. Its reorganization plan was initially filed with the court in April.

Shares of Magna Entertainment Corp., the large racetrack company that owns Santa Anita Park, continued to decline on Wednesday to a new low after a 56 percent plunge on Tuesday that resurrected concerns about the future of the company.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Coolmore Stud, which bought relatively few high-priced horses at the U.S. yearling auctions this summer and fall, stepped up its buying action again on Tuesday at Goffs in Ireland.

A California-bred colt by Tribal Rule sold for $60,000 in the first hour of Tuesday's California fall selected yearling sale at Barretts in Pomona, Calif. The one-day sale is considered California's top yearling sale.

The Tribal Rule colt was purchased by Bruno DeBerdt, agent, from the consignment of B.C.3 Thoroughbreds, agent. The colt is out of the Memo mare Chalk Face, a full sister to the three-time stakes winner La Feminn.