LEXINGTON, Ky. - Those watching the high-stakes select yearling market at Australia's Magic Millions Conrad Jupiters sale probably expected the sale's two record $2.2 million Australian colts to go to the usual buying suspects: Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum or his opposite numbers at Coolmore Stud.

Anabolic steroids should be administered only more than 30 days before a race and in order to treat a specific injury or illness, the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium advised on Wednesday after adopting language for a model rule to regulate the use of the powerful drugs.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - In a deal worth about $453 million, Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum has privately purchased Bob Ingham's entire Woodlands Stud operation in Australia, adding 9,000 acres and about 1,000 horses to his worldwide Thoroughbred empire, Maktoum's bloodstock representative, John Ferguson, confirmed Monday.

The purchase will add one of Australia's most famous breeding and racing operations to Darley's existing holdings in Australia. The Woodlands program has produced such Australian champions as Octagonal and Lonhro, both of whom are among the stallions included in the sale.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The Ocala Breeders' Sales Company did something enviable this week: It set records for gross, average, and median at a select 2-year-old sale, in a season when there are fewer juveniles coming to auction and the market has softened, at least for select stock.

A U.S. bankruptcy judge has approved an agreement between the Jockeys' Guild and Churchill Downs Inc. that will require the guild to use payments from Churchill on specific health and welfare programs while under bankruptcy reorganization, according to court papers.

The second and final day of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s March select 2-year-old sale showed buyers in a bullish mood as numerous horses selling for $300,000 and above helped push the auction to record levels.

The auction ended Wednesday afternoon with 233 juveniles sold for $33,380,000, a 26 percent increase from last year's two-day sale, when 253 horses sold. Average price skyrocketed up 36.5 percent, from $104,905 to $143,262. Median jumped 22 percent, from $82,000 to $100,000.

Gross, average, and median were all records for the sale.

The racing industry should develop a database of racetrack maintenance procedures and conditions in an effort to improve the consistency and safety of both traditional and synthetic racing surfaces, participants in a two-day meeting in Lexington, Ky., focusing on equine health and safety issues said on Tuesday.

Both houses of the New Jersey legislature have overwhelmingly approved legislation that would grant a $90 million three-year subsidy to the state's horse racing industry from Atlantic City casinos.

The legislation, which had been worked out by legislative leaders, Gov. Jon Corzine, and the state's casinos earlier in March, passed in the senate on Monday by a vote of 38-1. The bill had earlier passed the state's assembly by a 76-0 vote.

The 2-year-old sale at Frank Stronach's Adena Springs South in Williston, Fla., logged mixed results Monday night, ringing up gains in gross and average but suffering a double-digit slip in median. That continued a recent trend in the season's 2-year-old market, which has seen mixed gains and losses recently at select venues in both Miami and California.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Data collected over the last six months of 2007 through a uniform injury reporting system has not shown any significant difference in the rates of fatal injuries sustained by horses running on synthetic or dirt surfaces, according to the veterinarian who has compiled the reports.