Breeders' Cup Ltd. announced Friday it has reached an agreement with Hong Kong racing authorities to offer wagering on the Breeders' Cup races in the heavy-betting island state.

The agreement, which also designates the Hong Kong Jockey Club Champions Mile as an official Breeders' Cup qualifying race, will give Breeders' Cup a foothold in the Asian betting market for the first time. Betting on horseracing in Hong Kong is astronomical by U.S. standards: in 78 days of live racing in Hong Kong last year, average handle for each racing day was in excess of $100 million.

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer will propose in the next several days how his office believes the state should select the new operator of the franchise currently held by the New York Racing Association, a spokesman said Thursday.

Excelsior Racing Associates, the for-profit company formed to bid on the New York Racing Association franchise, was ranked highest among three bidders for the franchise by the Ad Hoc Committee on the Future of Racing because of committee members' belief that the company's financial backing and commitment to improve racing exceeded the other two bidders, according to the conclusions of a report issued by the committee on Wednesday.

Satish and Anne Sanan's Padua Stables has purchased an undisclosed interest in Kentucky Derby contender Any Given Saturday from WinStar Farm.

Any Given Saturday won his first stakes race on Saturday when he captured the 1 1/16-mile Sam F. Davis Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs by 2 3/4 lengths. That was his first start this season. To date, he has won 3 of 4 starts lifetime and has earnings of $164,213. WinStar purchased him for $1.1omillion at the 2005 Keeneland September yearling sales.

Keeneland's April 2-year-old sale, which will take place in Lexington on April 17, has a 226-horse catalog.

The auction will be the first North American juvenile sale to have held its under-tack show on a synthetic racing surface. Keeneland converted its racetrack from dirt to Polytrack last year. Under-tack shows for the auction will take place on April 9 and 16, starting at 10:30 a.m. each day. Television Games Network and HorseRacingTV also will air a 90-minute program featuring a number of the auction horses during the week of March 26.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - New auction-reform legislation backed by Jess Jackson will not reach a vote for at least year, thanks to a compromise between Jackson, owner of Stonestreet Stable, and bloodstock sales interests.

But now the parties must reopen debate on two contentious issues - disclosure of auction horses' true owners and of medications the horses have received - in a newly formed Sales Integrity Task Force.

A bill that would have required consignors of auction horses to disclose more information about ownership and medication was tabled on Wednesday for the remainder of 2007 under a compromise between the bill's supporters and opponents.

The 2-year-old sale season kicked off Tuesday in Ocala, Fla., at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Company's select juvenile sale, which ended with slight declines in gross and average from last year.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Led by four horses that sold for $200,000 or more, Fasig-Tipton Kentucky's winter mixed sale ended Monday in Lexington with mixed results.

The Jockeys' Guild has filed a petition with the California Horse Racing Board asking the board to reimburse jockey Roberto Gonzalez for his purse winnings from a horse who was disqualified from a race because of a drug infraction.

The petition cites a portion of California's Business and Professions Code that states that in the event of a disqualification because of an illegal drug, not administered by a rider, the board "shall have the authority to order, in the interests of justice, that a jockey be permitted to keep his or her share of the purse."