The Florida House Commerce Committee on Tuesday advanced a bill that would allow Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach and Tampa Bay Downs in Oldsmar to decouple their racing and gambling licenses.
The vote was 13-9, according to a roll call at the end of a hearing in which members of the Florida breeding communities and several horsemen urged the committee to vote against the bill.
The Department of Labor has authorized the release of nearly 65,000 new H-2B visas, which allow foreigners to work on a temporary basis in the U.S. in specific sectors of the economy, including racetracks, according to a DOL announcement.
The New York Racing Association on Feb. 5 will implement a previously announced policy to throttle down the wagering activity from computer-assisted wagering teams as of one minute to post in nearly all of its parimutuel pools, the association announced on Friday.
The $1 million Haskell Stakes will anchor a six-stakes card on July 18 at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., during its 2026 meet, according to a stakes schedule released by the track on Thursday.
The Grade 1 Haskell, a mid-summer draw for top 3-year-old colts, is one of five graded stakes on the July 18 card with purses totaling $2.65 million. Also scheduled is the Grade 2 United Nations ($500,000), the Grade 2 Molly Pitcher ($500,000), the Grade 3 Monmouth Cup ($350,000), and the Grade 3 Matchmaker Stakes ($300,000).
The Jockey Club has released a statement rebutting an avalanche of criticism directed at the organization over the past several years by Mike Repole, the outspoken owner and breeder.
The statement, which is attributed to The Jockey Club’s board of stewards, takes direct aim at some of the most common remarks made by Repole, who has increasingly put The Jockey Club in his gunsights since he appointed himself the “commissioner” of Thoroughbred racing and started an advocacy organization, the National Racing Alliance, late in 2023.
Cross Traffic, a proven stallion in Kentucky who's moving to Virginia in 2026, will stand at Weehaw Farm in Berryville, Va., per owner John Funkhouser. The 17-year-old was originally supposed to spend the breeding season at Mt. Airy Farm in Millwood, but those plans fell through last week.
2025 Eclipse Awards: Sovereignty named 2025 Horse of the Year
Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico will move the entirety of its 2026 spring-summer meeting to the Downs at Albuquerque, the track announced in a one-page statement on Monday.
Ruidoso Downs canceled the final weeks of its 2024 and 2025 seasons after massive floods struck the track each July. Those race meeting was moved to Albuquerque.
The $3 million All American Futurity for Quarter Horses will be run at Albuquerque for the third consecutive year, on Sept. 7.
Ted Noffey, who on Thursday is expected to be announced as 2-year-old champion male for 2025, was 6-1, the shortest-priced individual horse of 39 betting horses offered after wagering in pool 3 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager closed.
“All others” was the 7-2 favorite in pool 3, wagering for which was available from noon Friday through 6 p.m. Sunday. Total handle for the Jan. 16-18 Future pool was $355,060 ($272,202 in the win pool, $82,858 in exactas), an 8.2 percent gain from last year’s pool $328,150 ($254,139 in the win pool and $74,011 in Exactas).
All-sources handle at all California tracks declined 5 percent in 2025 despite the absence of Thoroughbred racing in Northern California and the loss of a vital weekend at Santa Anita in December because of rain, according to figures released at Wednesday’s California Horse Racing Board meeting.
Handle at all venues was more than $2.66 billion in 2025 compared to more than $2.8 billion in 2024.
