The New York state comptroller has asked the state lottery division to explain why it has yet to approve the New York Racing Association's plans to operate a slot-machine casino at Aqueduct racetrack.

The request came in a letter dated Sept. 15 from State Comptroller Alan Hevesi to the lottery division's director, Nancy Palumbo, asking Palumbo to "make a decision about the proposal or offer guidance for any needed revisions." NYRA sent its proposal -- a management contract between NYRA and the casino company MGM Grand -- to the lottery for review four months ago.

Ohio's secretary of state declared Tuesday that a racetrack-sponsored petition for a referendum on the November ballot asking voters to approve 31,500 slot machines at seven racetracks and two other locations in the state has been approved. Backers of the effort had recently collected additional signatures from state voters after the initial drive fell short to put the referendum on this year's ballot. . . . Crestwood Farm in Lexington, Ky., will add Grade 2 winner Unbridled Energy to its stallion roster in 2007.

There were no million-dollar lots by 5 p.m. Tuesday at the Keeneland September yearling auction's eighth of 14 sessions, but the sale remained on a record pace.

Tuesday's afternoon session-leader was Hip No. 2,630, a $250,000 Petionville filly out of So Unusual. Pope McLean's Crestwood Farm sold the filly as agent, and Taylor Stables was the buyer.

There were no million-dollar lots by 5?p.m. Tuesday at the Keeneland September yearling auction?s eighth of 14 sessions, but the sale remained on a record pace.

Tuesday?s afternoon session-leader was Hip No. 2,630, a $250,000 Petionville filly out of So Unusual. Pope McLean?s Crestwood Farm sold the filly as agent, and Taylor Stables was the buyer.

Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro is showing continued improvement in his long recovery from a broken right hind leg and laminitis in his left hind, according to an update issued Tuesday from the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pa.

A 3-year-old Dynaformer colt, Barbaro remains in intensive care at the center, where he has been since shattering his right hind leg in the May 20 Preakness.

"He had an excellent week," said the center's chief surgeon, Dr. Dean Richardson.

The Charles Town Races in West Virginia fired the three placing judges who were on duty when the wrong order of finish was called for a race on Sept. 9, the head state steward said Sunday.

The judges - John Desmond, Larry Sanders, and Beth Weatherspoon - had admitted during a hearing on Friday that they had mistakenly placed the wrong horse first in the second race on Sept. 9. After the hearing, the stewards ordered that the position of the first two horses be reversed and the purse be redistributed based on the correct order of finish.

Hawthorne Racecourse and Television Games Network on Friday scrapped an agreement signed earlier this year that made Hawthorne an exclusive partner of the network, freeing up Hawthorne to sign account-wagering agreements with TVG's competitors.

STICKNEY, Ill. - The financially bereft National Jockey Club has withdrawn its application to the Illinois Racing Board for 2007 racing dates, the end of an unraveling that began in 1998 when the NJC remade the old Sportsman's Park into an auto-racing track that eventually failed. Next year will be the first in 75 that the NJC has not hosted a race meet.

Finger Lakes Racetrack and Western OTB Corporation of New York reached an agreement late Thursday that will restore simulcast signals at both locations after a two-day blackout, the president of Finger Lakes said.

Charles Hayward, the chief executive of the New York Racing Association, asked a state oversight board on Tuesday to put pressure on the state lottery corporation to approve NYRA's slot-machine agreement with the casino company MGM Grand and release $19 million in funds as part of a state loan package.