Wagering and television ratings for the Preakness Stakes on Saturday were generally down compared with last year's record results, even as a record crowd packed Pimlico Race Course on Saturday.

Ideal weather conditions - sunny skies and the temperature in the mid-70's - drew 118,402 people to Pimlico for the Preakness and the other 12 races on Saturday's card. The crowd broke the previous record, set last year, of 115,318. It was the third straight year that Pimlico has reported an attendance figure that broke a record.

Investigators from the Federal Bureau of Investigation began an extensive search of one of the largest horse farms in Michigan on Wednesday in the hope of finding evidence that the former Teamster boss Jimmy Hoffa may have been buried there.

FBI officials have said that the search of Hidden Dreams Farm, a full-service equine operation in Milford, may take three weeks. The farm was owned by a Teamsters official, Rolland McMaster, at the time of Hoffa's disappearance in 1975. It is now under different ownership.

Ken Rucker, the leading trainer at the Meadowlands harness meet this year, has been barred from the track, effective May 24, after a blood test from one of his horses indicated that the horse had been administered the illegal blood-enhancing agent erythropoietin, The Meadowlands said.

Rucker, 41, has 68 wins at the current Meadowlands meet. His purse earnings are nearly $1.5 million.

New York State Sen. William Larkin, the chairman of the Senate's Committee on Racing, Gaming, and Wagering, has called on the New York Racing Association to raise its takeout and work more closely with the state's six offtrack betting corporations.

A bill that seeks to ban gambling over the Internet was passed out of a U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on Thursday with language that protects horse racing's exemption to the prohibition.

The bill passed out of the Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, and is scheduled to be heard by the full Judiciary Committee on Wednesday.

Churchill Downs Inc. has fired at least "a dozen" employees of its offices in Louisville, Ky., as part of a corporate restructuring, a spokeswoman for the company said Thursday.

In a statement released by the company late Wednesday, Churchill's chief executive officer, Tom Meeker, said that the restructuring included the "elimination of several corporate positions" and the consolidation of the company's marketing and communications units.

The Churchill spokeswoman, Julie Koenig Loignon, declined to name any of the individuals who were fired.

A bill that would allow Evangeline Downs to add table games to its slot-machine casino has been introduced at the current session of the Louisiana state legislature.

The bill would enable Evangeline to compete against three nearby Native American gaming facilities, all of which have or will be undergoing multimillion-dollar expansions, according to a release issued by the track on Tuesday. If the bill is passed, a local election in St. Landry Parish would still be necessary to allow the additional gaming.

The Jockeys' Guild dropped its objections to a bill in the Louisiana Senate that would limit the ability of riders to sue racetracks in the state after reaching an undisclosed agreement with the tracks, a lawyer for the guild said on Tuesday.

The bill, which would expand the definitions of equine facilities and equine employees to include racetracks, jockeys, and exercise riders, passed out of the Louisiana State Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday on a voice vote. The bill now moves to the Senate floor.

The California Horse Racing Board on Monday voted to eliminate the coupling of entries for horses with common ownership on a trial basis for the current Bay Meadows and Hollywood Park meetings.

The decision was reached through a conference call of five members, and despite concern over the issue voiced by members of the public in recent months.

The decision to eliminate the coupling of entries is seen by the CHRB as a way to increase wagering interests and to allow the public to avoid being stuck with an unwanted part of an entry in the event of a late scratch.

MIAMI - Scott Savin, who has served as president and general manager at Gulfstream Park for the past six years, has been replaced by Paul Micucci, track officials announced on Monday. Micucci had served as vice president of track owner Magna Entertainment Corp.'s gaming division since 2003.