A New York Supreme Court judge has ruled for owner Michael Gill and against the New York State Racing and Wagering Board in a case brought by Gill over the disqualifications of two of his horses in 2004 for positive drug tests.

The judge, Ronald Zweibel, found that the board violated the State Administrative Procedure Act by repeatedly passing emergency medication rules while failing to demonstrate that the rules - which were the basis for the disqualifications - needed to be adopted on an emergency instead of permanent basis.

The New York Racing Association will begin to allow ship-ins from Pimlico Race Course and Laurel Park in Maryland beginning March 18, the day of the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes, NYRA announced Friday.

Friends of New York Racing, the Thoroughbred industry advocacy group, announced proposed legislation on Thursday that calls for slot machines at Belmont Park and many changes that would help clear the way for a traditional for-profit operator of the franchise currently held by the New York Racing Association.

The proposed legislation was largely based on work that Friends of New York Racing had already completed, pared down from an 89-page proposal written in conjunction with the Racing and Wagering Program of Albany Law School earlier this year.

The Indiana Horse Racing Commission adopted rules on Monday that will prohibit private veterinarians from having any contact with a horse on race day other than to administer a supervised injection of the diuretic Lasix.

The rules were part of 21 new regulations adopted by the commission to tighten enforcement of the state's existing raceday medication rules, according to Joe Gorajec, the executive director of the commission.

A bill that would create a state-administered fund to provide workers' compensation coverage for jockeys in Kentucky passed out of a state House committee on Wednesday.

The bill passed by a vote of 11-2 in the House Licensing and Occupations Committee. The bill, crafted on the recommendations of a committee of the Kentucky Horse Racing Authority, would assess fees on racetrack owners, racehorse owners, and purses to purchase insurance covering any jockey who is injured at a track or training facility in the state.

The Kentucky Horse Racing Authority suspended its testing for illegal alkalizing agents late in December and has not yet resumed the tests because of a shortage of state veterinarians, a spokesman for the authority said Wednesday.

The suspension, first reported by the Associated Press, was put in place at Turfway Park after an outbreak of equine herpesvirus at the track gave the three veterinarians currently employed by the authority additional duties, according to Mark York, the spokesman. The authority expects to resume testing once one other veterinarian is hired, York said.

The Maryland Department of Agriculture on Wednesday lifted its final hold orders on barns at Laurel Park and the Bowie training center, declaring the state free of equine herpesvirus two months after an outbreak that disrupted racing and training schedules in Maryland and beyond.

The hold orders were lifted after two horses each at Laurel and Bowie tested negative for the disease. The four horses were the last in the state to have tested positive recently for exposure to equine herpesvirus, which can attack a horse's upper respiratory and neurological systems.

A group of New York horse owners and businessmen with ties to the horse racing advocacy group Friends of New York Racing announced the formation of a new company Tuesday that will seek to raise money to bid on the franchise currently held by the New York Racing Association.

A New York state oversight board on Tuesday approved the allocation of $6 million in funds from a $20 million loan provided by the state lottery corporation to the New York Racing Association, according to officials from the board and NYRA.

The request for the funds was the first by NYRA since the state legislature approved the loan last week. NYRA negotiated the $20 million loan with legislators late last year as part of a $30 million loan package designed to allow the financially troubled association to avert bankruptcy.

Discussions between the boards of directors of Breeders' Cup Ltd. and the National Thoroughbred Racing Association on a new operating agreement were "very productive," the president of both organizations, D.G. Van Clief, said Thursday after a two-day meeting of the two groups.

The groups' current operating agreement expires Dec. 31, with a renewal decision called for by Sept. 1.

The discussions, held in Hollywood, Fla., were the first joint meetings conducted between the two boards, despite five years of operation as a merged organization.