The New York Senate passed a bill Wednesday that will provide the New York Racing Association with a $20 million loan from the state's lottery corporation.

The Senate passed the bill 40-21. The New York Assembly passed identical legislation Tuesday night by a vote of 125-10. The bill is expected to be signed by Gov. George Pataki, whose office helped negotiate the loan late last year.

Magna Entertainment Corp., the country's largest racetrack owner and operator, reported $106.3 million in losses for 2005, the company announced Monday evening, bringing its losses over the past three years to $320.3 million.

Revenues for the year were $624.6 million, down 11.1 percent compared with restated revenues of $702.5 million in 2004. The 2004 revenues were restated from $731.6 million so as not to include money from the sale of Flamboro Downs in Canada and a management subsidiary, Maryland-Virginia Racing Circuit, Magna reported. Both were sold in 2005.

The board of directors of the Jockeys' Guild approved a 33 percent increase in member dues, from $3 per mount to $4 per mount, during the organization's annual meeting in Fort Worth, Texas, the chief legal counsel to the guild said late on Tuesday.

Legislation that would provide for workers' compensation payments to injured jockeys in Kentucky was introduced to the state's House of Representatives on Monday.

The legislation, sponsored by Rep. Carolyn Belcher, seeks to establish a state-administered fund that would cover jockeys for injuries sustained while riding, mounting, or dismounting any horse at a Kentucky racetrack or training facility.

A public-policy organization based in Maryland issued a report on Monday setting the value of the franchise to operate the New York Racing Association's three tracks, two slot-machine facilities, and the state's six offtrack betting organizations at $2.1 billion.

The Humane Society of the United States has asked a federal judge to issue a temporary restraining order that would block the U.S. Department of Agriculture's plan to provide inspections at horse slaughterhouses for a fee.

The Humane Society, along with several other animal-rights organizations, filed a lawsuit against the agriculture department earlier this month. The request for a temporary restraining order was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia late Wednesday in an attempt to block the fee-for-service program while the earlier suit is pending.

The New York Racing Association has recently begun enforcing an internal reporting rule that requires all customers who make cash deposits or wagers in excess of $3,000 to provide identifying information to mutuel personnel, NYRA officials confirmed Thursday.

The Speaker Pro Tem of the Kentucky House of Represen-tatives warned lawmakers at a hearing Wednesday that any bill to legalize casino gambling at Kentucky's racetracks would fail to pass the House if the legislation included specific revenue splits for the state and racing industry, according to the Associated Press.

The speaker, Rep. Larry Clark, told the House Licensing and Occupations Committee that the legislation would need to be "short and sweet" and allow the legislature to determine where revenue from the casinos would go, according to the AP.

The Kentucky Horse Racing Authority issued rules on Thursday that will allow horsemen to use a patented piece of equipment that is designed to prevent breathing problems in horses, effective immediately.

The equipment, the Cornell Collar, was banned by the authority earlier this month after it was used in a race at Turfway Park. It is designed to apply pressure to a horse's throat and prevent displacement of the soft palate, a breathing problem normally corrected through surgery.

The New York Racing Association is looking to hire a director of racing to coordinate the racing programs at the association's three tracks and work with management and horsemen on long-term planning.

The director would report to NYRA's chief executive, Charles Hayward, serve as a conduit to backside workers and jockeys, and oversee the association's racing programs at Aqueduct, Belmont Park, and Saratoga, Hayward said Tuesday. The director would also work with NYRA officials on strategy to increase handle on NYRA races, Hayward said.