A horse based at Bowie Training Center in Maryland who had displayed neurological symptoms similar to those associated with equine herpesvirus has tested negative for the contagious disease, officials of the Maryland Jockey Club said on Saturday.

The horse, trained by Chris Grove, has been isolated at Bowie since last Wednesday. After receiving the test results, the Maryland Department of Agriculture lifted a hold order on Grove's barn at Bowie on Sunday morning.

Tests on a horse that was euthanized last week on an undisclosed farm in Kent County, Md., have indicated that the horse was carrying the equine herpesvirus, Maryland veterinary officials said Friday.

When the National Thoroughbred Racing Association and Equibase released figures late Wednesday showing that handle dipped 3.5 percent in 2005, officials blamed bad weather for the declines, citing 147 fewer racing days, a drop of 2.3 percent from 2004.

Thoroughbred racing may have more dark skies ahead, racing officials said Thursday.

Friends of New York Racing, a horse racing lobbying group, will fold up its operations at the beginning of March after issuing recommendations to reform New York's racing laws, the president of the group, Tim Smith, said Wednesday.

Beulah Park and River Downs in Ohio have begun paying the premiums for jockeys to be enlisted in the state's existing workers' compensation program, officials for the tracks said Monday.

Churchill Downs is taking future wagers on 24 different betting interests for this year's Kentucky Derby. A similar number of betting interests could be offered on the fate of New York racing after public hearings Tuesday and Wednesday in lower Manhattan by the Ad Hoc Committee on the Future of Racing.

Four new directors have been elected to the National Thoroughbred Racing Association political action committee, the NTRA announced Friday, as part of a larger change to the board's structure.

The new directors, elected at a board meeting Thursday, are Antony Beck of Gainesway Farm; Laura D'Angelo, a Lexington, Ky., lawyer; Wilhelmina McEwan, owner of Fenwick Farm in South Carolina; and Anne W. Poulson, chairwoman of the Virginia Racing Commission.

NEW YORK - The second session of public hearings on the future of Thoroughbred racing in New York focused Wednesday on whether racetrack and slot-machine casino operations should be run by for-profit or not-for-profit companies.

The hearing was held in lower Manhattan by the Ad Hoc Committee on the Future of Racing, a government panel whose job is to help determine who should operate Aqueduct, Belmont Park, Saratoga Race Course, and a slot-machine operation planned for Aqueduct. The committee held its first hearing on Tuesday in Albany.

ALBANY, N.Y. - At the first of what is expected to be numerous public hearings on the future of Thoroughbred racing in New York, the New York Racing Association reiterated its position on Tuesday that the association - and not the state - owns Aqueduct, Belmont Park, and Saratoga Race Course.

The New York Racing Association sustained declines in attendance and handle in 2005.

Average daily ontrack handle on NYRA races was down 4.4 percent, from $1,341,620 in 2004 to $1,282,331. Total handle on NYRA races declined 4.2 percent from a daily average of $10,875,566 in 2004 to $10,414,102 in 2005.

Ontrack attendance declined 6.2 percent from a daily average of 8,216 in 2004 to 7,703 in 2005. Total ontrack attendance was 1,956,555 in 2005, down 6.6 percent from 2,095,156 in 2004. There were 254 racing dates in 2005, one less than in 2004.