An arbitrator has reversed a two-year suspension handed down by the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit to the trainer Dennis VanMeter, ruling that a positive for isoxsuprine in his horse after a race in June was an “exceptional case” in which environmental contamination was the most likely cause of the positive test.

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority has submitted a small number of changes in its enforcement and registration rules to the Federal Trade Commission for approval, HISA said on Wednesday, including language that allows the authority to launch an investigation into a potential violation when acting on evidence submitted by an outside source.

Rep. Clay Higgins, a Republican from Louisiana, has introduced a bill to the House of Representatives that would repeal the legislation creating the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority and create a state compact for national regulation of racing in its stead.

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority would have the power to suspend a racetrack’s accreditation or a licensee’s ability to participate in horse racing under new rules the regulatory body submitted for approval on Thursday.

Hawthorne Race Course will run 78 race dates next year, running from late March to mid-October, as the Chicago-area track once again fills in the summer hole left by the closing of Arlington Park.

The Illinois Racing Board approved the 78 dates at a meeting on Thursday. The Hawthorne schedule next year will include 10 more dates than this year, when the track held 68 live racing programs, concluding on Sept. 4.

Total handle during the Kentucky Downs seven-day race meet that closed on Wednesday was a record $84.74 million, up 4.8 percent compared last year, according to figures derived from the Equibase charts of the races.

Average handle per-race was $1,101,855 for 76 races, a slight gain over the per-race average of $1,092,409 for 73 races last year, according to the figures.

Alan Foreman, a longtime attorney who specializes in representing horsemen, has been hired to serve as an “ombudsman” for licensees who are facing potential violations under new rules that went into effect under the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, HISA announced Wednesday.

The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority will establish a committee to evaluate the feasibility of installing more artificial surfaces at racetracks across the U.S., HISA announced on Tuesday as part of a laundry list of goals associated with an effort to reduce racetrack fatalities.

Caravel, who is aiming for a defense of her victory in the Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint, will go through the sale ring a few days after that race, as she has been cataloged to the Keeneland November breeding stock sale.

Both Caravel, by Mizzen Mast, and her dam, the winning Congrats mare Zeezee Zoomzoom, will be consigned by Hunter Valley Farm, as agent. Zeezee Zoomzoom, who is the dam of four winners from as many starters, also including stakes winner Witty, is in foal to Triple Crown winner Justify.

Jim Pendergest, the longtime director of racing surfaces for Keeneland, will chair the newly formed Track Surface Advisory Group for the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, the group announced Thursday.

Pendergest will be one of seven volunteer members of the committee, which is expected to conduct on-site inspections at tracks “as needs arise,” according to HISA. An ad hoc version of the committee was formed in August to perform examinations of the racing surfaces at Saratoga Racecourse.