The California Horse Racing Board has become the first state racing commission to sign a voluntary agreement with the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority for its sweeping anti-doping and medication enforcement program, the board said Friday.

The voluntary agreement will allow CHRB staff to perform duties on behalf of HISA when the authority implements its Anti-Doping and Medication Control Program. HISA has said that it anticipates launching the program by the end of March in multiple racing jurisdictions, including California.

The U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that the enabling legislation creating the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority satisfied constitutional doctrines preventing Congress from delegating regulatory power to private companies, a decision that may trigger a Supreme Court hearing.

The ruling, issued by a three-judge panel of the court, said that HISA, which was created by federal legislation late in 2020, was “subordinate” to a federal agency, the Federal Trade Commission, a requirement for the delegation of regulatory power.

Turf Paradise in Phoenix has reached an agreement with the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority that requires the track to recognize that HISA’s safety rules preempt state regulations.

Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority officials are “very confident” that the authority will take over drug-testing and adjudications of drug positives in most U.S. racing states as of March 27, the officials said Monday during a conference call.

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- A Kentucky legislator has introduced a bill that would allow racetracks in the state to offer sports betting, including through mobile devices, but the bill has a slim chance of passage in the short 2023 session, according to officials.

Racetrack officials in New Jersey have extended a 10-year exclusive account-wagering agreement with FanDuel TV for an additional year in order to continue discussions with competitors on a more inclusive business market, officials involved in the effort said Wednesday.

The extension of the agreement came after officials for Monmouth Park, the Meadowlands, and Freehold Raceway engaged in months of discussions with account-wagering operators and sports-betting companies in New Jersey, the only state where fixed-odds betting on horse races is legal.

Churchill Downs Inc. has closed on its agreement to sell the 326-acre Arlington Park property just outside Chicago to the NFL’s Chicago Bears, the company announced in a terse statement on Wednesday afternoon.

Diana Firestone, who with her late husband Bertram raced the Kentucky Derby-winning filly Genuine Risk, owned breeding farms on two continents, and briefly operated two Florida racetracks, died on Feb. 12 in Palm Beach, Fla., according to her family. Firestone was 91.

Attorneys for Bob Baffert have filed a motion seeking the disqualification of a judge presiding over the trainer’s case against Churchill Downs because the judge’s husband receives income as a lobbyist from The Jockey Club, according to a document filed on Friday.

An FBI agent who played a role in the investigation that led to the criminal indictments of more than 30 people connected to Thoroughbred and Standardbred racing in 2020 has been hired as director of intelligence and strategy for the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit, which will administer the anti-doping and medication control program for the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, the unit announced on Friday.