TUCSON, Ariz. – A collection of sports-betting operators appearing on a Tuesday afternoon panel at the Global Symposium on Racing urged the racing industry to quickly embrace fixed-odds betting as a way to keep pace with the meteoric growth of sports betting in the United States, although they also acknowledged that the prospect is more complicated than a simple decision.

TUCSON, Ariz. – The two opening speakers at the Global Symposium on Racing used their 30 minutes at the microphone to urge racing to unite behind both the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority and the idea that racing should begin to publicly stress its merits, rather than focusing on its shortcomings.

Patrick Reilly, a former practicing farrier who is the chief of farrier services at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine’s Department of Clinical Studies at the New Bolton Center, has been appointed to fill a vacated seat on the Racetrack Safety Standing Committee of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, according to HISA.

TUCSON, Ariz. – The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, an organization that currently sits in constitutional limbo, will both open and close this year’s Global Symposium on Racing, held annually in Tucson, Arizona, beginning on Tuesday.

Lisa Lazarus, the chief executive officer of HISA, has been granted one of two keynote spots to open the conference on Tuesday morning at Loews Ventana Canyon Resort, while a panel comprised of some of HISA’s highest-ranking officers will close the conference on Wednesday afternoon.

Total wagering on U.S. Thoroughbred races declined 4.5 percent in November compared to the same month in 2021, according to numbers released by Equibase on Monday, continuing a string of weakening betting numbers over the past several months.

The total number, $918.2 million, declined despite a slight gain in the number of races held during the month and record total betting on the 14 races of the Breeders’ Cup, held on Nov. 4-5 at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Ky. Wagering per race dropped 5.2 percent, from $393,920 to $373,250.

Jack Owens, a longtime Thoroughbred owner and breeder and former chairman of the Thoroughbred Owners of California, died on Nov. 21 of a heart attack, according to a statement released by the TOC on Thursday.

Owens was 78.

Owens was based in Northern California and had served as a member of the TOC’s board of directors since 1995, the organization’s first full year of operation. The TOC is the state’s official representative of Thoroughbred horsemen.

The short-term fate of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority rests in the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals, while the long-term fate of the fledgling organization may lie in the hands of the Supreme Court.

A U.S. appeals court has ruled that the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority is “facially unconstitutional,” reversing a lower court’s opinion that the authority met constitutional standards of federal oversight.

Jennifer Durenberger, the Jockey Club steward for the New York Racing Association, has been hired as the director of equine safety and welfare for the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority, HISA announced on Thursday.

A lobbying coalition formed last year by New York racing constituents and upstate business interests will push hard next year for the passage of legislation that would provide nearly half a billion dollars in state-backed bonds for the renovation of Belmont Park, participants in the coalition said on Thursday during a press conference.