Churchill Downs will raise its takeout rates this spring to the maximum allowed by Kentucky law, officials confirmed Friday, a decision that will lower payouts on the track’s races by almost 16 percent in many cases.

Takeout on win, place, and show bets will rise from 16 percent of every betting dollar to 17.5 percent, a jump of 9.4 percent, when Churchill’s spring meet opens April 26, Churchill officials said. Takeout on all other bets, including the most popular wagers, exactas and trifectas, will rise from 19 percent to 22 percent, a jump of 15.8 percent.

STICKNEY, Ill. – The notable exclusion of the Illinois Derby last year from Churchill Downs’s points-based qualifying system for the 20 starting slots in the Kentucky Derby dealt a big blow to Hawthorne Race Course, but it might not be such a calamity after all.

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Hall of Fame jockey Edgar Prado is expected to be sidelined at least 30 days after fracturing his neck in a Thursday morning training accident at Keeneland.

Prado fractured his C-7 vertebra after falling from a horse who was not breezing, according to his agent, Bob Klesaris. The horse threw its head back, striking Prado in the face and apparently knocking him out, causing the jockey to fall.

Prado was scheduled to ride Vinceremos in the Blue Grass Stakes on Saturday at Keeneland. That mount has been picked up by Julien Leparoux.

GROVE CITY, Ohio – On a cold recent Saturday, there were fewer than 100 patrons at Beulah Park when five $2,500 claimers ran around the old track in the first race of the day. By the time owner-trainer Guy Tauzin had his picture taken with the victorious mare, A. B. Blacker, the race already was largely forgotten.

ARCADIA, Calif. – The California Horse Racing Board announced Thursday that it will enact stringent penalties for riders found using electrical devices in races or workouts, including referring cases to local district attorneys for legal action.

A racing board spokesman said there are no cases pending for possession of an electrical device.

The anticipated showdown between Game On Dude and Lea in the Grade 2, $1.5 million Charles Town Classic on April 19 will not happen as Lea has been withdrawn from consideration for the race after developing a fever, trainer Bill Mott said Thursday.

Mott said Lea was diagnosed with the temperature Monday at his winter/spring base of Payson Park.

“Everything is down to normal today, but obviously his system has been challenged,” Mott said by phone. “We’re going to back off of him for a while.”

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. - Trainer Bob Baffert said Secret Circle has been scratched from the Grade 3, $300,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap at Oaklawn Park on Thursday after he learned that the horse was given a tranquilizer shortly after boarding his Tex Sutton flight from Southern California to Arkansas. The flight was Wednesday.

Baffert said the horse had to be scratched because it would take at least 48 hours for the tranquilizer to clear his system. He said the horse’s ownership group is presently traveling to Oaklawn. 

ARCADIA, Calif. – Fashion Plate and Ria Antonia, the first two finishers in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Oaks on April 5, are bound for the $1 million Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs on May 2, their trainers confirmed Thursday.

Fashion Plate won the $400,000 Santa Anita Oaks by 1 1/4 lengths over Ria Antonia, leading throughout the race over 1 1/16 miles. Trained by Simon Callaghan, Fashion Plate won the Grade 1 Las Virgenes Stakes in February in her stakes debut.

“She came out of the race as good as you can hope,” Callaghan said. “She’s sending the right signals.”

Tonalist, second in a Gulfstream allowance race that produced Florida Derby winner Constitution and Wood Memorial winner Wicked Strong, is being pointed to the Grade 2, $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes, trainer Christophe Clement said.

Clement decided to keep Tonalist out of the April 5 Wood Memorial because he wasn’t happy with the colt’s last workout before the race. Clement said Tonalist remains at Payson Park in Florida.

In lieu of a stakes race Saturday, Aqueduct’s nine-race card will feature three open allowance races on its nine-race program.

The richest race on the card is the first, a $67,000 first-level allowance scheduled for a mile on turf. However, the forecast for Friday night included the possibility of a quarter-inch to as much as a half-inch of rain lasting into early Saturday morning.