New York state will provide $250 million in financing to a developer willing to build and operate a casino at Aqueduct racetrack in Queens under a new set of bidding procedures announced on Friday.

The new procedures are intended to fast-track the Aqueduct casino project, which has been delayed for years by political and financial considerations surrounding the racing franchise held by Aqueduct's operator, the New York Racing Association, and by the collapse this year of a previous deal that had tabbed Delaware North Cos. to build the casino.

A West Virginia circuit court judge on Thursday issued a restraining order barring Charles Town Races from enforcing the suspension of seven riders who have been accused by the track of falsifying their riding weights.

Judge L. D. Engor of Kanawha County Circuit Court issued the order at the request of the Jockeys' Guild, the national organization that represents jockeys. Engor's order said that the notices sent to the jockeys about their rights to a hearing were "constitutionally insufficient" and that the track had violated the riders' due-process rights.

Calder Race Course and horsemen in Florida have reached a purse agreement for the upcoming season at the racetrack, which begins April 24 and runs through Jan. 2, 2010, officials for both sides announced on Thursday.

Last year the two sides failed to come to an agreement on purses until well into the 2008 meet. As a result, Calder's signal was blacked out of many out-of-state simulcasting locations until July and, separately, the signal was blocked from distribution to account-wagering companies until December.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia - Looking at his resume, it is easy get the idea that the new director of racing at Hastings, Paul Ryneveld, has had a hard time holding down a job. This will be his seventh job in the racing industry since he graduated from the University of Arizona's Race Track Industry Program in 1995.

"I am hoping it's my last," said Ryneveld.

He started out in the Arizona Department of Racing before working at Sunland Park in New Mexico, Great Lakes Downs in Michigan, back to Sunland, then Emerald Downs and Fairplex.

Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., bucked widespread national trends in racing by registering a 4.6 percent increase in average daily handle on its races during the 54-day meet that ended last Saturday, according to figures supplied by the racetrack.

Average daily handle was $3,576,914, compared with last year's average daily handle figure of $3,419,235, according to the figures. Overall, handle on Oaklawn's live races this year was $193,153,358, compared to $181,219,455 last year, an increase of 6.6 percent.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - Afternoon Stroll won a head-bobbing finish before surviving an objection in a stunning upset of the Grade 3 Appalachian Stakes on a cool Thursday afternoon at Keeneland.

With Jamie Theriot riding, Afternoon Stroll returned $102.60 as the longest shot in a field of nine 3-year-old turf fillies after outnodding Hot Cha Cha on the wire. The Keeneland stewards quickly dismissed an objection by Kent Desormeaux, rider of fourth-place finisher Our Dahlia, for alleged interference.

INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The Hollywood Park spring-summer meeting, which begins on Wednesday, will start with an overnight purse structure lower than last year's meet.

In an economy that has led to lower purses at all Southern California tracks, Hollywood Park has cut purses for maiden special weight races and allowance races as well as some claiming races.

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Around this time last spring, Verdana Bold was making her local debut with a 22-1 win in the six-furlong Star Shoot for 3-year-old fillies.

Saturday at Woodbine, Verdana Bold will be looking for a similar result at a lesser price in the six-furlong Whimsical for fillies and mares.

"She sure matured well from 3 to 4," said Danny Vella, who trains Verdana Bold for owner Ed Seltzer. "She's bigger and stronger, and a little more patient."

Amidst significant political and financial uncertainty, Pimlico Race Course opens on Saturday for an abbreviated spring meet that features the Preakness Stakes, the second leg of the Triple Crown.

LEXINGTON, Ky. - The final stop on the Kentucky Derby trail once again amounts to a win-and-you're-in situation for any horse whose connections are looking to move on to Louisville. The Grade 2, $300,000 Coolmore Lexington Stakes will be run for the 28th time Saturday at Keeneland, with only one of the 12 3-year-olds entered Wednesday, Square Eddie, having already accumulated enough graded earnings to make the May 2 Derby at Churchill Downs.