The California Horse Racing Board unanimously approved a measure to allow races to be run with medication-based eligibility conditions during its regularly scheduled monthly meeting Feb. 23 at Santa Anita Park.
Resigns from his position as president Feb. 5 after just being named to the post Nov. 15.
Steve Schwartz, a prominent trial lawyer specializing in equine veterinary and medical issues, has been named president of the Thoroughbred Owners of California effective Nov. 15. Schwartz replaces Drew Couto, who left the position earlier this year.
Drew Couto, who helped form the Thoroughbred Owners of California in 1993 and served for the past five years as president, has decided to step down.
The Thoroughbred Owners of California is among the interested bidders in Santa Anita Park, an organization official confirmed.
Advance deposit wagering provider TVG did not accept bets on Hollywood Park races April 22 as the Inglewood track opened its 65-day spring/summer meet.
Historic Hollywood Park, under the eminent threat of redevelopment, opens for its 70th and possibly final spring/summer racing season on April 22. Some say now is not the time.
Rebates to wagering customers have become so widespread that the California Horse Racing Board is preparing to rescind its rule against the practice.
Here's a fact: Some domestic advance deposit wagering outlets are openly offering cash rebates to customers that wager on California racing signals.
A dispute over hub-fee agreements has left some Churchill Downs Inc.-owned tracks and related off-track betting facilities without racing signals from California.
An impasse in California over fee rates for interstate advance deposit wagering that has had a negative impact on Hollywood Park's fall meet ended Nov. 21 with the announcement that one-year deals with the four licensed providers in the state have been reached.
In a high-stakes "game of chicken," the California Horse Racing Board pushed account wagering a little closer to the edge Nov. 18 when it declined to renew the licenses of the state's four Internet and telephone bet companies.
Out-of-state account wagering bettors remained locked out of Hollywood Park races as a contract dispute between the Thoroughbred Owners of California and the four advance deposit wagering companies showed no sign of resolution Oct. 30, the second day of the fall meet.
A stalemate between California horsemen and advance deposit wagering companies kept Hollywood Park's out-of-state signal unavailable on opening day of the track's fall season Oct. 29.
After more than a year of discussion, the California Horse Racing Board has deferred any action on a proposed rule that would prohibit advance deposit wagering companies from making exclusive wagering agreements with Thoroughbred racetracks in the state.
Industry stakeholders received a tongue-lashing from Richard Shapiro, chairman of the California Horse Racing Board, as the agency took its first swipe at a race dates calendar for 2009.
California horsemen and Hollywood Park reached a tentative agreement Oct. 10 that allows the track to operate its 40-day autumn race meet, but a stalemate over host fees to be paid by account wagering companies for interstate bets remains unresolved.
Support for reform of the revenue model for advance deposit wagering continues to increase, but as evidenced Sept. 30 during the International Simulcast Conference, it's looking more and more like a long-term project.
Prominent Thoroughbred Owner Mace Siegel, vice president of the Thoroughbred Owners of California, has given $100,000 to support the Thoroughbred Horsemen's Group and its efforts to protect live horse racing.
With horsemen and Hollywood Park unable to come to agreement on revenue splits from account wagering sources for the upcoming autumn meet at the Inglewood track, the California Horse Racing Board agreed to conduct a special hearing to settle the impasse.
The elimination of exclusive account deposit wagering contracts and meeting the challenges of racetrack closures were among the subjects addressed at the Thoroughbred Owners of California's annual membership meeting Aug. 16 at Del Mar.
A fan-friendly experiment to share racetracks among California's advance deposit wagering companies has ended with the start of the Del Mar meet July 16.
With the looming expiration of an experiment to share racetracks among account wagering companies in California, representatives continue to meet in hopes of an agreement in time for the start of the Del Mar summer meet July 16.
California's advance deposit wagering truce may be coming to an end.
The Thoroughbred Owners of California board of directors has unanimously endorsed the negotiating model created by the Thoroughbred Horsemen's Group, and has authorized the THG to represent the TOC in future simulcast negotiations, including in advance deposit wagering negotiations.
As the popularity of advance deposit wagering increases, states need to take action to protect their horseracing industry, the president of the Thoroughbred Owners of California told a group of legislators meeting June 13 in Northern California.
The World Poker Tour has a tournament idea that could be developed for handicappers, the California Horse Racing Board was told Feb. 28.
Now that voters in California have decisively approved a massive increase in Indian gaming for four large Southern California tribes, the chairman of the state's horse racing board says it is time for the tribal casinos to help out his ailing industry with financial mitigation.
The Thoroughbred Owners of California has given limited consent to New York's off-track betting corporations to accept wagers on California races, but is holding firm on its stance against allowing wagers from the companies'out-of-state account deposit wagering customers.
California took a first step toward helping more horses after their racing years with the final approval of a new fund to support the state's equine retirement facilities.
The Thoroughbred Owners of California and Arkansas Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association have joined the new Thoroughbred Horsemen's Group, launched Dec. 5 to facilitate simulcast activities and improve the economics of the pari-mutuel model.
The California Horse Racing Board gave the go-ahead Nov. 29 to begin forming a trust to oversee a new jockeys' health insurance program in the state beginning Jan. 1, 2008.
Northern California horsemen are hoping that Tapeta Footings, unveiled Nov. 7 at Golden Gate Fields, will put the bounce back in their racing circuit.
Advance deposit wagering, which in five years has grown to represent about 13.4 % of total handle through the California pari-mutuel system, was reauthorized by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger Oct. 13.
California fairs offer a realistic option for horse racing's future at a time when two major racetracks in the state are facing redevelopment and other privately held venues are pressured by stockholders for greater revenue returns amid escalating property values.
As expansion of gaming for four Southern California casino tribes lurched toward approval in the Legislature June 28, it did so with little interference from the state's racing industry.
With State Sen. Leland Yee in attendance at its May 22 meeting in Sacramento, the California Horse Racing Board threw open the possibility that Bay Meadows could resume racing in 2008.
California's three major horse racing organizations have endorsed The Shops at Santa Anita, the outdoor, upscale shopping and dining center proposed by Caruso Affiliated at the Arcadia, Calif., track.
California customers of rival account deposit wagering companies TVG and XpressBet would be able to play any track in the state with their preferred carrier under an agreement being negotiated on a one-year experimental basis.
The simmering dispute between the organization representing California's horse owners and the racing television and wagering network TVG appeared unlikely to be resolved heading into the Oct. 26 meeting of the California Horse Racing Board.
Reducing the number of racing events without the loss of a significant number of actual racing days in the North was the goal of the California Horse Racing Board's Strategic Alliance Planning Committee, which met for the final time Oct. 12 before making a final 2007 dates recommendation to the full board.
Account wagering in California remains mired in a dispute between horsemen and TVG over setting hub fees, officials from both sides told the California Horse Racing Board on Aug. 17, with no guarantee the stalemate will be resolved soon.
As part of an effort to address concerns raised by several Northern California members, the Thoroughbred Owners of California held an open forum July 28 at Golden Gate Fields and pledged to act on several recommendations.
Fairplex Park gave an extensive presentation of a proposed $100 million project to expand and greatly enhance the racetrack facility located on the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds during the California Horse Racing Board's meeting June 22.
Fairplex Park gave an extensive presentation of a proposed $100 million project to expand and greatly enhance the racetrack facility located on the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds during the California Horse Racing Board's meeting June 22.
The California horseracing industry has thrown its weight behind "Instant Racing" video games in the drive to offset declining economic fortunes, but a representative of the state's major casino tribes say it's nothing more than a smokescreen to break the Indians' monopoly and give the tracks slot machines.
About 200 Northern California horsemen have signed a petition supporting the formation of a new trainer/owner organization to represent them in negotiations with racetrack associations and others, saying they believe their affiliation with the Thoroughbred Owners of California is no longer adequate.
A dispute between TVG and the Thoroughbred Owners of California was resolved Wednesday afternoon allowing transmission of Hollywood Park's signal on the racing network just minutes before the track's first race of the 2006 season.
A dispute between TVG and the Thoroughbred Owners of California was resolved Wednesday afternoon allowing transmission of Hollywood Park's signal on the racing network just minutes before the track's first race of the 2006 season.
The California Horse Racing Board approved an agreement March 23 that allows the strapped Jockeys Guild to receive its health and welfare program benefits in a much quicker fashion than in the past.
