A multi-party agreement has paved the way for a three-year funding model for Hastings Racecourse in British Columbia, Canada, officials said Feb. 17. The 2014 Thoroughbred meet is expected to begin in late April or early May.
The Michigan Gaming Control Board has authorized Thoroughbred meets at Hazel Park and Northville Downs in the Detroit metropolitan area for 2014, horse racing interests in the state reported Jan. 21.
The New York Gaming Commission, during a Jan. 21 public hearing, heard the pros and cons of having different medication rules for Thoroughbred and Standardbred racehorses.
MGM Resorts International has won a three-way race for a license to build a resort casino in Prince George's County, Md., just south of Washington, D.C. And the future of a racetrack remains up in the air.
Amid another call for separate medication rules for Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds, the Ohio State Racing Commission has indicated it's not prepared to adopt a uniform national drug policy.
The United States Trotting Association, which in late September dropped out of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium and rejected model medication rules approved by RCI, has created its own drug advisory committee.
Split with Standardbreds keeps uniformity elusive. read blog
A major proponent for national uniform medication rules said Sept. 26 the move by the United States Trotting Association to drop out of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium won't derail the effort.
Jockey Chantal Sutherland-Kruse, who hadn't been aboard a Standardbred in about 20 years, she piloted DW's NY Yank to a trotting-under-saddle record at The Meadows Racetrack & Casino in Pennsylvania Sept. 23.
Jockey Chantal Sutherland-Kruse,currently riding at Del Mar, will attempt to set a North American record riding a Standardbred under saddle at The Meadows Racetrack & Casino in Pennsylvania Sept. 23.
The Ohio State Racing Commission is moving forward to adopt drug-testing threshold levels as part of national model rules, and also indicated it will switch to post-race TCO2 screening and bring Thoroughbreds into the mix.
A New York racetrack hoping to be considered for a full-scale casino announced a $30 million development project that will include a hotel, event center, and upscale restaurant.
Millennium Gaming has upped its ante significantly for the casino project it hopes to develop at Rockingham Park, but the company hasn't decided whether live Thoroughbred racing will return should it win a gaming license.
Keeneland officials said they view their plan to build a Quarter Horse racetrack and entertainment center in southeastern Kentucky as part of an overall effort to improve the economics of the horse industry.
The Kentucky House Appropriations and Revenue Committee passed legislation authorizing a tax on advance deposit wagering Feb. 12, but it remains to be seen if all parties agree on the language in the measure.
The number of Thoroughbred broodmares registered in Ohio in 2012 jumped 53.9% from 2011 to 2012, according to Ohio State Racing Commission statistics.
Cutting the number of Thoroughbred race dates in Ontario and reducing purses are some of the recommendations put forth by the government commissioned Horse Racing Transition Panel in a final report released Oct. 30.
Dave Palone became the all-time leading Standardbred driver by victories at 15,181 when he won the eighth race at The Meadows Racetrack & Casino in western Pennsylvania July 5.
A Standardbred trainer was suspended in New York May 24 for an alleged 1,700 equine medication violations after a joint investigation by New York and New Jersey regulators.
The United States Trotting Association has formed a committee to examine a proposal to use a small percentage of gaming revenue to support marketing and enhanced equine drug testing, but stopped short of endorsing the plan.
The Ontario provincial government said March 12 it will be ending payments to racetracks through the slots-at-racetracks program in March 2013. The result could mean potential closures for many of the province's 17 tracks.
A top government official in Ontario Feb. 14 questioned the $345 million horse racing gets from province-operated slot machines given a $16 billion budget deficit.
For some, owning racehorses may be more about love of the game than making a lot of money--but that doesn't mean you can sustain that model over the long haul, owners said Dec. 6.
Penn National Gaming Inc. has submitted an application to the Maryland Racing Commission to resume operations at shuttered Rosecroft Raceway June 1.
A battle over purse supplements for a New Jersey harness track that dates back to 2008 was resolved with the Feb. 6 announcement that purses at Freehold Raceway will increase by almost $5 million over the next year.
Colonial Downs will host a mixed breed card of horse racing Sept. 13 that includes eight harness races, two steeplechase races, and one Thoroughbred race.
The Kentucky Equine Education Project is organizing a rally June 17 in the Capitol Rotunda to drum up support for legislation that would financially assist the horse industry.
A Maryland harness track that hasn't offered live racing in almost a year also lost its Thoroughbred simulcast rights April 28 when it was ordered by the Maryland Racing Commission to cease operations.
The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission announced March 27 the Kentucky Breeders' Incentive Fund will distribute more than $18.7 million in awards for 2008.
Two days following a Dec. 8 report that a Standardbred had tested positive at a Delaware training center, blood and nasal swab samples were collected from all horses in the quarantined barn and submitted to the University of Kentucky for PCR testing to detect the disease.
The parent company of Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort in West Virginia announced Dec. 4 it has ceased operations at Jackson Harness Raceway, a Michigan facility it purchased in 2005.
Issues surrounding a $90-million purse subsidy from Atlantic City casinos continue to plague the New Jersey horseracing industry.
Requests for 2009 racing dates in Illinois show a few overlaps, including a month between Arlington Park and Hawthorne Race Course in late summer and early fall.
Delays in a purse supplement or other forms of financial relief from the state have led New Jersey's harness racing industry to brace for serious purse reductions.
Penn National Gaming Inc. said Nov. 28 it will not purchase Rosecroft Raceway, a Maryland harness track, in light of the fact the facility will not be eligible for slot machines under legislation passed by the Maryland General Assembly.
Capitol Racing at Les Bois Park wrapped up its 46-day live racing season Aug. 11 with double-digit increases in on-track attendance and handle.
The continuing decline in foal crops in Ohio has led the horse racing industry to step up lobbying for assistance from the state legislature.
A new report by the New York Senate Committee on Racing, Gaming, and Wagering lists the top 10 problems in horse racing in the state and solutions for them.
Slot machines may help purses, but in a competitive environment--even in the same state--they don't guarantee a large horse population if one New York track is any indication.
A judge has denied a request for a restraining order but granted a show-cause order in connection with a lawsuit filed by the Standardbred Owners and Breeders Association of New Jersey against the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority and TVG.
The Standardbred Breeders and Owners Association of New Jersey has started legal action in connection with the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority's contract awarding TVG exclusive rights to the harness signal from Meadowlands.
Thoroughbred owners and trainers are willing to forgo racing dates at the State Fair in Sacramento this summer to allow for harness racing, but moving out of Fairplex Park for a new harness meet in Southern California is another matter.
The Maryland Racing Commission has unanimously approved the sale of Rosecroft Raceway to Georgia K. Angelos, wife of Peter Angelos, majority owner of the Baltimore Orioles and a Thoroughbred owner and breeder.
Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse interests in Iowa oppose a plan by the Standardbred industry to shift a larger percentage of purse money at Prairie Meadows to harness racing.
Magna Entertainment Corp. has expressed it intentions to bid on the lease of Cal Expo in Sacramento, Calif., and take over the 10-month-long Standardbred meet.
Thistledown, the Magna Entertainment Corp.-owned racetrack that has battled for years over simulcasts with a neighboring harness track, received approval Aug. 10 from the Ohio State Racing Commission to import races it hasn't been able to take because of state law.
The Red Mile expects to offer at least $100,000 in purses when Quarter Horse racing returns to Kentucky for the first time in more than 10 years July 3-4 at the Lexington racetrack.
Meadowlands, where Thoroughbreds and Standardbreds have raced on the same program, will link the two breeds together June 5 when it offers a special daily double on the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) and the first race of its evening harness card.
A stalemate between Thoroughbred and Standardbred horsemen in Ohio continued when the Ohio Harness Horsemen's Association declined a proposal by the Ohio Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association to submit to mediation to resolve financial issues tied to state law.
The Maryland Racing Commission adjourned April 21 after two days of hearings without resolving the ownership issue at Rosecroft Raceway or the simulcasting dispute between the Thoroughbred and Standardbred industries.
