Lincoln Journal Star For the first time in years, Nebraska horse tracks in 2016 are expected to host more live race days than they did the prior year. Nebraska horse racing has been on a steady decline since peaking in 1988 when there were 233 racing days and $214.6 million wagered ($474.3 million in today’s [...]

Star Tribune Kellyn Gorder is a well-regarded thoroughbred trainer. Bourbon Warfare won a maiden race for him at Churchill Downs on Nov. 22, 2014. The horse was drug tested and came back for a trace of methamphetamine. “Trace” should be taken literally. A picogram is one-­trillionth of a gram. Split samples are taken in drug [...]

American Racehorse The Indiana Horse Racing Commission hosted Indiana’s first Horse Racing Summit November 20 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds in Indianapolis, Indiana. The open-invitation public meeting provided participants an opportunity to share their thoughts, concerns and suggestions with members of the Indiana Horse Racing Commission. There were over one-hundred individuals in attendance representing all [...]

Blood-Horse Turfway Park has submitted an application for historical race wagering, according to an agenda for the Dec. 1 Kentucky Horse Racing Commission meeting. If the application is approved, Turfway would become the fifth Kentucky racetrack to install the machines, which resemble video lottery terminals but are considered pari-mutuel under KHRC rules. Historical race wagering [...]

Blood-Horse Trainer Doug O'Neill earned his 2,000th victory of his career Nov. 22 at Del Mar, when Formally Wild crossed the wire first in a seven-furlong, $8,000 claiming event at the Southern California racetrack. Jockey Tyler Baze punctuated the 1 1/2-length win, ahead of second-place finisher and stablemate Ultimate Luck, with a fist pump just [...]

Blood-Horse With the Virginia Racing Commission recently denying Colonial Downs' efforts to host a limited Thoroughbred meet of 20 dates next year, the Virginia Equine Alliance updated its members Nov. 20 on its efforts to find a home for Thoroughbred racing in the state and other initiatives. Colonial Downs has not offered live racing in [...]

Blood-Horse The West Virginia Racing Commission Nov. 18 approved customary live racing dates, but the schedules for Hollywood Casino at Charles Town Races and Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort are expected to be drastically reduced. The WVRC at its monthly meeting discussed racing dates for 2016 and approved the statutory minimums of 220 programs at [...]

Paulick Report The 2015 Big Sport of Turfdom Award – recognizing a person or group of people who enhance coverage of Thoroughbred racing through cooperation with media and racing publicists – has been awarded to the connections of American Pharoah, the Turf Publicists of America (TPA) announced today. “Team American Pharoah” – led by owner [...]

Blood-Horse Citing Colonial Downs' recent history of giving up its racing license, the Virginia Racing Commission on Nov. 17 denied an application from Colonial to conduct a limited race meet. VRC executive director Bernie Hettel said the commission denied the application based on Colonial giving up its racing license in 2014. In giving up that [...]

Blood-Horse The Indiana Horse Racing Commission, as part of its first industry summit meeting Nov. 20, is seeking feedback from racing stakeholders on ways to improve the economics and promotion of horse racing in the state. In a Nov. 16 memo IHRC chairman Tom Weatherwax said he is seeking "open dialogue" on issues in the [...]