Blood-Horse The West Virginia Racing Commission June 16 signed off on a plan by Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack & Resort to shave 50 racing programs from its 2015 schedule. Mountaineer by statute last year submitted a request for 210 live racing programs for this year. Competition for horses with a new track in Ohio—Hollywood Gaming at [...]

Blood-Horse Team Valor International racing partners and Barry and Kathleen Irwin presented Mercedes Hernandez with the John R. Velazquez Scholarship June 14 at Belmont Park. Hernandez, an aspiring veterinarian, met the Irwins and Velazquez in the Belmont Park winner's circle for a ceremonial check presentation with Elisabeth Jensen, president and executive director of The Race [...]

Blood-Horse Representatives of a group of vociferous and angry New England Thoroughbred racing stakeholders showed up in force at a Massachusetts Gaming Commission hearing June 11 to voice their strong opposition to the supplemental application of Suffolk Downs to conduct three days of live racing in 2015. Bill Lagorio, who has been a trainer for [...]

Blood-Horse Gulfstream Park in July plans to experiment with at least two 2-year-old races that will be written for horses that don't compete on race-day furosemide, officials said June 11. The Florida Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association said track management indicated the first of the races will be included in the condition book that begins [...]

TCA Thoroughbred Charities of America announced it has awarded grants totaling $511,650 to 67 Thoroughbred industry-related non-profits that work to uphold TCA's mission. Grant recipients from the last three years can be found on www.tca.org. TCA distributes grants to several categories of Thoroughbred-related non-profits, including retirement, rehabilitation and adoption organizations; backstretch and farm employee programs; [...]

Blood-Horse Given record wagering during the opening week of its spring meet, Churchill Downs June 9 announced a 10% hike in overnight purses for the remaining 11 programs of the meeting. Based on the announcement, effective June 11, the purse for a maiden special weight event for 3-year-olds or older will go for $55,000, up [...]

Daily Racing Form Hazel Park Raceway announced a 15 percent purse reduction until further notice on Tuesday in the overnight for Friday’s races. The decision between track management and the Michigan Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association came in response to declining purse fund revenue from simulcast wagering. “It’s just an attempt to extend the meet [...]

Blood-Horse Ogden Mills "Dinny" Phipps, who has served as chairman of The Jockey Club for the past 32 years, announced June 8 that he will resign his chairmanship, effective Aug. 8. The Jockey Club's board of stewards will meet on that day, following the annual meeting of the membership. Phipps, 74, a prominent Thoroughbred owner [...]

Blood-Horse The drought is mercifully over. In the 37th year after Affirmed swept the classics in 1978, Zayat Stables' American Pharoah toyed with the field of seven other horses to win the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes Presented by DraftKings (gr. I) June 6 at Belmont Park (VIDEO). After a good break, the Pioneerof the Nile [...]

Blood-Horse Three members of Congress June 4 introduced legislation to regulate equine medication and drug testing—but it's not the same bill proposed by U.S. Rep. Paul Tonko of New York and endorsed by a Thoroughbred industry coalition. The American Horse Council, which represents all breeds of horses in Washington, D.C., said Reps. Joe Pitts of [...]