Blood-Horse Though the Association of Racing Commissioners International remains a member of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium, it intends to take the lead role in gathering the information needed to set medication policies. RCI in December proposed a merger with the RMTC, a group of more than 20 industry stakeholders, but the RMTC declined. [...]

Blood-Horse The umbrella group for regulators in North America is examining a new approach to out-of-competition testing that would not only target blood-doping and gene-doping, but also help identify horses at risk of catastrophic injury. Out-of-competition testing, on the books in eight states, has different rules depending on the jurisdiction but was enacted generally to [...]

Blood-Horse Mary Kubota, a longtime trainer and popular racing official in the state of Washington, died Feb. 4 of lung cancer at her home in Renton, Wash. Kubota spent nearly three decades as a trainer, learning the profession under Washington Hall of Fame trainer Wayne Branch before taking out her license in the late 1970s. [...]

Blood-Horse The Stronach Group remains optimistic about the future of the horse racing industry in North America and will continue to push for what it believes are fundamental structural changes needed to move the business forward. That message was delivered Feb. 5 by Mike Rogers, president of the racing division for The Stronach Group, during [...]

Blood-Horse Three trainers have received suspensions and fines in Maryland in conjunction with positive tests for stanozolol, a synthetic steroid formerly known as Winstrol that is now available only through drug compounders. The steroid was detected by Truesdail Laboratories in samples taken from racehorses in December and January at Laurel Park, according to the official [...]

Blood-Horse As part of an examination of its equine medication rules, the Ohio State Racing Commission in February will begin hearing from various industry organizations involved in an effort to adopt uniform policies for all jurisdictions. The OSRC said Ed Martin, president of the Association of Racing Commissioners International, and Dr. Dionne Benson, executive director [...]

Blood-Horse On a final bid of $190,000 from George Bolton and Peter Leidel, a yearling filly from the first crop of multiple grade I winner The Factor topped the consignor preferred session of the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s winter mixed sale Jan. 28. Bidding was lively on the attractive gray or roan filly, a half [...]

Blood-Horse Eight tension-filled weeks have gone by since Churchill Downs Inc. told trainers to move 700 horses from a stable area it has designated for non-racing redevelopment at Calder Casino & Race Course in Miami Gardens, Fla. But Calder and CDI still have not applied for any of the permits required to tear down barns [...]

Daily Racing Form After a year-over-year dip in November, all-sources average daily handle at Fair Grounds rebounded nicely in December and as of Jan. 1 was up 5 percent compared with a similar period in 2013. For the 24 cards during November and December at this meet, Fair Grounds averaged $2,379,516 from all betting sources [...]

NHBPA The National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA) will hold its Winter Convention in Carefree, AZ at the Carefree Resort & Conference Center from Wednesday February 4th to Sunday February 8th with the Arizona HBPA as the host affiliate. Scheduled on the agenda are multiple panels that will be of interest to NHBPA convention [...]