Blood-Horse All-sources pari-mutuel handle is up 10.3% year-to-date at Tampa Bay Downs, which puts the Florida racetrack on course to average more than $4 million per day and finish with its highest wagering total since the 2010-11 meet. Also through Feb. 22, average field size is up 9% year-to-date, from 8.26 to 9.00 starters per [...]

Blood-Horse Crediting its racing, casino, and online businesses, Churchill Downs Inc. enjoyed record net revenues of $812.9 million in 2014, while also finishing the year with record revenues in the fourth quarter. For the year, CDI net revenues increased $33.6 million, or 4%, powered by the acquisitions of Oxford Casino and Big Fish Games, along [...]

Paulick Report For the second time this race meet, Oaklawn will increase all overnight purses between $1,000 and $3,000 starting Thursday, Feb. 26. Maiden Special Weights and Allowances races are increasing by $3,000, bringing maidens to $64,000 and Allowances to as high as $69,000. Oaklawn, which has among the highest average field size in the [...]

NHBPA Chief Executive Officer, NHBPA The CEO is responsible for the management, administration, finance, benevolence, growth and membership services of the national non-profit organization that represents 30 affiliated state/local organizations. The CEO reports directly to the NHBPA Chairman and its Board of Directors and serves as the National HBPA’s chief paid staff officer at its [...]

NHBPA As previously reported, Philip Hanrahan has stepped down as Chief Executive Officer of the National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association effective February 15th. Hanrahan has served as CEO since 2011. NHBPA President, Robin Richards, stated, “While Phil will be hard to replace, we look forward to a robust process to find a suitable replacement. [...]

Blood-Horse A deal that would allow horsemen to lease Suffolk Downs and operate a live race meet in 2015 and 2016 appears to be close at hand, representatives said at a hearing of the Massachusetts Gaming Commission in Boston Feb.19. "We've made good progress, but it's a complicated agreement, because it's not like a traditional [...]

Daily Racing Form A Florida Senate committee on Wednesday approved a bill that would require the state’s racing commission to adopt a suite of new medication regulations that is being pushed nationally by groups seeking uniform rules among racing states. The Senate Regulated Industries Committee passed the bill unanimously, reporting it to the full Senate. [...]

NHBPA The National Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Association (NHBPA) on Sunday brought down the curtain on its winter convention after conducting a wide variety of forums and expanding its membership to include the Wyoming HBPA. The four-day event, hosted by the Arizona HBPA, was held at the Carefree Resort near Phoenix. In addition to the [...]

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 [...]