gaming

The Commerce Committee in the Florida House of Representatives reported favorably Feb. 3 on the controversial decoupling bill backed by Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs that would allow either track to cease live racing while retaining their respective casino and card-room privileges. The vote appeared to be 15-9. The decision was largely split along party lines, with the "no" votes cast by Democrats and only two Republicans splitting off from the "yes" votes to oppose the bill. (One voice vote was inaudible during the roll call; the Florida legislature's...

Historical Horse Race (HHR) gambling is not explicitly legal in Florida. But on Oct. 28, an online sportsbook in that state run by the Seminole Tribe quietly rolled out an offshoot of it that, like versions of HHR that are purse-producing economic engines in states like Kentucky and Arkansas, mimics the look and feel of slot-machine play while generating payouts based on the results of archived races. Except in this new suite of betting opportunities, the results that drive the gameplay don't come from a library of past Thoroughbred races....

Hawthorne Race Course and Fairmount Park came into Thursday's Illinois Racing Board (IRB) after having considered and swapped back and forth 12 different versions of racing calendars for 2026 that the two tracks hoped would dovetail for the benefit of all racing in the state. But as the Sept. 18 meeting approached the three-hour mark and differences remained over many of the same issues that have complicated the Illinois calendar the past several seasons--chief among them the state's tenuous Thoroughbred population and the fact that Hawthorne also must switch its...

After a fruitless last three appearances against elite company, juvenile champion Citizen Bull (Into Mischief) returned to his winning ways after major class relief in the Shared Belief Stakes. Off the board in the GI Woody Stephens, GI Kentucky Derby, and GI Santa Anita Derby in his last three starts, it had been a tough spring for the Bob Baffert trainee after a sensational juvenile season which saw him win two Grade I races, including the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, and take home top prize as the best 2-year-old colt...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert is sending a strong contingent to Saratoga Race Course for Travers Day next Saturday. But he won't have a runner in the marquee event, the GI DraftKings Travers Stakes. Baffert said Wednesday that he is keeping 'TDN Rising Star' Goal Oriented (Not This Time) in California. He had originally been planning on shipping the lightly raced colt East but nixed that idea after Goal Oriented worked at Del Mar on Friday. He went seven furlongs in a 1:23.80 (1/2). "He...

HOT SPRINGS, Ark--Clever Again (c, 3, American Pharoah--Flattering {Ire}, by Galileo {Ire}), coming off a 3 1/4-length maiden score, made the jump to stakes company with aplomb Sunday, going wire-to-wire to win the Hot Springs Stakes at Oaklawn Park. The 6-5 shot set fractions of :23.76 and :46.98 with even-money favorite Gaming (Game Winner) tracking in second. Clever Again opened up on the final turn and sailed clear to an easy four-length victory, completing the mile in 1:37.13. It was jockey Jose Ortiz's fifth win in two days of racing...

With recent rain at Santa Anita limiting training Friday on the main track to joggers only, GI Del Mar Futurity winner Gaming (Game Winner) took to the synthetic training track to post a six-furlong work ahead of an expected tilt in next weekend's Virginia Derby at Colonial Downs. Gaming was clocked going over the Tapeta in 1:12.60 (1/2). Last Friday, Gaming worked six furlongs from the gate in a bullet 1:11.80 on the main track. Trained by Bob Baffert, Gaming exits an eighth-place finish in the GIII Southwest Stakes Jan....

The catalogue for the OBS March sale has been released and is now available online. The three-day sale will run from Mar. 11 to Mar. 13 and each session will begin at 11:00 a.m. HIPS 1-272 will go through the ring Mar. 11, then 273-544 the day after, and lastly 545-814. The under-tack show will begin Mar. 5 and run through Mar. 8 starting at 8:00 a.m. each day. The show, and subsequent sale, will both be streamed live via the OBS website as well as the TDN. There will...

The English polymath John Ruskin, who was always hard at work scribbling a well-timed observation for some future generation to co-opt, said when it came to the weather, "Sunshine is delicious, rain is refreshing, wind braces us up, snow is exhilarating; there is really no such thing as bad weather, only different kinds of good weather." Well, bully for you Mr. Ruskin! Send him a going stick and put him to work on the nearest turf course. Some might care to offer quite a different observation after recent events. What...

Dornoch (Good Magic), Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) and Fierceness (City of Light) in the Three-Year-Old Male category were among the finalists for the 2024 Resolute Racing Eclipse Awards, recognizing excellence through the past year in Thoroughbred racing, the National Thoroughbred Racing Associaiton (NTRA) said in a Sunday release. Winners in 17 horse and human categories will be announced on FanDuel TV, and other outlets, during the ceremony, presented by John Deere, Keeneland, and The Jockey Club, on Thursday, Jan. 23 at 7:30 p.m. ET. The evening will culminate with the...

Bob Baffert trainees Citizen Bull (Into Mischief) and Gaming (Game Winner), who made up the exacta in the GI FanDuel Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Del Mar Nov. 1, were among several notables to record timed workouts Saturday morning at Santa Anita. A contender for the Eclipse Award as the top 2-year-old colt, Citizen Bull drilled alongside stablemate Richi (Chi) (Practical Joke) going five furlongs in 59.40 seconds, which was the second-fastest of 59 works at the distance. Gaming worked five furlongs in 1:02.60. For Citizen Bull, this was his third...

Welcome to the Road to the Kentucky Derby, Journalism. Showcasing the same stalk-and-pounce ability that earned him a maiden win going just a 1/16 of a mile shorter last month, Journalism (Curlin) employed the same tactics Saturday night to upset a trio of Bob Baffert runners and take the GII Los Alamitos Futurity for Michael McCarthy and earn himself 10 points toward the first Saturday in May. The least experienced runner in the field by starts made (tied with 26-1 longshot Mellencamp {Constitution} who exited the same debut race), the...