The Stronach Group

Back in 1988, attendance for the GI Preakness Stakes at Laurel Race Course was 7,372. By 2002, the Preakness crowd at the renamed Laurel Park had more than doubled, to 15,917. Of course, those figures from decades ago weren't for the in-person, live running of the second jewel of the Triple Crown. Those head counts represent only people who turned out for Laurel's simulcast of the Preakness. The race itself was conducted 28 miles north at the Preakness's traditional Baltimore home, Pimlico Race Course. In that era, the Preakness throng...

The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) on Thursday voted down a pair of dates allocation requests for spring and summer meets at Red Bluff (Tehama District Fair) and Ferndale (Humboldt County Fair), meaning that no Thoroughbred racing is likely to occur in 2026 on the state's once-vibrant Northern circuit that has been dark since December of 2024. "As much as I'd like to see them do well, they have no chance of success," the CHRB's chairman, Gregory Ferraro, DVM, said prior to the first of two separate votes that each...

The judge overseeing the pending class-action federal lawsuit over computer-assisted wagering (CAW) on Friday put a halt to "discovery" in the case, meaning that for the time being, the small-scale bettor who initiated the litigation back in October won't be able to go forward with the process of trying to gather evidence from some of the nation's biggest tracks and bet-takers who are named as defendants in the suit. The order by Judge Joan Azrack was entered into the electronic docket late in the afternoon of Feb. 20 without any...

In an abrupt switch of plans that had seemed cemented for the past year as part of the $400-million "Pimlico Plus" rebuild of Maryland's Thoroughbred racing infrastructure, the Maryland Stadium Authority (MSA) is abandoning plans to convert its recently purchased Shamrock Farm in Carroll County into an 800-horse training center, and will instead buy Laurel Park from The Stronach Group (TSG) with the intention of turning it into an 1,100-horse training facility. With Pimlico Race Course now demolished and projected to be rebuilt in time for the 2027 GI Preakness...

Santa Anita Park has canceled live racing on Sunday, Jan. 4 as the final round of strong storms pushes out of the Southern California area, the track said in a press release on Sunday morning. The storm has dropped more than 10 inches of rain on the Arcadia, California, track since an atmospheric river began pummeling the West Coast Dec. 23. "The weather is set to improve significantly by Monday, and we don't have any rain in sight for the next 10 days or so," said Santa Anita Park's General...

Santa Anita Park has canceled live racing for Saturday, Jan. 3 as the latest in a series of powerful storms is set to drop more rain on the Southern California area throughout the afternoon, the track said in a press release early on Saturday. A decision for Sunday's racing program will be made early in the morning to evaluate the most up-to-date forecast for the saturated Southland. A makeup live racing day will be added Thursday, Jan. 15. This is in addition to the previously announced addition of live racing...

In the days leading up to and after Christmas, parties on both sides of the pending class-action lawsuit involving computer-assisted wagering (CAW) have sparred in federal court over whether allegations that the nation's biggest racetracks have conspired with "insider" high-volume bettors to rig pari-mutuel pools at the expense of average horseplayers constitute valid claims under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO). The defendants in the lawsuit-which include The Stronach Group (TSG), Churchill Downs, Inc. (CDI), the New York Racing Association (NYRA), AmTote International, United Tote and Elite Turf...

With what feels like the culmination from years of mounting pressure, the volcano of opprobrium over Computer Assisted Wagering (CAW) erupted this summer, spilling all over the industry. The debate around CAW players typically surrounds the edge they wield over regular gamblers thanks to their use of sophisticated technologies that allow them to precisely read the markets and to place massive wagers across many pools in the final seconds of betting-sometimes leading to extreme late odds changes-as well as the attractive rates and rebates offered to them which are unavailable...

Set to begin Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27 and run through Mar. 29, Gulfstream Park's 2025-2026 Championship Meet will offer a schedule with 68 stakes, 27 graded, worth $15.2 million in purses, 1/ST Racing said in a Thursday press release. The signature South Florida meet is highlighted by the $3 million GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational and the $1 million GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational Jan. 24, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary. On closing weekend, the $1 million GI Curlin Florida Derby is scheduled for Mar. 28. The key...

The folks who fought to preserve racing at the Northern California's remote half-miler in Ferndale deserve tremendous respect and credit for soldiering on to the bitter end. Make no mistake, the cessation of racing at the Humboldt County Fairgrounds in the coastal region of NorCal definitely rates as "bitter." There is no sugarcoating this one like a sticky tuft of cotton candy from the midway of Humboldt County's charmingly rural fairgrounds, whose ties to the sport date to 1896. Advocates for racing at Ferndale (pop. 1,398), a Victorian village with...

In an era when corporate-controlled entities are actively looking for ways to close down much larger racetracks in various areas throughout America, the Humboldt County Fair Association--better known as Ferndale--stood out in recent months for its dogged desire to get approval to run a three-weekend race meet at the Northern California half-miler, even after the other county fairs tracks on the once-robust circuit had abandoned or were forced out of racing for 2025. But against the stated backdrop of a desire to promote "single-circuit" California racing by directing revenue from...

It was a very good week for the Thoroughbred Racing Initiative (TRI), the group leading the fight to kill bills in the Florida legislature that would allow for decoupling at Gulfstream Park, which would mean the track could continue to offer casino gaming without the requisite that it must hold live thoroughbred racing. The matter had come to the attention of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who attended the OBS April sale on Thursday and made it clear where he stands on the issue.     "You can count on me as...