LEXINGTON, Ky. -- After 23 horses died at Santa Anita this year and an unprecedented 36 died in Kentucky last year, the horse industry is investing money in track surface research.

The National Thoroughbred Racing Association announced Wednesday a $100,000 grant to the University of Kentucky, for Mick Peterson, director of the UK Ag Equine ...Read more

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Churchill Downs, home of racing's biggest day, the Kentucky Derby, announced on Thursday that it and other Triple Crown racetracks would begin phasing out the use of a controversial race-day medication, beginning next year.

Lasix use will be eliminated in all stakes races at the racetracks beginning in 2021, according to the ...Read more

BALTIMORE -- The last remaining historic section of Pimlico Race Course is being shut down a month before the upcoming Preakness Stakes after an engineering firm determined that 6,670 seats in the Old Grandstand's open-air section are "no longer suitable to sustain that level of load bearing weight."

The Maryland Jockey Club has scheduled a ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- The Jockeys' Guild has called off its planned no-whip day on Friday after reaching an agreement with the Thoroughbred Owners of California.

This halts an experiment that had showed no shortage of horses at the entry box but was being watched nationally to see if the lack of a whip would discourage bettors and have an impact on ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- The California Horse Racing Board canceled Friday's scheduled meeting to discuss its ability to reassign racing dates should Santa Anita elect to suspend racing in the future. The meeting was rescheduled for Thursday, April 18. No explanation was given for the postponement, although the added time gives affected parties more time ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Saturday is the biggest day of the year for the 85-year-old Santa Anita track, not just in terms of the racing, but also its survival.

Talk would normally be about who will emerge from the Santa Anita Derby to join the favorites for the Kentucky Derby. Four of the last five winners have been stabled in Southern California and two...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- It was more than a decade ago that thoroughbred racing thought it had found a surefire way to reduce injuries -- and fatalities -- among its horses.

California and Kentucky helped spearhead a movement to rip up traditional dirt tracks and replace them with synthetic compounds designed to prevent 1,000-pound animals from breaking ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- California Sen. Dianne Feinstein called for the suspension of races at Santa Anita until an investigation into what has caused 23 horses to die at the track since late December is complete.

In a letter sent to California Horse Racing Board chairman Chuck Winner on Tuesday, Feinstein, a Democrat, wrote she is "appalled that almost...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- The television cameras lined up horizontally every 15 feet, facing the Santa Anita race track with the San Gabriel Mountains in the background, a view that for the horse racing industry has become an unwelcome staple of morning television.

It was here Monday morning that track operators, trainers, jockeys and media specialists ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- A 23rd horse fatality has occurred at Santa Anita since Dec. 26 when Arms Runner fell on the dirt crossover portion of the hillside turf course Sunday and was later euthanized. La Sardane, who was behind Arms Runner, couldn't avoid the fallen horse, tripped and went to the ground, but got right back up.

The death was confirmed by...Read more

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. -- In late December the horse was bought for $16,000 in a claiming race at Gulfstream Park, pocket change in the pricey world of thoroughbred racing.

Suffice to say, Maximum Security is worth a little more today -- his value skyrocketing on Saturday on the very same track where he'd been purchased for peanuts 10 weeks ...Read more

ARCADIA, Calif. -- Almost a month after Santa Anita stopped racing because of a surge in horse deaths, the track reopened under a cloudless sky on Friday and completed its eight-race card with no incidents.

The last day Santa Anita held live racing was March 3, but a series of deaths that now total 22 forced the track to close and try and ...Read more

With April fast approaching, we're entering the heart of Kentucky Derby prep season. The perceived top contenders have run their first races of the year and most are readying for their final pre-Derby tests.

We don't have a clear favorite, and it's healthy to remember that as of April 1, 2018, eventual Triple Crown winner Justify had run ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- It was four years ago that American Pharoah made horse racing the biggest story in sports, if only for one weekend, when he became the first horse to win the Triple Crown in nearly four decades.

It was an accomplishment that never would have been realized had he not won the first of those races, the Kentucky Derby. And that ...Read more

BALTIMORE -- The owner of Pimlico Race Course sent a letter Wednesday to the city of Baltimore's top lawyer, asking him to withdraw an attempt to seize ownership of the track and the Preakness Stakes on the grounds that under Maryland law, only the state has the authority to seek such action.

Mayor Catherine Pugh sued The Stronach Group's ...Read more