The two mildly interesting 3-year-old races run on Saturday may not turn out to have any impact on the Derby at all. Yet the Derby Trial may have put Don't Get Mad back in the picture and revived the hopes of those who fell for the deep closer back in February, when he almost ran down a horse who was loose on the lead running over a speed-favoring surface.
Don't Get Mad, trained by Ron Ellis, won the Derby Trial by seven lengths, blowing by race favorite Vicarage at the eighth pole.

Last news said that SX Networks is interested in entering to the market of the Internet Games, specifically to the Online Casinos growing world. It will be a big challenge to this company and it will require a big investment. They think to corner competitive markets and also gain ground in many countries with different languages.

SX Networks already has some experience in the area, developing software for some Casinos’ sites. Although now, it will be SX Networks’ total responsibility of creating, developing, setting it in motion and keeping updated their own sites. There are going to be launched almost one hundred sites in five languages (English, Spanish, French, Italian, German), in different categories (bingo, poker, slots, backgammon). Different names are even handled: OnlineCasino888.com, SlotMacchina.com, OnlineSpielAutomaten.com, CasinosEnEspanol.com, among others.

The Massachusetts State Lottery wants to offer "virtual horse racing," a proposal that could make it the first state in the nation to allow wagering on the computer-generated races.

Lottery officials announced plans this week to debut the Daily Race Game/Run for the Money in November or December at restaurants and bars.

They expect it to eventually draw $150 million in annual revenue.

The latest proposal to expand gambling would include a subsidy to aid Illinois horse racing, and Gov. Rod Blagojevich signaled Wednesday that he is interested in the idea.

The proposal by Rep. Robert Molaro (D-Chicago) is similar to the plan Blagojevich suggested last month.

It would let existing casinos expand to include 3,000 slot machines and table games, up from the current limit of 1,200.

The Prince of Wales’s wedding to Camilla Parker Bowles tonight disrupted the racing world as Aintree organisers decided to delay the start of the world famous Grand National.
One of horse racing’s favourite events is to be pushed back by 25 minutes on Saturday because its coverage clashed with that of the heir to the throne’s big day.
Charles and Camilla switched their wedding at the last minute yesterday from Friday to Saturday because it coincided with the Pope’s funeral in Rome.

The sport is struggling to hold on to a loyal audience as fans are lured away throughout the U.S. by other forms of gambling

There are about 100 thoroughbred racetracks in the U.S., but the linchpins of a long-troubled sport are three companies that own 20 of them.

Those companies — Churchill Downs Inc. in Louisville, Ky., Magna Entertainment Inc. in suburban Toronto, and the New York Racing Assn. — might have a corner on the industry, but they also bear the burden of racing's mountain of problems.

It's that time of the season for a rodeo, horse races, greased pigs and a barbecue of 4,000 pounds of beef.

The 50th annual Flagler County Cracker Day -- one of the area's most popular events -- will be Saturday at the fairgrounds. More than 4,000 people are expected to attend, said Pat Cody, secretary of the Flagler County Cattlemen's Association, the organization that sponsors the festival.

"We're expecting a record crowd," Cody said.

Declan's Moon, the reigning divisional champion and the early favorite for the 131st Kentucky Derby, is off the Triple Crown trail after being diagnosed with a knee chip that is not career-threatening but will sideline him through the summer.

Declan's Moon, owned by the Jay Em Ess Stable of Mace and Samantha Siegel, has a "small, non-displaced chip" in his left knee, said trainer Ron Ellis. "The veterinarians are still trying to decide whether or not it's going to require surgery. He's going to get 60 days off, and after that he'll be re-evaluated. Obviously that takes us out of all the big races at least through the summer."

EchoStar Communications Corp. and TVG Network launched the first, nationwide interactive television horseracing channel.

The new Interactive Television, or ITV channel, will allow TVG Network viewers to access news and information about horseracing and, in certain markets, to participate in pari-mutuel wagering on horse races using EchoStar's DISH Network satellite TV system.

TVG Network is an interactive horseracing network, reaching nearly 14 million subscribers and featuring live horseracing from America's premier racetracks as well as original programming for racing's major events. TVG Network is a subsidiary of Gemstar-TV Guide International Inc.

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The Kentucky Horse Racing Authority (KHRA), taking action that had been urged by Governor Ernie Fletcher, last tuesday voted to adopt a new, model drug rule for race-day medications at state tracks.

The vote signaled an end to a liberal policy under which multiple medications could be administered to thoroughbred horses on race days.

Governor Fletcher, at a meeting of the newly constituted Equine Drug Research Council (EDRC) in December, urged its members to consider the model rule and to provide national leadership on the issue. The council subsequently recommended the action taken by the KHRA today - adoption of a policy developed by the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium to permit only Salix, a medication for bleeding, to be given to thoroughbreds on days they raced.