News and notes

• New York has finally come of age and done away with restrictions on simulcast signals including ones that limited thoroughbred cards to 7pm. This will take effect immediately.
• The Belmont will be run as race 11 on a 13 race card. The post time for the race will be 6:38pm.
• NYRA has been granted an extension of their franchise provided that they have VLT�s installed at Aqueduct by next spring. Their contract will go from 2007 to 2013 if they meet the deadline.
• Richard Migliore won the 2003 Mike Venezia Award.
• Monmouth Park opens for an extended 2003 meeting on Saturday May 24, 2003. The meet will run until September 28, 2003.
• Magna Entertainment Corporation will be selling $100 million in bonds bearing an 8.85% interest rate to raise cash for corporate purposes.
• Churchill Downs & Daily Racing Form are offering a contest on every Wednesday card of the meet. The prize money will be $2,000 until the contest gets to Thursday May 29, 2003 (there is no racing that Wed. because of the holiday on Monday) at which point the prize money will jump up to $5,000. The contest costs $20 to enter and is restricted in size to 350 people. Registration is at the Skye Terrace Elevators from 11:30am to 2:15pm. For contestants there will be a complimentary food station and free Daily Racing Forms handed out while supplies last.
• Lone Star Park will lower the takeout on pick four wagers from25% to 15% for the Memorial Day Card.
  A plan has been proposed by the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association to the National Thoroughbred Racing Association to help them revise some stakes races and move them around for scheduling purposes. As this develops we will keep you up to date on developments w/ this proposal and outline what they have planned.
• Youbet.com deducted winnings from several accounts more than 12 hours after the Wood Memorial was run this past Saturday. Winning and losing wagers were paid back because the bets were not transmitted to Aqueduct in time.
• Television Games Network uses the same hub but they honored the winning bets and refunded the losing bets. Kudos to them for their stepping up and doing the right thing for their customers.
• The Grade 2 Mass Cap will not be run this year. Suffolk Downs officials sited the closing of Rockingham Park as a thoroughbred track and thus forcing the extension of the Suffolk meet as the reason. Several other reasons that factored into this decision were the amount of revenue lost due to weather related cancellations and the state-funded purse supplement was below the level of expectation.
• Mohegan Sun Race Book is offering a free handicapping contest on the following dates, March 13 & 27, April 10 & 24, & May 29. The contest at least for the first few events will be based on the Gulfstream Park races to start the contest. It is called �Showdown� with the object being to pick a horse to finish in the money in seven consecutive races. The winner/survivor will take home $2,000 in prize money.
  Should multiple players survive the winner will be the highest combined show mutuel earnings