The bill, sponsored by John Perez (D-Los Angeles), would allow for exchange wagering, in which patrons barter with other patrons in assigning odds while the exchange provider retains a small fee. Typically, the betting form relies on Internet technology.

Betfair Group Ltd., which purchased racing channel and advance-deposit wagering company TVG last year for $50-million, pioneered exchange wagering.

The bill would require the betting exchange to be licensed by the California Horse Racing Board, the racing association or fair conducting the meet, and the horsemen’s organization responsible for negotiated purse agreements. These provisions appear to assure the involved parties the opportunity to negotiate a percentage of money from the exchange provider’s fee be committed to the tracks and horsemen.

The CHRB would have the ability to prescribe rules, regulations, and conditions for exchange wagering in the state. New Jersey lawmakers also are considering allowing exchange wagering on horse racing. The California bill was amended on Friday to include language that would allow betting exchanges in the state.

The bill also calls for a 2% takeout increase to 22.68% on exotic wagers requiring two wagering interests, like exactas and daily doubles; and a 3% increase to 23.68% on wagers requiring three or more wagering interests, such as trifectas, pick threes, superfectas, and pick fours. The additional takeout money would be committed to overnight purses.

The bill, which requires two-thirds approval, has received a third reading on the Senate floor, and has been referred to the Committee on Rules.

The bill says changes are needed because Thoroughbred owners are not supporting California racing, instead opting for higher purses in other states. Unlike many of the states it is competing with, California does not use revenues from added gambling to supplement purses.

The bill also includes provisions that would require a host of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships to set aside money from the increased takeout to promote the event. The bill notes the Los Angeles Economic Development Commission estimates the Breeders’ Cup, which was hosted by the Oak Tree Racing Association at Santa Anita Park in 2008 and ’09, pumps $60-million into the state and Los Angeles region.

However, McCarron, who has been director of the North American Racing Academy since it was established near Lexington in 2006, has opted not to direct and administer the expanded program but instead will continue to focus on instruction of future jockeys.

Dr. Jay Box, chancellor for the Kentucky Community and Technical College System under which NARA operates, said Aug. 23 administrators at the state agency and others involved with advising the jockey school determined it could be expanded. Box said the ultimate goal is to make NARA one of the KCTCS’ “centers of excellence, which are programs that can reach beyond the local college and state and look at national and international interests. Usually, centers of excellence are very broad in nature. We are committed to taking (NARA) to the next level.”

McCarron, who rode more than 7,000 winners during his career, has been involved with NARA since its outset. He has been inextricably tied to both the ability to attract students and raise money for NARA. In addition to learning the finer points of riding, students are instructed in other areas of equine health, horsemanship, and business.

The school’s first class graduated in 2008, and through racing of Aug. 22, NARA graduates have won more than 460 races, and their mounts have purse earnings in excess of $6.5 million, McCarron said.

In addition to exploring expansion of the current riding school to Louisville, Ky., where Churchill Downs is located, and the Northern Kentucky area that includes Turfway Park, NARA is pursuing venturing into other areas of the equine industry, Box said. He said the Clemens Group is serving as consultant to KCTCS to help coordinate the expanded program offerings, and that at the end of the study will begin a search for a full-time system director.

Box and McCarron both said the retired jockey initially agreed to serve as system director, but has since decided to have a role with NARA that focuses more on instruction than administration.

“I was flattered by, and accepted, their offer to elevate my position,” McCarron said, “not knowing the full scope of what I was getting into, and that not being involved with teaching was going to take up the lion’s share of my time. I thought I would be able to do both. I accepted the position, only to think about it over the past few weeks and to consider to let me go back to teaching, which is what they have done.”

“He will be the lead instructor for the Jockey Pathway Program, and we’re all excited about that,” Box said. “That is where his passion is and his interests lie. In the past, he was director of NARA and had more responsibilities with day-to-day operations. In this position, he has staff status and will have primarily teaching responsibilities and also promote (NARA).

“This is just removing the other responsibilities that were outlined in the system director position.”

According to a state of Kentucky database, McCarron’s annual salary is $103,000.

The CHRB vote was unanimous minus a vote from board member Richard Rosenberg, who abstained. It came after two organizations, Thoroughbred Owners of California and California Thoroughbred Trainers, sought the move to the Inglewood, California, track.

The reasons for the switch were presented by Thoroughbred Owners of California Chairman Arnold Zetcher and California Thoroughbred Trainers President John Sadler and came a couple of hours after a detailed report by track expert Michael “Mick” Peterson, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Maine. The CHRB brought in Peterson to inspect the condition of the synthetic Pro-Ride surface at Santa Anita, which he did last week.

In his report, Peterson expressed concerns about inconsistencies of the surface and its inability to handle excessive moisture. Peterson also, in a slide presentation, showed a picture of a dozen or so small rocks he found in a 30-foot area on the track. It is believed the rocks came to the surface through a protective membrane that covers the base.

Peterson declined, however, to make a recommendation as to whether the Oak Tree meeting should or should not be run at Santa Anita.

CHRB Vice Chairman David Israel attempted to pin down Peterson.

“If you had a $3-million horse and could run him in a race with a purse of $300,000 on October 1 at Santa Anita and know he would win, would you run him?” Israel asked.

“That’s a tough one,” Peterson said. “I would have to defer to someone who knows the horse better than I do.”

Earlier in the meeting, Oak Tree Executive Director Sherwood Chillingworth made a plea to the board to approve the application to run the meet at Santa Anita, saying among other things that contracts and financial commitments from $750,000 to $1-million already were in place.

CHRB Chairman Keith Brackpool was not swayed, telling Chillingworth safety trumped everything else, to which Chillingworth agreed.

MI Developments Inc. Chairman Frank Stronach, addressing the board, said he never again would install a synthetic surface at any of his racetracks.

“The base wasn’t done right; it was done on the cheap,” Stronach said of the surface’s initial installation.

Stronach repeated what he told about 250 horsemen on Wednesday night—that he intends to replace Santa Anita’s synthetic surface with a conventional dirt track. He told the board that he planned to have all permits in place and the material needed on hand to physically start work on the dirt track the day after the Oak Tree meeting ends October 31.

Stronach said he hoped to have the work completed by the first or second week of December, so trainers could resume regular activity at Santa Anita well before the start of the winter-spring meeting on December 26.

With the Oak Tree meeting apparently moving to Hollywood Park, installation could start earlier. Both Zetcher and Sadler used this point in helping to make their cases to move the meeting

Frank Stronach, chairman of MI Developments that owns the track, made the announcement Aug. 18 an evening meeting of horsemen and racing followers he had called at the Surfside Race Place satellite wagering facility adjacent to the Del Mar track.

A Santa Anita surface that was originally Cushion Track, then a hybrid of that with Pro Ride, then Pro Ride—but failed to drain properly in winter rains under any brand or name—will be replaced soon after the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting ends on Oct. 31. A new dirt surface, estimated by Stronach to cost between $5-6 million, will be installed by the traditional start of the winter/spring meeting on Dec. 26.

“We were mandated to put in synthetics…I never did like it…(but) we learned from it and I hope we never do something like it again,” Stronach said in an 18-minute address, followed by a short question-and-answer session, before an estimated 250 horsemen and observers.

“I’m committed to put in a new dirt track.”

Stronach made the announcement after what he termed a positive and productive lunch meeting earlier in the day with California Horse Racing Board chairman Keith Brackpool.

Stronach and Brackpool have clashed at board meetings in the past two months over the voiding of the lease for the Oak Tree Racing Association meeting to be held at Santa Anita. Santa Anita eventually agreed to lease the track to Oak Tree for this year. But the current board, significantly changed from the one that mandated synthetics, is known to be amenable to lifting the synthetic rule for tracks that desire.

Stronach’s announcement was greeted by cheers from many in the audience.

A group that includes horsemen and track materials experts have been looking internationally for high-grade dirt for the new surface—Stronach specifically mentioned Argentina—and where the dirt will come from should be known “in a week or two,” he said.

Stronach said the intention would be to have the materials on site at the Arcadia track to begin installation as soon as possible in order to complete the job in the “very short window” of time available.

Stronach said that he will send some horses from his extensive stable, now headquartered in the East, to Santa Anita as a gesture of his commitment to the change.

The meeting between Stronach and horsemen came one day before the CHRB’s regular monthly meeting, which will be held at the Surfside Race Place facility adjacent to the track here, one floor below the room where Stronach spoke.

Stronach said he will be in attendance at the CHRB meeting and hoped the positive aspects of his lunch with Brackpool will carry over to the meeting.

Items of greatest interest on the agenda will be:

— A report on the condition of the main track at Santa Anita from a CHRB-ordered inspection nine days ago by Dr. Michael “Mick” Peterson after problems were reported earlier this month.

— Discussion and possible action regarding holding the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting in October there. Stronach relented at the June CHRB meeting and agreed to let Oak Tree remain at Santa Anita this year, but depending on the track condition assessment in the report, the possibility exists of moving it across Los Angeles to Hollywood Park.

— Discussion and possible action regarding future dates at Santa Anita and Golden Gate Fields, per requests of Stronach.

At the meeting with horsemen, Stronach reiterated several points he has made at previous CHRB meetings: That it is imperative to racing in California that Santa Anita and Golden Gate Fields succeed and that there needs to be a meeting of the minds of all branches of the industry “to make racing exciting again.”

And that the current system and business model must be changed, especially regarding the allocation of racing dates, Stronach said.

“I’m a believer in free enterprise, and history has proven over and over again, if the state runs things, it just doesn’t work,” Stronach said. “We, as management, would like to have the right to (operate at times) to make the most money.”

Baze led first-time starter Separate Forest to victory in the 5½-furlong maiden special weight race. The Forestry filly covered the distance in 1:02.38 on a track rated as fast to win by 11 lengths.

Born in Vancouver, Canada, Baze won his first race in 1974 at Yakima Meadows in Washington. He has since developed into the most prolific jockey by career winners in the Thoroughbred racing industry.

He broke the all-time record for wins by a jockey, previously held by Racing Hall of Fame member Laffit Pincay Jr, on December 1, 2006, at Bay Meadows Race Course aboard Butterfly Belle. Brazilian jockey Jorge Ricardo won the race to 10,000 wins on January 9, 2008, but Baze later regained the lead in all-time victories from his South American counterpart.

Baze, who turned 52 on August 7, has led all North American jockeys by wins for a season ten times, most recently in 2008. Based on the West Coast, he has won at least 35 riding titles at Golden Gate Fields and 40 Bay Meadows riding titles.

Baze has won the Isaac Murphy Award, given to the jockey with the highest winning percentage during the year from at least 500 mounts, 13 times. In 2002, Baze was honored with the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award, an honor voted on by his peers and given to the rider who whose career and character reflect positively on the sport. He was inducted into the Racing Hall of Fame in 1999.

Since Equibase Co. started keeping records in 1976, Baze has won 635 stakes races, 89 of them graded stakes.

He most notably rode 2005 champion sprinter Lost in the Fog, who provided Baze one of his four career Grade 1 wins with his score in the King’s Bishop Stakes. Baze also won the 1991 Santa Monica Handicap (G1) with Devil’s Orchid and the Oak Tree Invitational Handicap (G1) in ’89  with Hawkster and in ’84 with Both Ends Burning.

Albarado, 36, was unseated by his mount, Hunt for Candie, while galloping out after finishing sixth in Wednesday’s first race, a 5½-furlong turf race.

After being treated at the scene by New York Racing Association paramedics, Albarado was taken by ambulance to Albany Medical Center, where X-rays revealed the fractures.

According to NYRA, he remained hospitalized on Wednesday evening for further evaluation.

A key prep race for the Triple Crown series, the 2011 Louisiana Derby will be contested on March 26, highlighting a stakes schedule of 63 races worth a total of $6.7-million. The meet will return to its traditional Thanksgiving Day opening day, after starting earlier in November the past two years.

“Our goal is to make the Louisiana Derby the number one Kentucky Derby prep race and a $1-million purse puts us on par with any of them,” Fair Grounds General Manager Eric Halstrom said. “When you consider the nice monthly progression of our three-year-old stakes series, comprised of three graded races that can help a horse accrue the earnings they need to make the Kentucky Derby (G1), along with the reputation of our main track as a forgiving surface that gets horses exceptionally fit, there’s no better place to get a promising three-year-old ready for the Triple Crown.”
 
In 2010, there are 11 North American stakes, not counting Breeders’ Cup World Championship races or Triple Crown races, which offer seven-figure purses. Of those 11, seven are offered at tracks, like Fair Grounds, that enhance purses with money from added gambling.

With the shorter meeting, Fair Grounds will cut five stakes that last year drew short fields. The track anticipates offering ten graded stakes during the 2010-’11 meeting.

“I’m especially pleased that we were able to substantially boost the Louisiana Derby purse to this historic level without impacting any of the money committed to our hefty overnight purses,” Halstrom said.

Fair Grounds owner Churchill Downs Inc. believes the purse boost will add excitement to the Triple Crown prep race season.

“The Kentucky Derby is the most famous horse race in the world and our most important asset at Churchill Downs Inc.,” said Donald Richardson, vice president of racing for Churchill Downs Inc. “As a company, it is important to build awareness around the key races and horses that lead to a historic ‘Run for the Roses.’ If the Kentucky Derby is our sport’s Super Bowl, then the Louisiana Derby should be our must-see conference championship game.”

Besides the opportunity for horsemen to make more money, the added purse money is important because the Derby uses graded stakes earnings to determine the field, which is limited to 20 starters.

“A Louisiana Derby purse boost will make it easier for the top few finishers to amass the graded earnings they need to make the gate for the Kentucky Derby,” Richardson said. “This year it took more than $225,000 in graded earnings to be in the Kentucky Derby field, the highest cutoff ever. Next year, I believe horsemen are going to be more careful about choosing to run only in the richest graded events.”

Racetrack surface consultant Mick Peterson will examine the Pro-Ride synthetic track at Santa Anita Park on Tuesday, amid renewed concerns from horsemen.

Santa Anita has been repairing the surface since July 25, and on August 6 trainers and owners shared their safety concerns about an aeration procedure that might have poked holes in a mesh lining that is supposed to keep rocks and other base materials from rising to the surface.

A Los Angeles Times story on Monday speculated the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita could be moved to Hollywood Park because of the surface issues. 

Earlier this summer during a lease dispute between the Oak Tree Racing Association and Santa Anita’s parent company, MI Developments, Hollywood volunteered to host Oak Tree rent-free this fall. MI Developments Chairman Frank Stronach later agreed to allow Oak Tree to conduct a final meet at Santa Anita.

Del Mar has expressed interest in becoming the new Oak Tree host in 2011.

Peterson, a professor of engineering at the University of Maine, is under contract with the California Horse Racing Board to train its project engineers for an ongoing track safety standards program. The contract has been amended to include an independent evaluation of the Santa Anita track surface. Peterson uses ground-penetrating radar to assess surface condition and base, and he has developed test protocols that have been used at more than 30 Thoroughbred racetracks.

The CHRB said in a press release that along with representatives of the Thoroughbred Owners of California and California Thoroughbred Trainers, it has been monitoring developments at Santa Anita during attempted repairs of the drainage problem.

Oak Tree Executive Vice President Sherwood Chillingworth endorsed bringing in Peterson.

“Let’s get somebody who is knowledgeable and can render a dispassionate third-party opinion,” Chillingworth told the Whittier Daily News. “I’m perfectly willing to rely on his judgment. If he has some remedial request, we’ll look at those too.”

Rick Arthur, D.V.M., the CHRB’s equine medical director and an Oak Tree vice president, said he has “absolutely no concern” that the track will be ready for the Oak Tree meet.

Santa Anita is scheduled to reopen for training at the conclusion of the Del Mar meet on September 8.

X-rays taken at Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, Calif., confirmed Talamo’s injury which will sideline him until the Oak Tree-at-Santa Anita meeting beginning Sept. 29.  Entering the day’s races at Del Mar, the 20-year-old rider had won 10 races to be tied with Rafael Bejarano for third place in the standings.

For the year Talamo has 96 wins from 774 starts with more than $5.2 in purse earnings. In all, the rider has 726 wins in North America form 5,072 starts.

From April 18-July 31, the facility has had a 63% jump in attendance. The first two weeks the museum was open (two weeks prior to Derby), attendance more than tripled compared to the same time period in 2009.

“We really owe our attendance growth to three factors,” said executive director Lynn Ashton in a statement. “First, our fans were so supportive during the flood and they were anxious for us to re-open. They’ve been out to celebrate the renovation in force ever since. Second, we’ve had some great conventions in town over the spring and summer that gave us a real boost in numbers. Third, the closure of Kentucky Kingdom sent visitors looking for alternatives during their visit and we were one of the attractions that benefitted greatly from that.”

In celebration of the one-year anniversary marking the museum’s triumph over the flood waters, visitors will receive a rose lapel pin Aug. 4. Each staff member will also be given a pin to mark the date and to serve as a reminder of the efforts and sacrifices they made to restore the Derby Museum during its nine-month closure