The Associated Press

Federal authorities say three men have pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in a scheme that allowed wealthy people to get tax benefits from investments in Thoroughbred horse breeding.

The U.S. attorney’s office for Oregon said Monday the scheme cost the federal government $200 million in tax revenue.

Acting U.S. Attorney Kent Robinson says the scheme was nationwide.

The governmen

The Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission said Monday it is investigating the death of a Texas jockey who was thrown from his horse during a Thoroughbred race at Blue Ribbon Downs in Sallisaw over the weekend.

Racetrack general manager Blaine Storey said Mark Pace, 58, died Sunday after falling off his mount, Reep What You Sow, during the first race. According to the race chart, the horse, a

Four Thoroughbreds have died on the Oct. 14 opening day of Wetherby’s first meet of the jump season in England.

Marrel and Divex were euthanized after they were injured in the feature race, the Bobby Renton Chase. The same happened to Nut Hand following the first race and Miss Giboa broke a leg when falling in the last.

Wetherby was criticized for inconsistent ground last season but

A horse quarantine has been lifted at the Hoosier Park racetrack in central Indiana where two Thoroughbreds tested positive for Streptococcus equi (the bacterium that causes the disease strangles).

Racing manager Jeffrey Smith says no other horses have shown signs of the disease. Smith says the quarantined barn is being disinfected and won’t be used again during the track’s

Thousands of mustangs that now roam the West would be moved to preserves in the Midwest and East under a new Interior Department plan to protect wild horse herds and the rangelands that support them.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Wednesday (Oct. 7) the plan would not require killing any wild horses. Interior Department officials had warned in recent months that slaughtering some

Fifty-nine horses have been quarantined because of a suspected contagious infection at Hoosier Park racetrack in central Indiana.

Hoosier Park officials placed the horses in quarantine Saturday after one Thoroughbred at the stable began exhibiting signs of Streptococcus equi infection, or strangles, a contagious bacterial disease common in horses that can be life-threatening.

Trainer Rick Dutrow will serve a 30-day suspension after reaching a settlement with the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.

Dutrow’s horse, Salute the Count, tested positive for a breathing stimulant in May 2008 at Churchill Downs. He was first suspended in July but appealed, leading to the Sept. 8 settlement.

The suspension runs from Nov. 15 to Dec. 15 as part of the settlement.

The rush to improve safety since Eight Belles was euthanized at last year’s Kentucky Derby did little to curb the number of horses dying at American racetracks in 2008, The Associated Press found in a national count.

Although many tracks were already implementing safety reforms when the popular filly pulled up lame with two broken legs after finishing second at the Derby in May 2008, her

Investigators say a fire that destroyed four barns at the Kentucky state fairgrounds was intentionally set.

Four barns were destroyed and several others damaged in the blaze that was reported at about 2 a.m. Sept. 2. There were no animals in the barns, and no one was hurt.

Maj. Henry Ott, chief of the Louisville Metro arson squad, said a minor fire that broke out the afternoon before

Horse breeder Ernest Paragallo, who was banned from racing after 177 allegedly malnourished horses were seized in a raid of his upstate New York farm, has been arraigned on 35 counts of animal cruelty.

Paragallo appeared Tuesday before Judge George Pulver Jr. in Greene County Court but didn’t enter a plea. The case was adjourned for 45 days. Paragallo remains free on $5,000 bail and has