Portland Meadows has carded nine stakes, at least two of which will be official AQHA stakes – the 350-yard, $10,000 Far West Futurity on September 30, and the 400-yard, $21,000-added Baxter Andruss Futurity (R) for Oregon-breds on December 2.

Also, a Quarter Horse race – the 350-yard, $7,000 Memorial Stakes (R) for state-bred 3-year-olds – will be part of Portland Meadows' Oregon Championship Day on November 17. In addition, the 440-yard, $5,000 Portland Meadows Championship on September 23 will be part of the American Quarter Horse Association's Bonus Challenge program.

“We're very thankful to the Oregon HBPA, Oregon Quarter Horse Association, and the Oregon Thoroughbred Breeders and Owners Association for all their support in helping us create the stakes schedule,” said Portland Meadows director of racing Jerry Kohls, who added that support from the HBPA and Oregon Racing Commission has allowed the track to maintain the same overnight purse schedule it had during its recently concluded 2011-12 meet.

For more information about racing at Portland Meadows, including a complete Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred stakes schedule, visit the track's website at www.portlandmeadows.com.

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In spite of a state-imposed temporary shutdown of operations at Canterbury Park last summer, Canterbury Park Holding Corp. reported positive financial figures for 2011.

Net income for the company was $397,667 for the year, compared with a net loss of $992,206 in 2010. Net income for the fourth quarter of 2011 reached $305,036, an increase from $161,279 for the final quarter of the previous year.

Net revenue for 2011 was up nearly 2 percent due to a 5.5-percent increase in revenue at the Canterbury Park card club. Fourth quarter revenue increased nearly 12 percent from the same period in 2010.

Canterbury's operating expenses were $39.5 million in 2011, a decrease of 4 percent from $41.2 million the previous year. In a release, the company said the decrease “is partially attributable to reduced live meet expenses in 2011 because the company was forced to suspend its operations during the July shutdown of Minnesota government, as well as continued management of operating expenses throughout the year.” Also, Canterbury's 2010 operating expenses included a one-time charge of $909,540 related to the remodeling of its card club.

“The company believes the economic recovery has encouraged increased consumer spending on entertainment options such as our card casino and simulcast wagering,” said Canterbury president Randy Sampson. “We also believe fourth-quarter results benefited from mild winter weather, in contrast to the severe winter weather in late 2010 that discouraged visits to our facility and forced cancellation of many race days from other tracks simulcasting their signal to Canterbury Park.

“Our business continues to be challenged by many factors, including competition from Native American casinos that are able to offer a wider variety of gaming products, competition from out-of-state racetracks where pari-mutuel horse racing is supported by revenues from other forms of wagering, and illegal Internet wagering,” he added. “We are, therefore, continuing to vigorously advocate for legislation that would authorize Canterbury to offer slot machines and other forms of gaming at the racetrack.”

Canterbury Park's 2012 meet runs from May 18-September 3, with racing held primarily on a Thursday-Sunday schedule. For more information, visit the track's website at www.canterburypark.com.

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Pinnacle Entertainment Inc., a publicly traded casino company based in Las Vegas, is reportedly negotiating to become involved in the operations of Retama Park Racetrack in Selma, Texas, near San Antonio.

According to the San Antonio Express-News, Retama Park chief executive officer Bryan Brown disclosed in March that track officials were negotiating with an unnamed casino group – presumably Pinnacle – that would fund the facility's losses for the next six years and repay millions in track debt.

Even though Pinnacle is based in Las Vegas, the company has no casinos there. Most of its gaming operations are in Louisiana, though it also owns casinos in St. Louis and Indiana. It also owns River Downs Racetrack in Cincinnati, which it acquired for $45 million last November.

When contacted by the Express-News last week, Pinnacle spokeswoman Kerry Andersen declined to comment on whether the company was pursuing a deal with Retama Park.

“If and when we would have a pending deal, speaking generally on any project, as a publicly traded company we would not comment on pending deals anyway – and I'm not saying we have one here,” she said.

During a meeting last Thursday with the Retama Development Corp., a municipal subdivision of Selma that owns the racetrack, Brown said that the parties hope to have a deal completed by April 6.

“We had hoped to come to this meeting with an announcement of our deal,” Brown said. “We are getting close. We had two major issues to solve. We're down to … one major issue.”

A deal with a casino group would provide Retama Park with needed financial support and buy track officials more time to persuade state lawmakers to let voters decide whether to permit casino-style gaming at Texas racetracks. Past efforts have failed.

Pinnacle generated about $1.14 billion in revenue last year but lost $2.5 million, according to financial reports. The company had $1.95 billion in assets and $1.43 billion in liabilities at the end of 2011.

Retama Park's 2012 Quarter Horse meet opens June 8 and runs through August 11. It will be followed by a Thoroughbred season from October 5-December 29.

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The operation of simulcast racing was scheduled to be an action item during an emergency meeting of the Montana Board of Horse Racing held in Missoula on Monday.

Montana Department of Livestock executive director Christian Mackay, who heads the three-man horse racing business advisory council, was expected to report on that panel's activities. Also, Tom Tucker of the Billings-based Yellowstone Horseracing Alliance was scheduled to report on his findings during a review of the racing board's simulcast operation from November 2010-December 2011.

The board was then expected to vote on a plan to revive simulcast operations, the revenue from which would help live racing opportunities increase in Montana. Signals to the state's six simulcast sites have been suspended since January.

We will report on the results of this meeting in a future blog.

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A full field of 12 state-bred 2-year-olds, including two on the also-eligible list, is entered in Saturday's 300-yard, $50,000 New Mexican Spring Fling Stakes (R) at Sunland Park.

Restricted to horses who raced in the New Mexican Spring Futurity (RG2) trials on March 16, the Spring Fling is the first 2-year-old Quarter Horse stakes of the season in New Mexico and is followed by the Spring Futurity final on Sunday.

The likely Spring Fling favorite, Runin Sixes, is a gray filly by Sixes Royal racing for Peter B. Gallegos, Valle Guadiana Corporation, and J. Patricia Gonzalez. Runin Sixes is coming off of a second-place finish to Spring Futurity fifth-fastest qualifier Gotcha By The Jewels in her Spring Futurity trial. The filly made her career debut on March 2, and she scored a three-quarter length victory going 300 yards against New Mexico-bred maiden special weight company.

Runin Sixes is a full sister to 2010 New Mexican Spring Futurity (RG1) winner Streak Of Sixes.

Scheduled post time for the New Mexican Spring Fling is 2:25 p.m. (MDT). Entries for the 300-yard, $251,333 New Mexican Spring Futurity final will be drawn on Tuesday.