Penn National Gaming, Inc., the second largest owner of pari-mutuel racing facilities in North America (including Freehold Raceway), today announced the implementation of several initiatives intended to ensure the continued health and safety of equine participants at its racetracks.

These initiatives include limiting the height of toe grabs on front shoes worn by race horses, endorsing rules for new riding crops for thoroughbred jockeys, and recommending, at a minimum, the adoption of the Association of Racing Commissioners International (ARCI) model rule regarding Androgenic Anabolic Steroids.

The initiatives follow the recently issued recommendations of The Jockey Club's Thoroughbred Safety Committee. Founded in 1894, the Jockey Club is dedicated to the improvement of thoroughbred breeding and racing and is the breed registry for North American thoroughbreds. "Penn National Gaming endorses and embraces The Jockey Club Thoroughbred Safety Committee's recommendations which are sound steps toward ensuring the health and welfare of our equine participants," said Chris McErlean, vice president, Racing, for Penn National Gaming.

"We have outlined a plan to introduce several of these recommendations at our horse racing facilities over the next few months. In addition, we will actively promote the adoption of permanent rules and regulations for these items with regulators in every one of the six jurisdictions where we conduct racing. We have identified several other areas where information, uniformity and cooperation are needed to achieve additional results to benefit the industry and expect that other responsible pari-mutuel facility owners and industry leaders will follow our actions."