Racing Commission approves minutes, officials list, voluntary agreement and delegates authority to executive director

The Racing Commission approved several administrative and operational items during its meeting in Saint Paul, including meeting minutes, renewal of seasonal racing officials, a voluntary agreement for 2025 and a delegation of limited authority to the commission’s executive director.

Commission action items taken during the meeting included adoption of the March meeting minutes and approval of administrative packet items. Commissioner motions were made and seconded for each item and commissioners voiced assent; the chair called each question and the motions carried.

The commission approved renewal of the seasonal racing officials list. Commission staff described the slate as largely unchanged from 2024, with several new or replacement officials named for Canterbury Park: Jose (new to Canterbury but experienced at other tracks), Chad Torbel (replacement), and Stan Ellis (replacing Mark Anderson as steward), among others.

Commissioners approved a 2025 voluntary invitation/communication agreement with the park. A commission staff speaker described prior years’ handling of the agreement as an addendum and said the 2025 document consolidates prior changes into a cleaner, consolidated agreement. The staff presentation noted the commission will receive a partial credit related to testing and that the commission’s assessment in Minnesota was discussed during the packet review.

In a separate motion, the commission approved delegation of authority to the executive director—Mr. Gustafsson—to approve replacement race dates when an original race date is canceled for causes outside the racetrack’s control. As Mr. Gustafsson explained: "Under current law, the commission without a hearing can approve a replacement race date when there is a racing date that's canceled for reaching the control. Race track." He added the practical need for the delegation: hearings to approve replacement dates are not always logistically feasible and the provision would allow short-term replacement dates to be approved for reasons such as rainouts, poor air quality or extreme heat.

Commission staff said the delegated approvals would be processed as a joint request involving the track and the horse-persons organization at the affected track and that commissioners would be notified by email when such a delegation was exercised.

All motions described during the meeting were approved by voice vote. The meeting transcript records commissioners responding "Aye" to each motion; no roll-call tallies with member names or recorded no votes were provided in the audio transcript.

These actions are administrative in nature and were presented as routine in the meeting packet; commissioners did not take separate regulatory or policy votes beyond the delegation language described above.