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NYRA's New Commitment

NYRA loves its fans

There was a chill in the air but the sun was out and it felt like spring at Aqueduct on Saturday with Tom Durkin back calling and tulips blooming in paddock planters. Saratoga didn't seem so far off. At least, until I headed to the third floor balcony to watch a couple races and found the usual scene of abandoned beer cans and bedraggled trash strewn about the boxes, the seats coated in gritty dust. Ah, Aqueduct.

Earlier in the day, I listened to president Charlie Hayward tell 50 or so horseplayers, assembled for a focus group in Equestris, that with the franchise matter (almost) settled, NYRA was looking forward to its next 25 years and that one area they hoped to improve was customer service. "We're making a commitment to listening to fans," he said, which is why we were there two hours before first post talking about our best racing experiences and what we expected of a trip to a great racetrack. Most of what was asked for in the focus group -- wireless access, pleasant employees, comps, better food and drink, improved communications, signage, and information -- will take some time to implement. But one thing, brought up again and again, could be done right away -- clean up the grandstand.

Posted by JC, Mar 23, 2008 02:00 PM

Monday Night Notes

- With barely 48 hours remaining to broker an agreement that will keep New York racing going, NYRA is preparing to shut down Aqueduct when the franchise expires on Wednesday. Horsemen and employees were alerted last week to plans for closing the track and Belmont's training facility; NYRA Rewards account-holders were given notice today on how to withdraw funds from the wagering service. Much more on the situation over on Left at the Gate.

- Santa Anita's reconstituted synthetic surface drew praise for its improved bounce and slower times over the weekend, but not everyone was delighted with the fix:

Trainer Bob Baffert, however, was more reserved. "It's too early to tell," he said. "Some horses like it, some don't."
It was learned Sunday that he has lost four promising horses -- Massive Drama, Maimonides, Vindication and J Be K -- because owner Ahmed Zayat moved them to Eastern tracks with dirt surfaces.

Maimonides has been sent to trainer Bill Mott; Massive Drama to Dale Romans.

- Nashua Stakes winner Etched and impressive maiden winner Numaany are among the entries for the UAE Two Thousand Guineas on Thursday. Etched closed at 26-1 in Pool 1 of the Derby Future Wager. Numaany attracted attention and a bit of excitement last November when he refused to switch leads in the stretch, bolted to the outside fence, and nearly dumped rider Javier Castellano before regrouping inside the final furlong of a 1 1/8 mile maiden special to win by 2 3/4 lengths. He was shortly after whisked off to Dubai, along with the promising Music Note.

Posted by JC, Feb 11, 2008 11:00 PM

Serious Numbers

"A racing stoppage would have a tremendous impact on the entire racing community, as there are a total of 2,300 horses stabled at Belmont and Aqueduct; more than 1,000 men and women living in backstretch dormitories at both tracks; and 1,300 full-time employees working for NYRA."

Posted by JC, Feb 5, 2008 10:00 PM

That's Not Pigeon Shit

You'll see in this mendacious ad produced for Capital Play, one of the New York racing franchise bidders and the group that pushed the story of the $1.6 billion IRS claims against NYRA. It's Capital Play's lobbying strategy:



I'm not such a naïf to be shocked that an organization bidding for a franchise worth billions would wallow in muck, but I am appalled that one would be so desperate it would throw away all credibility by resorting to such brazen untruths and hoary clichés its advertising is almost a parody of a smear campaign.

[Hat tip to Bennett Liebman's Racing and Gaming Today.]

More: The Thoroughbred Times reports on the 30-second spot and where it's airing around the state, mentions that a franchise announcement could come before Thanksgiving.

Posted by JC, Nov 14, 2007 08:30 AM

Dire Predictions

Should IRS claims that NYRA owes $1.6 billion in back taxes prevail, Paul Moran sees a grim future for racing:

Frank Stronach would flee to Canada, riding The Green Monkey across the Peace Bridge to Fort Erie ... Just before turning off the lights, the New York Racing Association, Churchill Downs and Magna Entertainment sell the rights to the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes to the Maktoum Family, which announces that the Triple Crown will continue uninterrupted at Nad Al Sheba ... [Saratoga] adopts the slogan: "Birthplace of the potato chip."

The IRS asserts that NYRA owes taxes on gross handle, not takeout, a claim that could have (seriously) devastating consequences not only for NYRA, but racetracks across the country. More over on Left at the Gate.

Posted by JC, Nov 2, 2007 11:00 AM

NYRA Gate Crew Changes

NYRA named a new starter and announced semi-retired starter Bob Duncan is coming back in an expanded consultant role in a press release issued today:

The New York Racing Association today announced the promotion of Roy Williamson to the position of starter, replacing Richard Brosseau, who will begin retirement after 31 years with the NYRA starting gate crew. Brosseau was NYRA's starter for the last four years. Williamson joined NYRA in 1985 as an assistant starter.
In addition, Bob Duncan, NYRA's starter from 1970 to 2004, has agreed to expand his consultant role for NYRA. Duncan, a consultant in starting gate operations to tracks around the world, conducts gate schooling at Saratoga's Oklahoma Training Track from April through October. Starting immediately and extending through the Belmont Fall Championship meet (September 7 – October 31), Duncan will be responsible for a comprehensive review of all starting gate protocols and procedures

The shakeup is surely a reaction to the recent spate of gate incidents that have resulted in more than $1.6 million of handle lost to refunded wagers and vociferous complaints from horseplayers, jockeys, and owners.

More from DRF: "We've had several meetings with the jockeys, trainers, and racing officials regarding the gate situation over the last couple of weeks," NYRA president Charlie Hayward said. "We have gotten away from some of the procedures and protocols that had worked successfully in the past and we feel with the promotion of Roy and the availability of Bobby that we will be able to put most of these problems behind us."

Posted by JC, Aug 20, 2007 01:30 PM

Enough!

Yesterday's gate mishap/bad break that resulted in the stewards declaring Phantom Income a non-starter in the Adirondack Stakes rankled deeply, especially since it was yet another in a string of gate incident near-disasters that have marred Spa racing this summer, and reactions have been strong in its wake. On Left at the Gate, one reader asks of the gate crew:

Are they bonded? Do they undergo background checks? Are they prohibited from wagering? Do they carry cell phones when on the job? Are they drug and alchohol tested? Are records kept of which starter is in the gate with which horse? Are they disciplined when they screw up?

Lowell Sun turf writer Paul Daley vents on the Derby List:

Though the money bet on her was refunded, it begs the question of what NYRA is doing about this egregious problem. From a money standpoint, NYRA has refunded substantial sums during the first half of the meet on declared non-starters. It could and should have been much more, as a few other races were allowed to stand as is, involving longshots rather than favorites. Is there a double standard here? Also, in at least two of the affected races, loose horses impeded several others in the field, which should have led the stewards to declare the races "no contest" ... I have been an advocate of NYRA retaining the franchise to run New York racing. But, if heads don't roll on these gate incidents, then I say sayonara to NYRA.

Commenting on the Crist Blog, Phantom Income co-owner William Lawrence is no less frustrated:

With such good fortune I hesitate to complain but NYRA has to get this right! Has any one apologized? No. Just another bad deal for the owners and the bettors as well as costing NYRA more money from more refunds ... I drove home yesterday feeling like Tim Donaghy reffed the Adirondack.

No statement from NYRA regarding the Adirondack. But after Phone Home was declared a non-starter on August 6, NYRA's manager of racing operations, Bruce Johnstone, told the Daily Racing Form that the crew lacked experience:

"We had a lot of people retire," Johnstone said. "We have a handful of older guys and a lot of younger men. Any gate crew is slow to mature. The learning curve could be five to seven years when they're doing it repeatedly and you don't have to think about it.''

I doubt players or owners are interested in waiting five years for the gate crew to get its act together. NYRA must address the problems now, and do so in a way that inspires trust and assures integrity, not allusions to an unfolding sports betting scandal.

Posted by JC, Aug 16, 2007 09:30 PM

Spitzer Sets Timeline

New York governor announces he'll make recommendation on which group should get the New York racing franchise by September 4 (Blood-Horse).

Posted by JC, Jul 20, 2007 08:55 AM

Not the Real Racing Sheet

Fortunately, this ignorant editorial on the New York inspector general's integrity report on the racing franchise bidders appears in the New York Times' Sunday city/regional section where it will likely little influence any decision-makers with its misplaced innuendo and alarmist conclusion.

Posted by JC, Jul 8, 2007 02:55 PM

NY Bidders Will Have Options

All nine members of the Committee on the Future of Racing in New York met on Monday to discuss the recent testimony given by more than 50 racing industry executives, NYRA officials, and interested members of the public and to consider how best to proceed with the bidding for the state's racing franchise. The committee members agreed that the land NYRA's three tracks sit on is owned by the state (a contention that NYRA strongly disputes), and will likely offer bidders multiple options for submitting proposals:

Bids would be based on three scenarios -- that the system of racing stays as it is; changes moderately; or undergoes a drastic change.
"You could bid on whichever one you prefer," said Commissioner Bernadette Castro. She said bidders also should have the option to include OTBs in their proposal.

They'll need that option because NYRA and the OTBs are separate entities, competing against each other, and New York racing law may or may not be overhauled in the next couple of years to reform this dysfunctional system. At least one lawmaker is warning potential bidders that it won't. "I wouldn't count on any sweeping changes in racing law. That doesn't happen here," said Racing & Wagering Committee chairman Gary Pretlow.

More from Alan at Left at the Gate:"The upcoming bidding process for the New York racing franchise took on the feel of a Chinese restaurant menu ..."

Posted by JC, Feb 14, 2006 03:45 PM

No Races = More Money

Anyone who wants to know how truly messed up New York racing is must read this New York Times article on Yonkers Raceway, which

Despite running no races since June, when it closed to install video lottery terminals and make some renovations ... continues to be paid millions of dollars a year from four Off Track Betting Corporations in the state, including $3 million from the corporation operated by New York City alone.

This arrangement makes, as readers might expect, no sense from any angle.

Friends of New York Racing is out with its final report that calls for just this sort of nonsense to disappear. The organization, headed by former NTRA commissioner Tim Smith, proposes a complete restructuring:

FONYR wants the state to completely rewrite its racing law to not only make it less complex and burdensome, but also to permit any entity -- for profit, not-for-profit, and joint ventures that could include off-track betting corporations -- to bid on the franchise. Smith said the law should make the bidding "permissive and wide open."
The group said the 2006 changes in the law should also expand account wagering to include Internet wagering; some sort of customer loyalty programs, such as rebates; and to cut the pari-mutuel industry's tax burden. Additionally, the group said the state should legalize video lottery terminals at Belmont. (A 2001 law forbids VLTs at Belmont and Saratoga.) The report also calls for consolidation into a single state agency to do the work of several agencies that now oversee lotteries, casinos, and racing.
In the longer term, which the group defines as much as two years out, Smith said the competing parties must come to a resolution after several decades of the "OTB situation" --the OTB parlors and racetracks are separate entities. The state, FNYR concluded, needs to restructure the current law that has led to fierce infighting between the tracks and OTB corporations.

It will be interesting to see what influence FONYR has in the coming year. I'm skeptical, but a correspondent quite knowledgeable about New York racing has written to say, "I believe Tim Smith is working magic behind closed doors. I am convinced he's showing how useless the OTB system is, and that even though they generate a lot of money, it's operated in a defeating manner." Maybe ...

Posted by JC, Dec 13, 2005 09:35 PM

Snow May Be Falling ...

But NYRA would like your requests for reserved Saratoga seats now, please. NYRA opened the reserved seat auction application period for the 2006 meet in mid-November and is accepting requests until December 23.

Whether NYRA will be in charge of New York racing come next August, though, is a matter of some speculation: New York state Senate Majority Leader Joseph Bruno is calling for the New York racing franchise to be awarded in the next six months "to ensure the continued viability of racing in the state." NYRA's franchise is set to end in 2007. Bruno isn't ruling out the possibility that the organization could continue to hold the franchise if it was bid out before then:

"I think if NYRA partners in the right way [it] would be very viable, but they've got to partner in the right way,'' he said.

What exactly the "right way" would be wasn't defined by the state senator. A state oversight board, which recently blocked NYRA's attempt to auction equine art with an estimated value of $2 million and is likely to refuse it the right to sell 80 parcels of land near Aqueduct worth up to $20 million, suggested that NYRA raise takeout to stave off its impending insolvency. President Charles Hayward said that if NYRA is forced into bankrupty, possibly by the end of this month, racing would not be affected.

Related: "New York state's incredibly selfish and short-sighted politicians have really done it this time," says Bill Heller.

12/7 News: "New York Racing Association executives pleaded to state officials Tuesday to help them avoid taking the 50-year-old operation into bankruptcy, and their pitch didn't fall on deaf ears."

Posted by JC, Dec 5, 2005 10:30 AM

More on Weightgate

The indictment last week against two former NYRA officials for falsifying jockey weights raises "serious and disturbing questions," writes Steven Crist (Daily Racing Form -- sub. req.):

What is perhaps most troubling about the entire matter is the way that it was addressed when it first began to come to light. NYRA officials have said that they initiated the investigation when they heard about possible improprieties at the scale more than a year ago. The appropriate response would have been for someone to step in and put a stop to it immediately. Instead, apparently because NYRA was operating under a deferred prosecution agreement and all sorts of regulatory scrutiny, paralyzed officials turned over their concerns to prosecutors rather than intervening themselves.
An investigation commenced, including surveillance at all three NYRA tracks, and evidence was collected on 67 "incidents" in 59 races run between June and December of 2004. In effect, then, it appears that investigators knowingly allowed these races to be run under tainted conditions for months in order to fatten the indictments against the clerk of scales and his assistant.
It is difficult to see how this approach protected rather than further deceived the public. Instead of fixing the problem, investigators appear to have allowed it to continue, in order to build a better case.

Also in the DRF, Matt Hegarty reports on the allowances officials make for jockey weights before and after races:

According to the racing officials, the clerk of scales typically subtracts the weights of helmets and safety vests -- which are required equipment in all jurisdictions -- before and after a race from the official weight and will many times give allowances for any dirt, water, or sweat that a jockey and his equipment will pick up during a race. In addition, in many jurisdictions, riders carry more equipment to the scales after a race than before, and that weight is also subtracted from the official post-race weight.
"Let's say a guy checks in with 115 pounds, and that's without the helmet and the jacket," said Victor Sanchez, the clerk of scales at Calder Race Course in Miami. "You're going to expect him to come back 118 or 119 because now he's got the jacket and helmet, and he's carrying the saddle girth which soaked up a lot of sweat plus his pommel pad and saddle, and if it's muddy, then you've got all that dirt and water, and that stuff is heavy. You still mark 115. That's just logical."

Seems logical. But did investigators know officials made such calculations? That's one of the questions raised by the indictment, which alleges that the five cited jockeys rode from seven to 15 pounds overweight. Hegarty notes:

In nine of the races, the riders were assigned 120 pounds or more. At a minimum of seven pounds overweight, that means the jockeys would have weighed 127 or more, or at least 11 pounds more than what any of the jockeys claimed was their regular riding weight.

Put that way, the allegations sound even more preposterous.

Posted by JC, Sep 25, 2005 05:50 PM

Ripped Off?

So ... following the news that former NYRA officials have been indicted for reporting false jockey weights, racing fans and anyone who bet on a NYRA race in 2004 should be outraged, right? After all:

... the defendants, acting in concert with the co-conspirator jockeys, fraudulently obtained compensation from the owners for riding, and deprived bettors of hundreds of thousands of dollars by misrepresenting the jockey's weights and thereby tricked said bettors into betting on said horses.

But I did a spot check of the results of the races specifically mentioned in the indictment, and here's what I found:

DateTrackRaceHorse #OddsFinish
June 23Belmont7148-15th
July 11Belmont31014-13rd
July 17Belmont8941-19th
August 16Saratoga11152-19th
August 16Saratoga2423-17th
August 30Saratoga6624-112th
November 6Aqueduct9411-13rd
November 7Aqueduct81055-18th
November 12Aqueduct1894-17th

Bettors seemed to do a pretty good job of assessing the alleged affected horses' odds, even without the overweight information. Could this be because weights aren't all that relevant to most handicappers? This shouldn't be taken as a defense of wrongdoing -- but I am wondering if the attorney general's office isn't being a just a bit overzealous in its prosecution of this case.

More: Bill Finley reports in the New York Times that evidence was gathered using surveillance cameras in the jockey's room and that in at least one stakes race, a horse carrying too much weight won: "According to the indictment, the scheme included 10 stakes races, including the Cigar Mile, run at Aqueduct. Santos won the $350,000 race aboard Lion Tamer, who was reportedly carrying 115 pounds with Santos aboard."

About those extra pounds: The indictment alleges that jockeys rode anywhere from seven to 15 pounds overweight. That's a lot. "It sounds a little far-fetched to me," said retired rider Eddie Maple to Times-Union writer Tim Wilkin. "I rode at 116 (pounds), and you could tell if I put on 2 pounds. That's a lot of weight in our game."

Posted by JC, Sep 21, 2005 08:30 PM

NYRA Officials Indicted

Last December, New York state police raided NYRA offices for an investigation into jockey weights. The New York Post reports this morning that NYRA officials, including suspended chief of scales Mario Sclafani, will be indicted today for falsifying jockey weights:

Sources say the indictment claims that officials failed to report the accurate weights of the jockeys before the races and lied about their weights afterward -- cheating bettors out of accurate data to make well-informed wagers and allowing "people who knew of the fraud" to have a definite edge when it came to picking winners.
The sources were unable to say whether investigators uncovered hard evidence that the indicted NYRA officials profited directly from betting on "tampered" and "tainted" races.
A spokesman for Spitzer declined comment and wouldn't reveal which officials were involved. Sources say Spitzer's probe also targeted Sclafani's top deputy, Braulio Baeza, a Hall of Fame jockey who won 3,140 races in a 16-year career.

More details: NYRA clerk of scales Mario Sclafani and assistant clerk of scales Braulio Baeza were indicted this afternoon in Saratoga County court on charges of falsely reporting jockey weights (Blood-Horse). The two officials, both suspended from work since January, were immediately fired by NYRA.

The 116-page indictment also names several jockeys as un-indicted co-conspirators:

The indictment alleges Sclafani and Baeza conspired with five prominent jockeys -- [Jose] Santos, Robby Albarado, Herberto Castillo Jr., Ariel Smith, and Cornelio Velasquez -- on 67 different occasions between June 2004 and December 2004 to allow them to ride when they weighed as much as 15 pounds over* their announced weight.
"Co-conspirator jockeys then rode horses in races and thereby caused the horses to carry in excess of five pounds over the designated weight," the indictment alleges. "In so doing, the defendants, acting in concert with the co-conspirator jockeys, fraudulently obtained compensation from the owners for riding, and deprived bettors of hundreds of thousands of dollars by misrepresenting the jockey's weights and thereby tricked said bettors into betting on said horses."

According to the indictment, the jockeys (including, in addition to the five named above, Aaron Gryder, Pablo Fragoso, Jorge Chavez, and Oscar Gomez) paid Sclafani and Baeza their riding fees for the races in which their overweights were misreported.

The New York Attorney General's office has issued a press release and the full text of the indictment.

NYRA responds to the indictment: "... NYRA has terminated the employment of former Clerk of Scales Mario Sclafani and former Assistant Clerk of Scales Braulio Baeza effective immediately. NYRA suspended Sclafani and Baeza on January 12 when the allegations first came to light and appointed Timothy D. Kelly as the Acting Clerk of Scales. Since then, the association has instituted a number of reforms, including the use of digital scales at each of its three racetracks.... In providing background to today's announcement, NYRA President and CEO Charles E. Hayward emphasized the association's role in initiating the investigation and its ongoing commitment to complete transparency to ensure the integrity of racing."

Posted by JC, Sep 21, 2005 03:00 PM

Odds & Ends

A "secret group" has sent a letter to the US Attorney's office urging that NYRA be prosecuted:

The group, whose identity is not being disclosed, said in a letter sent by its lawyer July 21 that NYRA has continued to operate in questionable and suspect ways -- despite being under the terms of a strict deferred prosecution arrangement for more than a year (Blood-Horse)

Not so very coincidentally, the unidentified group is interested in bidding on the NYRA franchise.

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I know the story of the investigation into Wild Desert's whereabouts before the Queen's Plate is a couple of days old, but I love this Bobby Frankel quote:

"I don't know anything about it," Frankel said. "They asked me to run the horse in my name in Canada. That's what I did. That's all I know" (Daily Racing Form)

Ok.

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This sounds familiar ...

The new system, called the "FTBOA Chase to the Championship" rewards points for top-three finishes in for Breeders' Cup races, graded stakes wins, races on Florida's signature racing days, including the Florida Million, Florida Cup, Florida Stallion Stakes series, and Sunshine Millions, open-company stakes with purses of $40,000 and over, as well as group and listed races included in Part I of the of the International Cataloging Standards and International Statistics booklet.... The Florida-bred with the most points in each division on December 31 is deemed divisional champion (Thoroughbred Times).

Afleet Alex leads the three-year-old division and all categories overall in the new Florida standings. Just as he does in these standings.

Posted by JC, Jul 22, 2005 05:00 PM

Shakeup at NYRA

"Charles Hayward, the president and CEO of the New York Racing Association, announced four major personnel changes Thursday intended to give the beleaguered franchise a 'fresh approach'" (Daily Racing Form). Racing secretary Mike Lakow, chief veterinarian Dr. Celeste Kunz, and vice president of human resources and labor relations Ralph Chetcuti were fired by Hayward. Steward David Hicks retired. Hayward were circumspect in his comments on the changes:

All these people made significant contributions. Mike Lakow is one of the preeminent racing secretaries in the country. I have no desire to say anything negative about these people. The fact I fired them is the result of the evaluations of how they fit into what we're trying to accomplish moving forward (New York Post).

Trainer Bobby Frankel, always good for an inappropriate quote, told the Post, "It's a disgrace. They owe us an explanation. It's like the Gestapo, they just chop your head off. It's not right."

Mike Lakow has been replaced by assistant racing secretary P.J. Campo. Dr. Kunz, best known for saving Charismatic after he broke down in the 1999 Belmont Stakes, was replaced by Dr. Anthony Verderosa.

Posted by JC, Jul 15, 2005 10:05 AM

Recommendations from Friends

Friends of New York Racing is releasing its first study of the New York racing industry on Monday, and will recommend that the "three major thoroughbred racetracks should be run as a business for profit in partnership with the state, all off-track betting outlets should be folded into the enterprise, and video lottery terminals should be allowed at Belmont Park." Friends of New York Racing estimates that replacing NYRA with such a model would attract capital investment of up to $1 billion and produce more than $6 billion for education in 10 years, in addition to assuring racing's future in the state. How very sensible -- which means, what chance in Albany? (New York Times)

Posted by JC, Jun 26, 2005 12:30 PM

Speeding Up the Process

New York governor George Pataki is pushing a proposal to speed up the bidding process for NYRA. "In the final hours of the New York legislature's 2005 session, a whole series of racing bills are being debated behind closed doors at the state Capitol, including a Pataki proposal to move to July 1 from Dec. 1 the date for the appointment of a nine-member panel charged with beginning the NYRA franchise bidding process." Interesting. (Blood-Horse)

6/24 Addition: Pataki's proposal passes. NYRA gets an oversight board, and the formation of the committee to handle the bidding process for the New York racing franchise has been moved up to July 1 from December 1.

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This opening sentence from a Los Angeles Times article says it all about Belmont's persistent short field problem this spring:

The five horses running in today's seventh race at Belmont Park, a $50,000 overnight handicap at six furlongs, are better than average New York breds.

Only 34 days to go until Saratoga opens ...

Posted by JC, Jun 23, 2005 02:55 PM

Leaping to NYRA's Defense

Michael Veitch refutes some of the charges made against NYRA by state comptroller Alan Hevesi in his audit of the organization released last week:

Item One: Hevesi slammed NYRA for spending some $400,000 on the vanning of horses, some of which -- horror of horrors -- are owned by trustees.
NYRA owns three tracks and horses are stabled at each facility.
One of the reasons there are three is because horses and fans appreciate a change of scenery and the racing surfaces constantly need to be freshened. Thus, the transportation of horses from track to track is simply one of the costs of doing business....
Item Two: NYRA pays for the trophies it presents to stakes winners.
This is so sinful I can't come up with the words to categorize it. (Saratogian)

Steven Crist does much the same, but is less diplomatic when it comes to Hevesi's motives:

If Hevesi's genuine ambition was to correct past poor business practices, he would have filed his latest NYRA audit for the historical record and complimented the company and the monitor for its corrective actions. Instead, he called in the television cameras for a press conference at which he hurled inflammatory charges at NYRA that went beyond the scope of his audit and twisted his findings into charges and implications with little relation to the truth....
Hevesi's true agenda, to raise his profile as a crimebuster with higher political potential than mere accountancy, emerges in the absurdity of some of his charges. (Daily Racing Form -- sub. req.)

This summer might be a tough one for NYRA. Hevesi is scheduled to deliver another two audits on the association in the coming months, and July 1 is the deadline for NYRA to meet the conditions set out for it to avoid federal prosecution. "The New York Racing Association remains on shaky ground as it works to break free of criminal charges and clear itself of tens of millions of dollars in debts." (Times-Union)

I don't know enough about New York politics or the business side of New York racing to offer more than a tentative opinion on the situation, but I'd say it looks like NYRA is going to find it difficult, if not impossible, to keep its franchise when bidding starts in 2007.

Posted by JC, Jun 20, 2005 10:15 AM

NYRA "Takes the Cake"

New York state comptroller Alan Hevesi blasted NYRA in a financial audit issued yesterday for violating NYRA and state rules in awarding contracts and said the organization had "mismanaged" and "squandered" money. Among Hevesi's findings: that 38 out of 58 NYRA contracts were not competitively bid on, including one for almost $800,000 that was awarded to former chairman Barry Schwartz's son-in-law for web services; that NYRA paid more than $400,000 in horse transport charges for board members and other thorougbred owners; and that invoices for services performed by contractors were missing. "The management was awful," said Hevesi, although he took care to praise current management for their cooperation with the monitoring firm of Getnick & Getnick and the efforts made to reform the organization. (Blood-Horse)

The Times-Union reports that the biggest contract awarded without following procedure was ignored by the auditors.

In the wake of this latest bad news about NYRA, Paul Moran opines: "It has become painfully apparent in what are perhaps the darkest days that the racing game in New York has ever seen, that the New York Racing Association no longer works, that the partnership of racing and government is dysfunctional and that a wholesale restructuring that makes the operation of Belmont Park, Saratoga and Aqueduct a private enterprise is the only way to save the game." (Newday)

Posted by JC, Jun 16, 2005 09:45 AM

Odd Couple of NY Racing

The New York Times has a long, front-page article on the evolving relationship of Marylou Whitney, "the doyenne of racing," and Magna owner Frank Stronach, and how the two could affect the future of New York racing. The piece does a good job of conveying the clash between old-money racing and upstart entrepreneurialism, and the unease with which both cultures regard each other:

"'I don't care if Frank Stronach is taking over -- he's not moving me out,' Ms. Whitney said ... No one at the table disagreed that the [racing] industry was in trouble; Las Vegas, state lotteries and the proliferation of gambling and slot machines in state after state had been siphoning gambling dollars from horse racing for decades. But no one was eager to embrace Mr. Stronach, either. They were tired of what they considered his bullying and hectoring, and suspicious of his plan to Las Vegasize racing. Look at what he had done at Gulfstream Park, his track in South Florida: rock concerts, scantily clad cheerleaders. What next? ...

"Mr. Stronach has long favored aggressiveness over accommodation ... Mr. Stronach envisions horse racing as the anchor of a 24-hour, seven-day-a-week global gambling and entertainment colossus. He envisions a day when customers at his tracks can bet on horses, play slot machines or his racing game, shop and dine. Away from the tracks, they could watch races on his TV network and bet on them online ..."

What the article doesn't do is give much sense of what a Stronach-Whitney alliance could mean for New York racing. I had the impression after reading the piece that there is wariness mixed with respect, but little warmth, on both sides, and that the future of racing in New York is more complicated than any of the discussion over it has so far suggested. (And it did sound complicated already, what with the NYRA franchise expiring in 2007 and the slots issue.)

One reader writes: "That was quite a story in the NYT today ... That Stronach guy at least seems to realize that racing in its current form is dying, unlike the society doyenne lady. I'm not so sure that cheerleaders are the answer, but I would be interested in visiting Gulfstream and checking out the changes that they're making. It's sad that [many people] don't have the attention span to wait 20 minutes between races, but better to acknowledge that and provide additional stimulation at the track than to live in denial and watch the last few venues wither away." Good point.

Posted by JC, Mar 8, 2005 10:20 AM

One Thing After Another

This isn't NYRA's week. A report issued by New York state comptroller Alan Hevesi on Tuesday accused the organization of spending more than $1 million on inappropriate and excessive expenses between 2002-2003, including country club memberships for two NYRA executives (Lexington Herald-Leader), and this morning came the announcement that the clerk of scales Mario Sclafani and his assistant Braulio Baeza have been suspended indefinitely as a result of the ongoing investigation into jockey weights at New York racetracks. Throw in the latest on the Jockeys' Guild and it's all enough to make even the most devoted fan feel a bit hopeless about the corruption and mismanagement that seem so rife in the game. (San Francisco Chronicle)

Posted by JC, Jan 12, 2005 12:15 PM

Inside Job

"Raids last week at Aqueduct, Belmont and Saratoga were precipitated by a tip from New York Racing Association management who learned that jockeys might have been allowed to carry the wrong weights in races, an executive of the agency said yesterday. Peter Karches, the agency's co-chairman-elect, said that once its management became aware that some weights might have been misreported, it notified the office of Attorney General Eliot Spitzer." (New York Times)

Posted by JC, Dec 19, 2004 11:30 AM

Investigation Focused on Weights

In raids yesterday on NYRA offices at Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga, state police carted away boxes of records having to do with race entries and jockey weights. "All the forms removed from Aqueduct document what weight a jockey was assigned for each race and what weight was actually carried in a race.... If the attorney general believes that weights were deliberately falsified, it would be a violation of state law and could be considered a felony for tampering with a sporting event," reports the Daily Racing Form.

More: "New search warrants for three NYRA thoroughbred tracks" (Newsday) and "Authorities are quiet after raids on three racetracks" (New York Times)

Posted by JC, Dec 16, 2004 09:15 AM

Developing

New York state police and the state's Organized Crime task Force raided offices at Belmont Park, Aqueduct, and Saratoga late this afternoon. State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer refused to comment on the search, "but a key investigator who has probed NYRA for much of the past three years said the search is a major inquiry with substantial ramifications in the racing industry." (Times Union)

Posted by JC, Dec 15, 2004 07:00 PM