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NYRA's New Commitment: 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,...; [Posted March 23, 2008 2:00 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:...; [Posted February 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 February 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...; [Posted November 14, 2007 8:30 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...; [Posted November 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...; [Posted August 20, 2007 1:30 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...; [Posted August 16, 2007 9:30 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 July 20, 2007 8:55 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 July 8, 2007 2:55 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...; [Posted February 14, 2006 3:45 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...; [Posted December 13, 2005 9:35 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...; [Posted December 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...; [Posted September 25, 2005 5:50 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...; [Posted September 21, 2005 8:30 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...; [Posted September 21, 2005 3:00 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. --- I know the story of the investigation into Wild Desert's whereabouts before the Queen's Plate is a couple of days...; [Posted July 22, 2005 5:00 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...; [Posted July 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...; [Posted June 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...; [Posted June 23, 2005 2:55 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...; [Posted June 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...; [Posted June 16, 2005 9:45 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...; [Posted March 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...; [Posted January 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 December 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...; [Posted December 16, 2004 9:15 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 December 15, 2004 7:00 PM]; ---

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