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 in NY Racing Issues on 06/20/2005 @ 10:15 am / Follow @railbird on Twitter
