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:
| Date |
Track |
Race |
Horse # |
Odds |
Finish |
| June 23 |
Belmont |
7 |
1 |
48-1 |
5th |
| July 11 |
Belmont |
3 |
10 |
14-1 |
3rd |
| July 17 |
Belmont |
8 |
9 |
41-1 |
9th |
| August 16 |
Saratoga |
1 |
11 |
52-1 |
9th |
| August 16 |
Saratoga |
2 |
4 |
23-1 |
7th |
| August 30 |
Saratoga |
6 |
6 |
24-1 |
12th |
| November 6 |
Aqueduct |
9 |
4 |
11-1 |
3rd |
| November 7 |
Aqueduct |
8 |
10 |
55-1 |
8th |
| November 12 |
Aqueduct |
1 |
8 |
94-1 |
7th |
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 in NY Racing Issues on 09/21/2005 @ 8:30 pm / Follow @railbird on Twitter
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 in NY Racing Issues on 09/21/2005 @ 3:00 pm / Follow @railbird on Twitter
Larry Lee Palmer profiles jockey Victor Mercado, injured on Labor Day in an accident at Emerald Downs (Post-Intelligencer):
“Que pasa?” Victor would ask, “How’s it going?” His heroes would nod, stop and joke.
But Victor Mercado never hit the big time. Few do. Maybe his English wasn’t very good. Maybe he never got the right agent, or found a trainer with faith and a long string of horses.
So, like many in his trade, Victor Mercado became a journeyman. He worked anywhere he could get mounts. Soon he had a family. He had obligations. He worked bullrings and county fairs up and down the West Coast. He rode at Tillamook and Walla Walla, Dayton and Kennewick, Playfair and Portland Meadows, even Prescott and Turf Paradise in Arizona when the season turned.
His best years were at Longacres. He was among the top 10 riders for years. The stat sheet says he ranks 26th in victories on a racetrack that doesn’t exist anymore.
Mercado may not ride again. A fund for his support has been started. To donate, send contributions to the Victor Mercado Relief Fund, Washington Mutual, 24A Street, Auburn WA 98002, or call 253-833-8700.
Posted by JC in Jockeys on 09/21/2005 @ 1:15 pm / Follow @railbird on Twitter
