JC / Railbird

Misdeeds & Wrongdoing Archive

Scandal = Increased Handle

At least by $2 on a recent Saturday. A racetrack newbie dazzled by news of the race-fixing indictments two weeks ago visits Aqueduct in search of a seedy good time. “Intrigue! Drugs! The mob! Now this was a reason to gamble.” (New York Press) [Link found on the newly-begun and already excellent racing blog, Left at the Gate — definitely worth repeat visits, if not a spot on your bookmark list.]

Posted in Misdeeds & Wrongdoing on January 26, 2005

Of Scams & Scandals

If, as seems possible, racing’s latest scandal is mostly about offshore betting and tax evasion, it’s unlikely that the investigation into race-fixing and rogue gamblers will ever make it into a book like the soon-to-be published in the US, “Flat Racing Scams and Scandals,” by Rupert Mackeson (Metro Books), which covers 200 years of skulduggery and wrongdoing in racing. It’s good to be reminded that the sport is resilient — this scandal won’t be the one to kill it off. (The book is listed for sale on Amazon and Barnes & Noble; be aware that the promotional copy is about a book called “What Cats Want.” A big oops, for whoever sent that data file.)
Related: The New York Daily News reported this weekend that “The race fixing probe that has scandalized the sport of kings has expanded from Aqueduct to the state’s showcase tracks, Saratoga and Belmont…. A court-appointed monitor overseeing NYRA has questioned numerous former and current NYRA employees about race fixing at the three tracks, the sources said. The employees turned over information on several races where the odds dropped significantly just before post time.”
That doesn’t sound good, but I’ll withhold judgment until more is known (especially given the Daily News’ breathless coverage of this whole thing so far). Last week, I was feeling quite cynical about this investigation and the early responses it engendered from various officials. I think I may have been wrong. We might see standards for drug use and testing and rebate shop operations made more uniform in the near future. In the past week, Maryland, Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylania, New Jersey, and New York have endorsed uniform medication rules and testing standards — the first time regulators from so many jurisdictions have agreed on such a policy, and NYRA and Churchill Downs have cut their signals to the betting shops named in the indictments of January 13, although whether that is the right response is open to debate, as Matt Hegarty reports in the DRF. I feel hopeful.

Posted in Misdeeds & Wrongdoing on January 24, 2005

More Testing, More Oversight

I’m not sure what to make of this latest bad news. The indictments last Thursday of 17 people for allegedly drugging horses and betting illegally are troubling, especially following the recent unrest over the matters of jockeys’ insurance and the management of the Jockeys’ Guild, as well as the investigation into jockey weights at NYRA, but there’s still too much unknown for me to get as worked up as the commentator who called the arrests a “catastrophe,” such as: police detectives and the FBI say the doping aspect of the investigation is limited to the New York area, but only two of the indictments had anything to do with doping and those with only one race. How many other horses were drugged, and how many other races might have compromised? As for the betting, were wagers ever placed after races started? How secure are American pari-mutuel pools?
I’m sure we’ll hear more about the investigation in coming weeks. Already, officials from NTRA, NYRA, and elsewhere are calling for increased testing of horses, cracking down on cheats, and ensuring the integrity of the sport. That would all be great. My fear though is that’s all we’re going to get — talk — when what we need is real, structural change. There should be uniform standards for drug testing across racing, as well as for punishing offenders and dealing with offshore betting shops. But that would require every segment of the industry to work together, and an organization, such as NTRA, to take leadership in crafting national standards that would clean up racing, and that, I’m afraid, will never happen. This scandal will pass, and five years later, another will break, and we’ll have the same, ineffectual debate all over again.
Related: “Before Thursday’s indictments involving the ‘milkshaking’ of the horse A One Rocket, the New York Racing Association was in Albany talking with the State Racing and Wagering Board about bringing milkshake testing to its three tracks” (New York Daily News); jockey Richard Migliore, who rode A One Rocket on December 18, 2003, remembers the race well (New York Post); and the investigation that hit New York shows no signs of spreading to Maryland. (Baltimore Sun)
Perhaps I’m too pessimistic: The national HBPA asked affiliates to indicate their position on the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium proposal for uniform medication and drug testing. “The consortium has made substantial progress, and no HBPA affiliates have questioned the need for uniformity in medication, drug testing, or penalties for violations.” (Blood-Horse)

Posted in Misdeeds & Wrongdoing on January 16, 2005

The Iceberg’s Tip

The 17 people, including trainer Greg Martin, indicted in New York Thursday on charges of fraud and conspiracy for allegedly fixing races and betting illegally may have been just the first caught up in a nationwide investigation, reports the New York Post. “Law-enforcement sources said the arrests were just the tip of the iceberg. Prominent thoroughbred tracks in Florida and California also are under investigation, as are gambling operations in Nevada, they said.”
More: “Suspension of licenses follows indictments” (New York Times); performance-enhancing drugs and rebate shops come under the spotlight (Daily Racing Form); Bill Finley writes that the “sport needs to get serious about drugs” (ESPN); and NTRA commissioner D.G. Van Clief Jr. called on the industry Saturday to tighten the security of US pari-mutuel pools. (Blood-Horse)

Posted in Misdeeds & Wrongdoing on January 15, 2005