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NY Racing Issues Archive

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 in NY Racing Issues on June 26, 2005

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 in NY Racing Issues on June 23, 2005

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 in NY Racing Issues on June 20, 2005

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