As Ed Fountaine notes in Monday’s NY Post, there are thirty racing days left in 2007, and still no word on who will be running New York racing on the first day of 2008. The mind boggles; when this process began literally years ago, it was inconceivable that we’d be in this position at this point. I have barely dipped my toe into this discussion, as I have not followed each development as closely as others have (notably Alan at Left at the Gate, who regularly discusses it in detail–here, here, and here, among others)—mostly because I have always believed that the franchise would be given to NYRA, and partly because the process’s Byzantine twists and turns challenge my ability to pay attention.

While arguments against keeping the franchise with NYRA have some merit, I have been in its corner since the beginning, for several reasons. It is the only non-profit in the group, and I think that where animal and human welfare are involved, a non-profit model is preferable to one whose goal is to turn a profit. (I feel the same way about schools–the well-being of humans and animals is too often at odds with the need to make a buck.) NYRA is the only group whose primary interest is racing, as opposed to casinos, and while I believe that casinos/VLT’s have their place in NY racing, I don’t want a group who cares more about gambling machines than about horses in charge of one of the state’s major industries. Finally, how on earth could any entity claim that NYRA doesn’t own the land that the tracks are on, when NYRA has been paying taxes on the land for fifty years? If NYRA isn’t given the franchise, hello, lawsuit; good-bye, racing? Had NYRA not had to pay all those taxes for all those years, it might have been able to avoid landing in bankruptcy court.

Has NYRA made bad decisions? Sure. But it’s also done a ton to raise the profile and quality of racing in New York, and it is responsible for arguably the finest racing meet in the country, the summer meet at Saratoga. In his blog, Paul Moran writes about the importance and success of New York-bred horses here and here. He also puts forth an opinion about the franchise that I share; it was reported by Tom Precious in last week’s The Blood-Horse that a plan is afoot to split control of New York’s three major Thoroughbred tracks among three different entities: one group would run Belmont, one Saratoga, and one Aqueduct. As most sane people have noted, that way madness lies. In an industry already riven by disparate oversight, having the three tracks compete against each other could only weaken, if not destroy, the success that comes from the relatively smooth cyclical nature of New York racing among the three tracks. That NYRA and New York OTB operate independently of each other (in fact, six different entities run six different state OTB operations) is a disaster; do we want to add further competition for betting dollars to the mix?

I gotta tell you: I can’t believe that we’re in this spot. I can’t believe that the people who sell beer in the grandstand; the people who sweep the floors; the people who take our bets; and even the people who cut our hair (anyone visited the Belmont barber lately?) have no idea whether they will be employed in seven weeks. While I am generally a cynic about politics, my disgust with the arrogance and ignorance of the politicians involved (especially Spitzer and Bruno—Bruno, whose constituency includes Saratoga!) has reached new heights. Smug and secure in Albany, they fiddle while hundreds and hundreds of people in their state wonder whether they will have jobs a week after Christmas.