Seven years ago, the New York State Gaming Commission undertook a daunting mission: to locate every New York-bred Thoroughbred that raced between 2010 and 2012 and didn’t race after 2012. A year later, in 2016, the Commission released its findings. The number of horses that fit the criteria was 3,894. The Commission was able to…
With an eye toward a possible proposal to change New York’s rules on the race-day medication furosemide, the state’s Gaming Commission met in Saratoga Springs Aug. 25 to solicit opinions about the medication. The Gaming Commission is staffed by members who requested the forum be held, admitting that they have no background in horse racing…
Last Friday night, the local Time Warner News NY1 aired a report about fatalities at Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens, linking horse racing with the contentious Central Park carriage horse issue. On the face of it, it’s not a stretch to consider the issues together; both, after all, raise issues of equine welfare; both have made…
Last Friday afternoon, as I was out shopping for the Belmont Child Care Association’s holiday party, this landed in my inbox: “If you know who is responsible for the NYRA/NYS Gaming Commission’s equine injury and death database, could you please alert them to this entry for 11/20/2013. Something seems amiss.” Amiss, indeed. Over the weekend, the…
Brooklyn Backstretch 