It was tough to work up the enthusiasm for a year in review of racing for 2012. It was supposed to be the year in which New York racing finally put a decade of drama behind it, a decade of franchise uncertainty, of VLT procrastination, of bankruptcy and court cases. It was supposed to be…
Earlier this month, the new board of the New York Racing Association held its first meeting. Last spring, NYRA’s president and CEO was removed following the discovery that the Association was charging a higher takeout on the public’s wagers than was allowed by law, and two weeks later, Governor Cuomo announced that he was reconstituting…
The first meeting of the new NYRA board felt a little like a first date. Everybody seemed intent on making a good first impression; controversy was avoided; common ground was sought; and at the end, everybody said that it would be great to get together again, and soon. Board president David Skorton did exactly what…
The first board meeting of the latest incarnation of the New York Racing Association, Inc. will take place this Wednesday, at 3 pm in Manhattan. New board chair David Skorton, the president of Cornell University, announced last month that all NYRA board meetings would be open to the public, in accordance with New York State’s…
Like those poor refugees in Casablanca, here in New York, we continue to wait…and wait…and wait. We wait for Governor Cuomo’s announcement about the reconfiguration of the NYRA board, the board that will be made up mostly of the governor’s appointees, the board that will graciously allow a horsemen’s representative to attend board meetings but…
Like many immigrants to this country, the men and women who work on the backstretch at our racetracks are often invisible. We see them walking horses to and from races, and we see them in winner’s circle photographs; we almost never learn their names or hear their voices. They are seldom profiled in turf publications.…
Would you believe that I planned last week to write a post for today about what’s going on at the New York Racing Association? No, I probably wouldn’t either, if I were you, but it’s true. Starting at the beginning of Derby week, when the New York Times reported that New York State alleged that…
Earlier this month, the New York State Racing and Wagering Board issued an emergency rule that would void the claim of any horse that died during racing or on the racetrack following a race; the action was taken as a result of the spate of fatal breakdowns that occurred over Aqueduct’s inner track this winter.…
Last summer, the New York State Racing and Wagering Board announced the formation of a Fan Advisory Council to “provide input and advice to the Board on horse racing and wagering matters in New York state” (sic). According to its website, the Council will examine the “total racing experience” and report its findings to the…
It’s late afternoon on a February Saturday in Saratoga, and the sun is low in the sky; the temperature hovers just above freezing, and a chilling wind sweeps through the deserted shedrows of the Oklahoma training facility. There’s not a horse or a human in sight. Describing the scene as “desolate” would be charitable. But…
Brooklyn Backstretch 