Is the honeymoon with the “new” NYRA over?

Posted by noonante on May 20, 2013
Posted in: Horse Racing, Political/Social commentary, Politics. Tagged: , , , . 1 comment

In a sign that the honeymoon with the Reorganization Board of the New York Racing Association is over, we have seen recent media attention paid to a fiscal issue between NYRA and the Thoroughbred Breeding and Development Fund.  The Fund is a public benefit corporation that distributes incentives to promote “breeding, raising, and racing of quality thoroughbred horses in New York State.”  It derives its revenues not from taxes, but from New York’s thoroughbred tracks as well as a growing portion from Video Lottery Terminal revenues generated by the state’s racinos.  NYRA is the entity now controlled by state government that runs New York’s quality horse racing programs at Saratoga, Belmont and Aqueduct.  NYRA paid more than its correct share to the Fund between 2008 and 2012 to the tune of $1.2 million and is now seeking repayment.

Local media, including Albany’s Time Union newspaper and the NPR affiliate WAMC have paid attention to the story but, as typical of their other forays into New York’s racing, have shed considerably more heat than light on the issue.  The TU ”broke” the story on May 13, but “broke” is a relative term since the issue is one that has been publicly known for some time.  According to The Saratogian, NYRA demanded a repayment on March 15.  The Saratogian also quoted a member of NYRA’s Board as saying it was a matter that “had not come up in our board room,” even though he was present at the April 11 meeting when it was raised as an outstanding matter, and it was also reported in the minutes for the meeting.  The manner in which it was raised at the meeting also made it clear that it had been an outstanding issue known to the Board members.  WAMC’s contribution to the fog was a discussion on their daily Roundtable program where they described NYRA as seeking reimbursement of the over payment from the state.  The Times Union published an editorial Sunday in which they decried the “tiresome games” played by NYRA’s Reorganization Board in distinguishing between the “new” NYRA and the “old” NYRA, adding, “[s]o it’s the new NYRA when it has its hand out for money from the state.”

Both WAMC and the Times Union also conveniently conflated moneys owed by NYRA to New York State that were discharged in a bankruptcy proceeding with what they each describe as a new demand for money “from the state.”  I have always operated under the assumption that bankruptcy proceedings are designed to both protect creditors and allow an entity to get back on its feet, and debts that are discharged  -  and must be approved by a federal court  -  are, you know, “discharged.”  It doesn’t mean that the bankrupt entity continues to owe an obligation.  More significantly, however, is the Thoroughbred Breeding and Development Fund may be a state-created entity, but it is not the “state” in the sense that the taxpayers are responsible for its obligations.  While that is not exactly a subtle point, it is one that both the capital’s “paper-of-record” and NPR station are willing to overlook in order to keep going what they see as a controversial story.

(Not so incidentally, the Thoroughbred Breeding and Development Fund has been twice cited by New York’s Comptroller, most recently on November 14, 2012, for failing to perform tests to prove they were getting the proper commissions.  The Comptroller’s report said they were getting the proper commissions, but it is not clear that was a result of the Comptroller actually doing his own testing.)

This is not intended to excuse NYRA for making improper payments, but I see this as more of an accounting issue than a significant matter warranting the attention being paid to it by influential media outlets.  I think NYRA deserves considerable scrutiny, particularly since it is now controlled by state government.  But what I found so disturbing about Governor Cuomo’s seizure of New York’s racing a year ago remains true today.  We are being poorly served by a media that seems more intent on the cheap sound bite than actually doing even a minimum level of actual reporting and digging to ascertain what is truly going on.  The Times Union also pulled out the tired trope that NYRA “was in the headlines too often for its corrupt behavior.”  They do not specify what that “corrupt” behavior was, but are instead apparently relying on a public willing to accept it on faith.  Of course, if they did any actual reporting on these issues there could be an informed discussion on the good and bad of NYRA.

Random Musings for The Week That Was

Posted by noonante on May 12, 2013
Posted in: Uncategorized. Leave a Comment

One person’s take on last week in the news:

Have Republicans finally found a real scandal?  No, not Benghazi.  Rather, it is reports that Internal Revenue Service employees targeted Tea Party organizations with heightened scrutiny, and that high level IRS employees were aware of it.  I have yet to see anything that would connect this to the White House, but I do not watch Sean Hannity or Glenn Beck.  The GOP never really found pay dirt with Solyndra or their encouragement of the birther movement.  Benghazi?  How can you have a scandal when you cannot really describe what it is?  Independent reports have already faulted the government’s role in the crisis, but changing the tone of emails does not make this comparable to Watergate.  Also, it is interesting how Republicans have to go back to the 70′s for a big scandal, conveniently ignoring Reagan’s Iran-Contra and the scandalous incompetence, lying and torturing of W’s Presidency.

At least one of this trifecta of losers is leaving the scene:  What can you say about a week in which Mark Sanford and Carl Paladino were elected to public office, and the Air Force officer appointed as the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Officer in February was fired for sexual battery in May?  Sanford, in addition to using public funds to conduct an extramarital affair, did his part for those of us who tell a spouse we are hiking the Appalachian Trail when  -  you know  -  we really are, complete with backpacks, dehydrated food and hiking boots.  It is a phrase, however, that truly resonates as an iconic American moment.  For those not familiar with Paladino, he was the Republican nominee in 2010 against Andrew Cuomo, and whose list of “indiscretions” included threatening to use a baseball bat against opponents in Albany.  Oh …  he was elected to the School Committee in Buffalo, so anti-violence initiatives may take a back seat, as well as command of the English language.  Here is a sentence from his web site:  ”At our interview you expected me to apologize to you for having resent off-color e-mails that were all about time and place, who and what.”

When will the Federal government’s shortcomings in this disaster get more attention?  The Boston Marathon bombing once again highlighted inadequate communication among governmental agencies in sharing information about possible terrorist attacks.  What has been lost among the predictable sound bites, however, is that these deficiencies have been regularly identified since 2005, and known to legislators from both parties.  But what about the explosion in West, Texas that killed 14 people and, literally, devastated a significant portion of that town.  I suspect that the failure in this case will be an absence of government regulation which, we know, this Republican Party favors in every conceivable situation.

Are we there yet?  Levels of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere have reached levels not seen since before man and woman walked the earth.  While hitting that number is in large part symbolic according to this account since we have already accomplished a fair amount of damage, there isn’t exactly a lot of good news about the legacy we are leaving for future generations.

New series looks at drugs and racing

Posted by noonante on May 10, 2013
Posted in: Horse Racing. Tagged: . Leave a Comment

The Thoroughbred Daily News has started a six-part series on drugs and thoroughbred racing, appropriately titled A Painful Truth.  This is not Joe Drape and The New York Times but a respected industry publication.

This is not a new issue.  Part 1 (from the May 2 issue) looked at the history of drugs in racing, going back to the early 20th century  -  with an article from 1903 in, yes, The New York Times  -  and the sport’s first Triple Crown winner, Sir Barton.

The next installment (May 10) brought us to the present, including a discussion of New York’s Task Force on Racehorse Health and Safety.  Author Ryan Goldberg forcefully brings home a point that I think many race trackers would like to avoid  -  it’s not just illegal drugs that present a problem, but legal ones as well.

This is a series that I hope all in the industry, as well as fans of the sport, will read carefully, and not dismiss it as readily as many did with the Times‘ account.  In intend to go into this deeper in a later post.

When will Governor Cuomo congratulate Derby winners from New York?

Posted by noonante on May 9, 2013
Posted in: Horse Racing, Political/Social commentary, Politics. Tagged: , , , . 1 comment

It has been five days since the Kentucky Derby and Governor Andrew Cuomo has issued 15 press releases, but none of them have recognized the New York connections of Derby winner Orb.  (Today’s first one highlights Luke Bryan headlining the New York State Fair.)  The colt is owned by Stuart S. Janney III and Ogden Phipps who also bred the son of Malibu Moon to Lady Liberty.  Janney is currently a member of the Reorganization Board of the New York Racing Association, and was also a member of the “old” Board along with Phipps.  Trainer Shug McGaughey is a son of Louisville, but when he returned to Belmont Park with his horse and roses, he said it was good to be home.

A year ago at this time, Cuomo was engaged in a campaign to discredit the integrity of the NYRA Board as part of his effort to take control of thoroughbred racing in New York.  He successfully rolled the NYRA Board into agreeing with his taking control, and then rushed legislation through the Legislature without any apparent debate  -  and just one dissenting vote in both chambers.  He never articulated a legitimate reason for privatizing one of New York’s signature industries, instead relying on a complicit media to talk about the “scandal-plagued” NYRA.  There was some talk about his father  -  whose gubernatorial tenure ended 19 years ago  -  having had a bad relationship with NYRA.  Then there was the “unnamed source” quoted by Fred Dicker back in July when he was still Cuomo’s authorized hagiographer, who said this would be the “last hurrah for the blue bloods who have controlled [NYRA] for so long.”

Orb’s victory was a popular one throughout the industry, in large part because McGaughey is viewed as an “old school” trainer who lets the horse determine the agenda, and is not one of those who starts thinking Derby as soon as they purchase another expensive yearling.  Indeed, his last Derby trip was in 1989 when he sent out favorite Easy Goer, who had the misfortune to run against a better horse in Sunday Silence.  Contrast that with a Todd Pletcher who sent out five horses in this year’s Derby, bringing his overall record to one win from 36 starts, and is now talking about running two fillies in the Belmont Stakes.  Pletcher learned from Wayne Lukas who had two Derby starters this year, and plans on three for the Preakness, but you could also throw Nick Zito or Bob Baffert into the mix, each of whom has won the Derby, but not before going through literally dozens of promising two-year olds who could not keep up with the “program.”  Of course, McGaughey could not do the right thing by the horse unless he had the support of owners such as Janney and Phipps.

What makes Cuomo’s uncharacteristic reticence even more surprising is his supposed concern for promoting the well-being of the horse.  That was another of the rationales tossed around last year when the attack on the “old” NYRA began.  The “new” NYRA Board should be commended for carrying through on the recommendations made by the Task Force on Racehorse Health and Safety that completed its work under the leadership of the “old” NYRA.  Central to its recommendations were changes in rules governing the administration of permissible medications.  It is ironic that another New York trainer with a Derby horse, Rudy Rodriguez, could not be licensed in Kentucky until he made a special appearance before the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission.  Rodriguez had just completed a suspension in New York for one drug violation, is under investigation for another, and has been the subject of countless rumors regarding his reliance on pharmaceuticals.  While I try not to be place much stock in such suspicions, it is noteworthy that McGaughey is not one of those trainers about whom you hear such speculation.

This, then, would have been an opportunity for the Governor and his administration to focus on what is right about horse racing, with a particular focus on New York.  One fears, however, that his failure to say anything is simply representative of the petty vindictiveness that appears to be as much a hallmark of the Cuomo persona as his boundless ambition and ego.  Or perhaps, in the interest of fairness, maybe he was not aware that the Derby was run Saturday.