NYRA backtracks on safety – UPDATE

Posted by noonante on November 15, 2013
Posted in: Horse Racing, Political/Social commentary. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

Earlier this week I wrote that NYRA’s President and Chief Executive Officer had reversed a significant reform implemented after the Report of the Task Force on Racehorse Health and Safety was released over a year ago.  The Task Force recommended that NYRA’s veterinarians should report to a separate state agency  –  the Gaming Commission  – or, if that was not feasible, to the stewards.  The panel had identified the NYRA practice of the vets reporting to the Racing Office as a “critical conflict of interest” that “must be changed immediately.”  The conflict arose from the differing objectives of the Veterinary Department and the Racing Office.  The former was responsible for ensuring the safety of horses entered to race so that only sound horses are allowed to run.  The Racing Office, by contrast, had a major focus of providing large fields for bettors, because large fields meant an increase in the wagering handle  –  and more revenue for NYRA.

In October, 2012, NYRA had changed the reporting relationship so that the Veterinary Department would report to the stewards.  CEO Christopher Kay had decided to change this relationship when the new Senior Vice-President of Racing started later this month, with the vets once again reporting to the racing operation, thereby reviving the “unacceptable conflict of interest” identified by the Task Force.

NYRA’s spokesperson has informed me that NYRA will not change the reporting relationship, so that the veterinarians will continue to report to the stewards, and “will not report to the incoming Senior VP for any purpose.”

NYRA backtracks on safety

Posted by noonante on November 11, 2013
Posted in: Horse Racing, Political/Social commentary, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

See UPDATE on this issue posted on September 15, 2013

In a major reversal, Christopher Kay, President and CEO of the New York Racing Association, is going to undo one of the significant reforms implemented after the report of last year’s Task Force on Racehorse Health and Safety.  Kay has decided that NYRA’s Veterinary Department will report to the Senior Vice President of Racing Operations when he starts his job at the end of the month.  Since the Report, the Veterinary Department has reported its decisions on scratches to the stewards.  While this may seem like nothing more than bureaucratic shuffling, the reporting relationship of the veterinarians was a critical problem identified by the Task Force.

The Task Force was appointed in early 2012 following an uptick in fatal breakdowns during the Aqueduct winter meet of 2011-12.  The panel consisted of four widely-respected experts in racing, including two prominent veterinarians, Scott Palmer and Mary Scollay-Ward, Alan Foreman, head of the national Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, and former jockey Jerry Bailey.  The group conducted a comprehensive analysis of the Aqueduct fatalities and released a 100-page report that was universally praised for its comprehensive and thoughtful analysis and recommendations.  Governor Andrew Cuomo expressed his commitment to making equine safety “the top priority of horseracing.”

The Task Force looked at a number of factors that could have played a role in the breakdowns  –  safety of the racing surface, medication rules, violations of the drug rules, and even the aberrant weather for that time of year in New York.  Foremost among their concerns, however, was that the NYRA Veterinary Department reported to the Racing Office.  The Task Force described this relationship as a “critical conflict-of-interest” that “must be changed immediately.”

The conflict arises from the differing objectives of the Racing Office and the Veterinary Department.  The latter is charged with ensuring the safety of equine competitors so that only sound horses are allowed to race.  The Racing Office, by contrast, has a major focus of providing large fields for bettors, because larger fields means an increase in the wagering handle  –  and more revenue for NYRA.  As the Task Force Report observed:

Racetrack management has a vested interest in maximizing field size.  Conversely, field size, or the economic impact of a scratch, must never be a consideration when an examining veterinarian assesses a horse’s suitability to race.

The vets begin each race day by conducting physical examinations of the day’s entrants.  If a horse does not pass this inspection, the vet would recommend a scratch to the Racing Office.  The Task Force Report recounts examples of interference by trainers and Racing Office personnel seeking to overturn the decision to scratch.  In one such case, a trainer dissatisfied with a vet’s assessment of a horse succeeded in getting the Racing Office to bar that veterinarian from examining the trainer’s horses in the future.  The Task Force also reported personnel in the Racing Office refusing or overturning the scratch recommendations of a veterinarian.  The Report described an atmosphere in which non-veterinarians felt “empowered” to challenge the decisions of the vets:  “The success of some of these challenges created an environment in which veterinarians felt intimidated and reluctant to make unpopular scratch recommendations.” 

The Task Force recommended that the Veterinary Department report to the separate agency that regulates racing  – now the Gaming Commission.  Barring that preferred resolution, the Task Force said that the vets should report to the stewards, an approach adopted by NYRA over a year ago.  That is the decision that CEO Kay is now reversing by having the Veterinary Department once again report to the racing operation.

Even if we ignore the wisdom of this decision, the timing could not be more inapposite.  While NYRA’s spring meeting at Belmont experienced a significant reduction in racing fatalities this year, the trend was reversed at Saratoga.  The Belmont fall meet saw four catastrophic breakdowns compared with last year’s six, but the Aqueduct fall meet has already had one in its first week.  But it’s the Finger Lakes Racetrack that is experiencing an increase in fatalities reminiscent of the Aqueduct crisis that sparked the convening of the Task Force.  It’s not a NYRA track, but is one under the jurisdiction of the Gaming Commission.  While the current NYRA leadership fancies itself as the racing industry’s leader  –  and, for better or worse, it is certainly one of them  –  the backtracking on a significant change affecting safety is not the example a leader sets.

We do not know what Chris Kay was thinking when he decided to go against a key recommendation of the Task Force.  There is, however, an unsettling backdrop to the decision that embodies the fears expressed by the Task Force on this “unacceptable conflict of interest.”  The Cuomo Administration, including its Chairman of the NYRA Board David Skorton, is on a mission to stop payments to NYRA from the casino company that operates the Video Lottery Terminals at Aqueduct.  With the VLT revenues, NYRA is in the black;  remove them and they are, once again, in the red.  Making the racing operation profitable without VLT revenues is now the Administration’s prime focus.

But let’s give the final word to Governor Cuomo.   His press release praising the work of the Task Force stated, “NYRA’s organizational veterinary structure was inherently conflicted by reporting to an entity (the Racing Office) whose function is inconsistent with deliberate and careful equine risk management practice.”  That is the structure CEO Kay has decided to bring back to NYRA.

New NYRA – where’s it at?

Posted by noonante on November 4, 2013
Posted in: Horse Racing, Political/Social commentary, Politics. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

It’s been more than a year since the NYRA Reorganization Board was established.  Since the law written by Governor Andrew Cuomo calls for it to disappear three years after its creation, this is a time to look at what difference it has made to New York’s racing.

The “new” NYRA was deemed necessary by the Governor, who browbeat the former NYRA Board and a somnolent Legislature in May of 2012 to give him control of New York’s racing, despite the Governor’s admission that he did “not know this industry especially well.”  He waited four months before signing the law, and did not appoint his Board members until October 18.  The purported reason for the dramatic step of state government taking over the industry was a supposedly “scandalous” prior NYRA that had failed to make a one percent reduction in takeout in some exotic wagers.  (Never mind that the promised review by the Inspector General has never materialized, nor that Cuomo’s new Board concluded there was no intentional misconduct by the prior NYRA’s leadership.)

Cuomo named David Skorton, President of Cornell University, as Chairman of the new Board and made seven additional appointments to go along with four appointments by the legislative leadership and five appointments by the old NYRA.  Skorton, who has no experience with horse racing, was praised at the time because he once stayed in a Cornell dorm room.  Skorton viewed the problem with the prior NYRA as resulting from a lack of “leadership and management,” and promised to run a transparent and accountable organization.

So, what has he accomplished?  Answering that question is somewhat difficult since, despite the promise of transparency, the “new” NYRA has been anything but.  We are left with what has been discussed at the public meetings of the Reorganization Board.

Chairman Skorton’s first priority was to focus on the safety of the participants in New York’s races.  A Task Force that was appointed and made a comprehensive report prior to Skorton’s arrival on the scene, had recommended a number of changes to how NYRA and the state conduct racing.  Some of the significant changes proposed in the Report were made by a separate state agency, the Gaming Commission that has the authority to issue regulations.  They made changes in rules governing the administration of some medications, as well as modifications to claiming rules.  For its part, NYRA appointed a committee to review safety policies, another committee to investigate racing fatalities, and have started conducting necropsies of catastrophically injured horses.

Of the Task Force’s 39 main recommendations and 93 subordinate proposals  –  a number of which required action by the Gaming Commission  –  how many did NYRA implement?  We do not know because NYRA has refused to provide any information regarding their action or inaction.

At one point this year, it appeared that the Gaming Commission regulations and NYRA’s focus on safety may have produced results.  Following some earlier fatalities at Aqueduct, there was a marked decrease in catastrophic breakdowns at the spring meetings.  Unfortunately, that trend stopped during the Saratoga meet, and while Belmont fall meeting fatalities are down from six in 2012 to four this year, it has not mirrored what appeared to be a significant success.  The cause of fatal breakdown is a complex one with many contributing factors, but NYRA’s failure to divulge information as to what they have done does not benefit horses, riders or the industry.

Another priority became the hiring of a new Chief Executive Officer.  While Administration sources reportedly said there would be a “nationwide search” commencing in October and that there had already been considerable interest expressed by experienced racing executives, the new Board did not begin the search until the end of February.  They ended up hiring unemployed business executive Christopher Kay who, unlike his boss, had actually been to a horse race  –  albeit 40 years ago.  As an indication of the Governor’s interest in the industry he now controls, as well as the juice Kay will possess when it comes to making decisions affecting New York racing, Cuomo did not even meet with Kay prior to his being hired.  Although Kay signed a $550,000 contract, apparently it did not call for him to be ready as CEO on day 1.  The Times Union has reported that NYRA also paid a consultant $75,000 to “mentor” him.

The issue that prompted the most discussion at the Board was a proposed contract for an Advance Deposit Wagering platform.  The Gaming Commission’s Acting Director Rob Williams, supported by Cuomo’s Budget Director and Board member Robert Megna, had expressed reservations about the process used to select the winning bidder.  Since the contract was expected to bring in between $3 and $5 million each quarter (starting with the one we are in), it was not an insignificant matter for NYRA to get right.  This is particularly important because of the insistence by Williams and Megna of NYRA becoming self-sufficient without relying on  the VLT revenues from the racino at Aqueduct.  While I agree that the procurement process was fatally flawed, neither Williams nor Megna did much to bring the matter to resolution, even though it could have been resolved with a phone call to Skorton.  Despite the hectoring on VLT revenues, the two Cuomo employees allowed the process to drag on for months.  While Chairman Skorton  –  the “leadership and management” advocate  –  said he would work the matter out in April, he did nothing and the full Board ended up withdrawing the procurement at its June 18 meeting.  So in the six months after then-CEO Ellen McClain identified this as a problem, the Board sat on its hands, and a technology that was expected to start a month ago has been delayed while a new procurement is conducted. 

So that is one person’s assessment of what the new NYRA has “accomplished” in its first year of operation.  Although it is a 17-member Board with several “Special Advisors,”  David Skorton is clearly in charge.  If you follow the activities of the Cuomo Administration, you are not going to see much independent behavior, and this Board does not disappoint in that regard.  In all of the Board meetings, there has only been one vote that has not been unanimous  –  the decision to withdraw the ADW contract.  The “discussion” at the meeting to select the CEO lasted all of eight minutes.

In addition, Skorton’s promise of transparency has been as hollow as that of the Governor’s frequent invocation of that phrase while doing the exact opposite.  (The law establishing the new NYRA was laughingly entitled “New York state racing franchise accountability and transparency act of 2012.”)  NYRA consistently refuses to release documents that are clearly public ones  –  a prime example being Kay’s $550,000 contract and performance goals.  Skorton said all decision-making meetings of NYRA would be public, but only one committee  –  Equine Safety  – has regularly conducted its business in the open.

These are not esoteric matters.  NYRA has three significant decisions on its plate that could have a profound and long-lasting impact on New York racing and the tens of thousands of jobs dependent on it.

The first is whether NYRA should start to operate as if there are no VLT revenues.  Skorton tried to sneak this through in the last minutes of the August meeting of the Board.  In a rare show of independence, there was sufficient backlash for the Chairman to back down.  The VLT revenue is important because a racing operation that has operated at a loss without the revenue operates profitably with them.  The VLT revenues, incidentally, come from the profits of the casino operator, not “state subsidies” as Cuomo Administration figures continually say.

The Board must also come up with a plan to “reprivatize” NYRA.  The law creating the new Board calls for a report on this to be made by April 2015  –  less than 18 months from now.  There have been leaked stories from Cuomo’s Administration raising possibilities ranging from Santa Anita (sic) to Madison Square Garden (double sic) as potential franchise holders.

The third big issue comes to us courtesy of The New York Daily News.  The Governor has apparently decided that Aqueduct is a “waste”  –  which to the Governor’s mind means property that could be transferred to real estate developers.  Robert Megna, who attended the meeting with the editorial board, stated that Skorton and Kay are studying the possibility of closing Aqueduct “very closely.”

So, there you have it.  As a frequent examiner of past performances, when the Governor says something, the only response one can expect from his appointees is “Yes, Sir!”  We thus have the uncomfortable scenario in which three people who know nothing about racing or the breeding industry are on a path to make decisions profoundly affecting both.  And, it is clear they intend to make those decisions in secret to the extent they can get away with it.  Skorton already said as much at the August Board meeting on the subject of the VLT revenues.

It is not as though there are not plenty of talented people with a wealth of knowledge and experience who deserve to be part of these discussions.  They can be found on back stretches, farms, industry organizations or working for NYRA.  Each of these issues is significant and complex and would benefit for a full and open airing.  They don’t lend themselves to the sound bites of a Governor’s reelection campaign.

NYRA and VLT’s

Posted by noonante on October 16, 2013
Posted in: Horse Racing, Political/Social commentary, Politics. Tagged: , , , . 2 Comments

The New York Racing Association started turning a profit when it finally began to realize long-overdue revenues from the Video Lottery Terminals at Aqueduct’s racino.  Now Governor Andrew Cuomo’s top appointees in New York’s racing structure are saying that NYRA should begin to operate without the VLT revenue.  To put it another way, after 10 years of struggling to stay in business, the Cuomo Administration wants NYRA to go back to those days.

The notion that a portion of racino profits should go to tracks at which the racinos operate was part of a law enacted in 2001 establishing the gambling parlors.  Because the state government was not able to get its act together  –  the epitome of which was a scandalous procurement in 2010  –  NYRA did not receive the millions the law entitled them to until ten years later in 2011.

The Aqueduct VLT racino has evolved into the most successful one in the country.  Because payments to NYRA are based on net revenue earned from the VLT’s, NYRA has benefited accordingly.  For the first six months of the calendar year, NYRA received VLT revenues of $54 million, sufficient to turn a $10 million loss from the racing operation into net income of $8 million.  The VLT payments, incidentally, are from the racino’s profits  –  otherwise known as losing wagers  –  and not from any type of taxpayer subsidy.

I guess it should not be surprising that a Governor who wants to deliver tax relief to voters in time for his 2014 election campaign has turned to the VLT payments as a possible source.  He started talking about it over a year ago, and it has been enthusiastically embraced by the Acting Director of the Gaming Commission as well as his Budget Director, who is also one of his appointees to the NYRA Board.  At the last meeting of the Board, the charge was picked up by David Skorton, Cuomo’s hand-picked Chairman.  Skorton, who did not have much to say during the meeting, nonetheless repeatedly interjected that NYRA had to start functioning as if the VLT revenue was not there.  He went so far as to try to sneak that position through the Board in the last minutes of a two-hour meeting.  While the Board has been remarkably complicit with almost everything proposed by Skorton during his tenure, it refused to go along with this idea.

While the concept that an entity should be able to function without revenue from external sources is one that has a certain surface appeal, it does not appear to be a bedrock principle of Chairman Skorton.  Recently it was announced that Cornell University, where Skorton is President, has begun a capital improvement project of $63 million at its School of Veterinary Medicine.  According to the campus newspaper, the project will demolish one building, build a new one and significantly renovate another.  It is to be “predominantly funded by New York state.”

And it’s not just Ivy League colleges that are supported by New York’s taxpayers.  Earlier this year the Governor boasted of a $420 million annual tax credit program designed to attract the film and television industry to New York  –  most recently this took the form of encouraging The Tonight Show and Jimmy Fallon to return to New York.  Then there is Global Foundries in Malta, owned by the government of Abu Dhabi.  According to the Albany Business Review, it has received $2.42 billion in state grants and tax credits to build and expand its computer chip fabrication plant.

This government largesse is in keeping with one of the Governor’s major proposals to, as he put it, “transform SUNY campuses and university communities across the state into tax-free communities.”  This innovative concept of taxpayer support would exempt participating businesses from paying business, corporate, sales or property taxes for 10 years.  Remarkably, even the employees of the companies would be excused from paying state income taxes.

Also, let’s not forget another taxpayer-supported industry that has been in the news recently because of the Moreland Commission, the body appointed by the Governor to root out corruption in state government.  While Cuomo assured us that the Commission would be free to go wherever it wanted, that commitment disappeared like the leaves on a tree in late October when the Commission expressed an interest in subpoenaing records related to tax breaks given Manhattan real estate developers.  According to reports in the Daily News, the Governor’s staff put the kibosh on that idea because some of those developers were major contributors to one Andrew Cuomo.

So it’s OK to use tax dollars to support Cornell University, the entertainment industry, Manhattan real estate developers, a chip fabrication plant owned by an overseas company, and the countless businesses and their employees who will be attracted to Cuomo’s numerous “tax-free communities.”  But when it comes to using a portion of the profits from a gambling company located at a state race track to support the horse racing industry, Cuomo and his appointees to the New York racing industry act as if they have been asked to give up one of their children.  We are not talking about a tax break here  –  indeed, NYRA not only pays taxes but also provides financial support to the Gaming Commission.  If those payments from the first six months of the year are annualized, it works out to over $10 million per year.

I understand why a state’s tax policy may be used to attract businesses and create jobs.  But there are two things I do not understand.  One is why a Governor, who says he is intent on reducing taxes and has appointed yet another commission to give him ideas on this, nonetheless supports costly schemes to benefit businesses that do not exactly need it?

The other big question is why is horse racing the only industry not deserving of this Governor’s support?  New York racing is one of the state’s signature industries.  In addition to race tracks, there are dozens of farms where New York horses are bred, raised and cared for.  The tracks and the farms employ tens of thousands of people.  Many of those people are not ones who can afford a trip to The City to catch Jimmy Fallon or take up residence in one of those high-rise condo towers for which developers seem to need tax subsidies.  Instead, they show up for work before the sun rises seven days a week.  They are the trainers, grooms, hot walkers, jockeys, exercise riders, farm workers, and struggling owners who love horses and the sport.  They are not looking for a hand-out, just a fair break.  They simply have the misfortune of not having the money to make large political contributions, the engine that drives much of New York’s government and its policies.

Instead, they must rely on the 17-member NYRA Board to protect their interests.  Stripping the VLT revenue from NYRA is clearly a priority of the Governor and Chairman Skorton.  Individual Board members have a responsibility, and it is not fealty to the Governor.  Rather, they have a fiduciary  –  if not moral  –  obligation to act in the best interests of New York racing and the many livelihoods dependent on it.  This is, needless to say, an important issue with significant ramifications, and one that must be discussed in the light of day.  Regrettably, Chairman Skorton has already stated his desire to have those discussions in secret.  We can hope that the other members of the Board  –  twelve of whom are government appointees  –  will step up and insist on a process that is open and accountable.

Random thoughts from The Week That Was in racing

Posted by noonante on October 7, 2013
Posted in: Horse Racing, Saratoga thoughts. Tagged: , , , . Leave a comment

With one exception, I’ll leave the commentary on this weekend’s BC preps to the analysis on Capital OTB’s always entertaining morning programs and to DRF and the Blood Horse.  The exception is the Arc.  That is one impressive three-year old filly.  While there is regular commentary on the difference between European and American racing  –  usually centered around either the “breed for speed” of the States or on drug policies  –  why is it not unusual for one of the European girls to beat up on the boys (in an 18-horse field no less)?  It may be the 11-pound weight advantage they get because of age and gender.

Here are some other observations from this week’s news:

  • Travers complaint of cheating was baseless:

Six days after Moreno was run down in the stretch by Will Take Charge, the trainer of the second-place horse filed a complaint with New York authorities that the winning jockey had used an electrical device (or “battery”) to stimulate his mount.  According to trainer Eric Guillot, over 100 people had witnessed his video and came to the same conclusion that the jockey had something in his hand other than his whip or the reins, and hid it after the race.  When I looked at the race video following news of Guillot’s complaint, it was clear that if you wanted to see something in the jock’s hand that did not belong there, you could so conclude.  But based on prior allegations of jockey misconduct based on video footage, one should be careful before drawing any conclusions.

New York’s Gaming Commission, the agency with investigatory and regulatory responsibility for racing, assisted by the forensic unit of the State Police, conducted a thorough review and concluded the jockey “was not carrying any sort of  electrical device and that Mr. Guillot’s allegation was wholly unsubstantiated.”  In the Gaming Commission report released last week, there were four salient points:

  1. The State Police reviewed 7,000 frames from NBC’s broadcast as well as photos from a professional photographer who was covering the race;
  2. The video that was the basis of Guillot’s complaint was the result of using a mobile device to record from a DVR recording;
  3. The quality of that video was impaired because of “compression artifacts,” or a reduction in the amount of data that could be recorded because of the quality of the devices used to make the video;
  4. The photographs by the professional taking shots in the race aftermath show nothing inappropriate in the jockey’s hands.

I think the photographs included in the Gaming Commission report  –  particularly Figures 6 – 18  –  are the most compelling exculpatory pieces of evidence.  They are all the more significant because there simply is no incriminating evidence.  The Commission’s report can be read here.

Guillot’s complaint was troubling because someone who earns his livelihood from an enterprise has a responsibility to not drag the profession through the mud unnecessarily.  That is not to say he should not have filed the complaint with the authorities, but rather that he should not have gone around broadcasting it in a way that would draw the inevitable attention.  The sport does not need more unwarranted negative publicity.  Guillot simply fanned the flames of those would want to believe the worst about the game, and many of those people will have conveniently forgotten the clearing of the jockey the next time there is a discussion about integrity.  The Gaming Commission is to be commended for having completed its review in about a month with a thorough and professional effort.

  • Racing is in trouble if this is its company.

This September Atlantic did a short piece on the success of ESPN.  In describing how the network rose from its doldrums to become a dominant figure in TV ratings, the magazine quoted an executive:

We had strayed to food eating and gaming and salsa and horse racing and figure skating, and it just didn’t perform for us.  I had this quadrant with two axes:  young versus old, and male versus dual audience.

Yikes!  Food eating and salsa?  I assume by “dual audience” he means one that includes women.  It will be interesting what ESPN’s aspiring competitor, Fox Sports 1,  will do to attract younger viewers and women, given that they have stated that racing will be a significant part of its broadcast package,.  I don’t know how their one announced star, Regis Philbin, fits into that equation.

What is NYRA hiding?

Posted by noonante on October 4, 2013
Posted in: Horse Racing, Political/Social commentary, Politics. Tagged: , , , , , , , . 1 Comment

“The New York State Legislature has refused to turn over the information requested by the Moreland Commission….  As the old adage goes, if you’ve done nothing wrong, you have nothing to hide.

We believe the legislature’s position is legally indefensible, ethically repugnant, and disrespectful to the public’s right to know.”

—  Spokesperson for the Moreland Commission, a group created by Governor Andrew Cuomo to investigate possible corruption in New York’s government, as quoted in the Times Union.

When the Governor forced out the former Board of the New York Racing Association and replaced it with one of his own creation, there was an implicit  –  if not explicit  –  message that the prior Board operated in secrecy and served primarily its own private interests.  Because the new Board is now under state control as a result of Cuomo’s legislation, it is now subject to New York’s Freedom of Information Law or “FOIL.”  So how open have they been?  I have submitted several requests for documents and have regularly been denied access even though any reasonable person would conclude the documents should be public records.  Here are four:

  • CEO Chris Kay’s contract and performance standards entitling him to a bonus of $250,000:  

When NYRA’s new Board decided to hire a new CEO, the Compensation Committee concluded that it would be untoward to have a government agency pay at the level of the prior permanent CEO (reportedly about $460K) and came up with a bifurcated package  –  a base salary of $300,000 and eligibility for the $250,000 bonus.  David Skorton, Cuomo’s appointment as Chairman of the Board, emphasized that he wanted to be “very public about this,” and that as a “hard grader,” the bonus was not just a ruse to get the salary over the prior level.

So I asked for the records proving Skorton’s claims, specifically Kay’s contract and Skorton’s performance standards.  NYRA denied my request, saying it would be “an unwarranted invasion of Mr. Kay’s personal privacy.”  In an unusual twist, NYRA further stated that Kay’s “significant privacy interest” exists because he is not a public employee. So a guy bringing home $5769.23 each week and is in line for a cool quarter of a million has a greater right to privacy than the person answering phones at the DMV or a toll collector on the Tappan Zee bridge?

NYRA’s position is, of course, ridiculous and an argument they should be embarrassed to make.  It is also contrary not only to Chairman Skorton’s supposed desire to be “very public about this,” but to the letter and spirit of New York’s public records law.  (Let’s not forget that Kay’s selection was a secret process  –  for understandable reasons  –  but makes his contract award unlike so many others where you at least have a public procurement that defines what the state is buying.)  If there is any truly personal information in either the contract or the performance standards, it can be redacted  –  as the law permits.  New York’s highest Court has defined such information as that which “ordinarily and reasonably be regarded as intimate, private information” –  not what one finds in the typical employment contract.  But the CEO’s goals for NYRA, or any severance agreement?  Since the state’s takeover of New York’s racing last year, many have wondered what the real agenda is, and whether there is even a plan for the sport.  NYRA appears determined to keep us in the dark on both questions.

  • NYRA’s efforts to implement the recommendations of a Task Force investigating equine fatalities:

After a number of racing fatalities at the Aqueduct meet in early 2012, a Task Force was appointed to investigate the causes and make recommendations. The Task Force consisted of some of the most respected voices in racing, and came up with a report that was comprehensive and far-reaching.  There were 39 primary recommendations and 93 subsidiary ones.  We know some significant ones were implemented because they required regulations from the state’s Gaming Commission.  What we do not know is what NYRA has done to implement the recommendations (other than window dressing such as a hot line that as of August had received one call that could not be substantiated).

NYRA’s actions  –  or inaction as the case may be  –  are significant.  There was a dramatic decrease in racing fatalities in the latter part of the Aqueduct meets that carried over to the Belmont spring meet.  Unfortunately, that trend was halted when the Saratoga meet saw as many fatalities as last year’s meet, and the Belmont fall meet has seen as many racing fatalities (two) in its first two weeks as the entire spring meet  –  and that doesn’t include  three recent catastrophic breakdowns on the training track.

The factors causing a breakdown are complicated ones, not lending to simplistic analyses and solutions  –  a conclusion convincingly made in the Report of the Task Force.  The decline in breakdowns this year may have been the result of actions by the Gaming Commission or by NYRA  –  or it may have been the result of pure luck.  The same can be said about the recent increase.  But what we do not know because of NYRA’s refusal to release any records is what may have contributed to either the decline or the increase.  There is at least one such analysis, prepared by Dr. Scott Palmer who was a member of the Task Force, that compares the Task Force recommendations with what has actually been done.  I have been trying to get it since April 30.  No one could expect NYRA to have implemented fully its portion of 132 recommendations, particularly since many of them required a substantial amount of work.  But a progress report would be a useful way of measuring whether NYRA is on track to improve equine safety or has completely dropped the ball.

  • Chairman of the Board Skorton’s decision to make the attorney for Rudy Rodriguez a “Special Advisor” to the Board:

At the February meeting of the NYRA Board, Chairman Skorton announced that he had appointed Attorney Karen Murphy as a “Special Advisor” to the Board.  He neither explained the reason for the appointment, nor described her expected role, nor sought the Board’s input.  Attorney Murphy is well-known for her representation of trainers accused of drug violations.  Indeed, shortly after her appointment she was in the news as trainer Rudy Rodriguez’ attorney following allegations that one of the trainer’s horses had tested positive with an unusually high level of a medication.  According to the Daily Racing Form, Murphy accused NYRA of not taking proper steps to monitor the barn area, and even raised the question of whether an unauthorized person had entered Rodriguez barn and administered the drug overdose.  Around this time, Rodriguez planned on entering a horse in the Kentucky Derby.  In an unusual step, Kentucky’s racing authorities required Rodriguez to appear before them before they would issue him a Kentucky license.

This appointment became even more puzzling when Murphy was “disappeared.”  At the next Board meeting, she was not in attendance, nor was she identified as a “Special Advisor” who was not present.  There was no explanation for her whereabouts or lack thereof.  It was reminiscent of the “back in the USSR days” when someone photographed on the Kremlin wall was not there next time around.

I thought her appointment was a matter of interest given Chairman Skorton’s repeated statements of concern for equine health and safety, and the interest expressed by some Board members for NYRA to take a strong role in developing “house rules” that would root out the cheaters and subject them to increased penalties.  I am not suggesting that trainer Rodriguez violated the drug rules in this instance (although he did serve two suspensions recently for drug infractions).  Nor do I think an attorney should be held responsible for alleged misdeeds of a client.  But if Chairman Skorton needed some outside expertise on drug violations, he perhaps could have picked someone who did not bring to the table the perception of a conflict-of-interest.  Apparently NYRA’s attorneys agreed since one of the reasons for denying access to documents was the attorney-client privilege.  While their argument may relate to her “unappointment,” it would not pertain to any documents explaining why she was named in the first place.

  • Memo from New York’s Committee on Open Government requiring NYRA to comply with the public records law:

There could not be a better example of NYRA’s blatant flouting of the public records law than their response to my request for documents from other entities concerning NYRA’s obligations to act under both the public records law and the Open Meetings Law.  They denied any such documents existed, even though there is an opinion from the Committee on Open Government  –  the state agency with responsibility for overseeing both of these laws  –  stating that NYRA was indeed subject to them.  Chairman Skorton was copied on the memo.

*****

In commenting on the Legislature’s refusal to turn over documents to the Moreland Commission,  Governor Cuomo said, “This effort is all about restoring the trust, and restoring people’s faith in government, and I think the more information the better, especially when there are real questions people have been asking.”  (Quote is from the Times Union.)  Cuomo is at his officious best when talking about the shortcomings of others.  When he dismounts from his high horse, perhaps he will explain why he does not apply the same standard to an agency he created with much fanfare a year ago, supposedly to address those questions of public trust.  As for NYRA’s leaders, they may want to consider how far they are willing to sacrifice their own credibility in their effort to serve the Governor.

Update:  After completing this post, I came across a reference in the Times Union to a significant capital project at the Cornell College of Veterinary Medicine.  NYRA’s Board Chairman David Skorton is the President of Cornell.  According to the Cornell Chronicle, the $63 million project is “predominantly funded by New York state,” and will entail the building of 65,000 square feet of new space and renovating an additional 33,000 square feet.

Random musings on The Week That Was

Posted by noonante on September 29, 2013
Posted in: Political/Social commentary, Politics, Saratoga thoughts. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Some random observations on recent events:

  • Republicans on path to take us over the cliff:  In their Obamacare obsession, Congressional Republicans are threatening to shut down the government and/or default on the national debt.  One of their main talking points  –  apart from increasing health care coverage is tyranny  –  is that the majority of Americans oppose Obamacare.  The polls I have seen, however, do not demonstrate that.  Rather, while a minority say they are in favor of Obamacare, if you add to that percentage the numbers who oppose it because it did not go far enough, the Republicans are out-of-step with the majority as they are on so many issues.  Senator Ted Cruz thinks his opposition is his ticket to the White House.  He may want to consider the reality that Americans do not put smug know-it-alls in the White House.  Ask Al Gore or John Kerry.  Also, the Republican Congressman who compared the government shut down with the “Let’s Roll” quote from 9/11 may want to work harder on his analogies.  Those were the words of passengers on one of the hijacked planes that led to them taking on the terrorists to prevent a plane from flying into a government building.  Everyone on the plane, however, died after it crashed into the Pennsylvania countryside.
  • How weak does the President look now that Syria and Iran are willing to talk about lessening their threats in the Mideast?  The Conventional Wisdom among Washington pundits is that the President is a feckless leader who appears weak to the rest of the world.  It was never clear to me how bombing Syria would reduce the threat of Assad using chemical weapons other than to flex our macho muscles, but we are at least on a path that will reduce the threat significantly.  The Iran developments are potentially momentous unless, of course, you are on the neocon right that doesn’t think you can ever have too many wars.  One of the scariest quotes I heard in the run-up to the Iraq war was a Bush Administration official who said, “Everyone wants to go to Baghdad.  Real men want to go to Tehran.”
  • Speaking of irresponsibility, what was The Saratogian thinking with this headline?  For those not familiar with this issue, Darryl Mount Jr. was injured seriously following a chase by Saratoga police officers.  He was pursued following an incident in which he purportedly slammed a woman’s head into a wall.  He ran down an alley off Broadway, came out on scaffolding and then ended up on the ground after falling about 20 feet from the scaffolding.  According to the police, the officers lost sight of him and came upon his body on the ground.  The victim’s relatives and friends have challenged the police account, although I had not read of any witness actually alleging specific police misconduct until the headline story in the Tuesday Saratogian:  “Witness reports:  Victim pushed.”  This dramatically changed the narrative from one of an accident in the course of a police chase to an allegation of significant criminal behavior by the police.  There was only one defect in the ensuing article  –  there was no account of any witness, let alone multiple witnesses, saying they observed a police officer push the victim off the scaffold. Instead, an attorney for the family said he has two witnesses who “witnessed the final stages of the pursuit.” According to the attorney, “there was an officer in close proximity to him when he went off that could have contributed to his going off the scaffolding.”  The newspaper also quotes the attorney as saying “there is a question as to whether a struggle ensued before Mount left the scaffolding and also whether a TASER was deployed while Mount was on the scaffolding.”  So while the attorney is claiming that the police were closer to the fall than acknowledged by the police department, he does not even come close to alleging that an officer pushed the victim off a ledge.  What is particularly disturbing about this headline  –  apart from its obvious inaccuracy  –  is that many people do not go beyond the headlines in drawing conclusions from the news.  Moreover, since the victim is African-American and there has already been a heated protest over the incident, one would expect a measure of caution before putting something on your front page that could only inflame matters.
  • Why does The Big Apple need to go to Boston for its mayors?  First we had the Boston-born Michael Bloomberg. Now there is the Democratic nominee, Bill de Blasio, who not only grew up in Boston but is an actual Red Sox fan.  Of course, Boston might have been better served if it went to The City for its last mayor instead of 20 years of the Tom Menino experience.
  • It doesn’t get any better than the Yankees’ tribute to Mariano Rivera.  I have been a life-long  –  well, at least since the age of six  –  Red Sox fan and have often been a professed Yankee-hater.  But I was crying openly when I watched the video of Rivera’s last appearance on the Stadium mound.  Watch it here.  No matter how much one may dislike the Bombers, you are not a baseball fan if you do not appreciate the likes of Rivera, Derek Jeter and Andy Petite.  Indeed, with the exception of Alex Rodriguez, the most obnoxious Yankees in recent years  –  Roger Clemens and, to a lesser extent, Wade Boggs  –  have come from the Sox.  Incidentally, I do not agree with the narrative accompanying the video to which I linked.  I think an argument can be made that Rivera is the greatest player to have only worn the pinstripes.  And, by all accounts, is one of the nicest and classiest individuals in professional sports.
  • “Hand this to your car wash professional.”  No comment on the final episode of Breaking Bad since I will not be able to watch it live for scheduling reasons.  Instead, my spouse and I will be waiting until next weekend when we will watch it with an appropriate meal of fried chicken and guacamole.  The fried chicken, by the way, will be from Mouzon House, Saratoga’s must underrated restaurant.  (The most overrated, in my opinion, is Hattie’s which prides itself on its fried chicken.)

Times Union thinks ethnic slurs are OK on state property

Posted by noonante on September 23, 2013
Posted in: Horse Racing, Political/Social commentary, Politics, Saratoga thoughts. Tagged: , , . 1 Comment

In a remarkable editorial by Albany’s Times Union, the prominent newspaper in New York’s capital pushed the administration of Governor Andrew Cuomo to allow a food truck with an offensive name onto the grounds of the Empire State Plaza.  The truck, named Wandering Dago, had been approved for a spot this summer at Saratoga Race Course by the New York Racing Association.  When NYRA informed the truck’s owners after the first day of racing that it had to be removed, litigation ensued.

The truck’s owners had also applied for a permit to operate on the Empire State Plaza earlier this year and were denied in part, according to the Times Union, because of the name.  The litigation raises a challenge based on the First Amendment’s protection against the government infringing on the right to freedom of speech.  According to the truck’s owners, who claim to be of Italian heritage, the name is derived from the phrase used for Italian immigrants a century ago who wished to be paid on a daily basis  –  or, as the “day goes.”

In a federal court hearing last week, it was revealed that Cuomo’s Deputy Secretary for Gaming and Racing had emailed NYRA CEO Chris Kay shortly after the fourth race had been run that the name was a “problem waiting to blow up.”  According to the suit by the truck’s owners, it was this email that prompted their eviction.

Here is the Times Union‘s take on NYRA’s action:

Indeed, NYRA might have found itself hearing complaints from Italian-Americans upset by what many view as an ethnic slur.  But the time to have a discussion about that was in the months that preceded the approval. Not on opening day, and not with an ultimatum to change the business’ name in less than 24 hours to save the state and NYRA any potential discomfort.

The Times Union got at least one thing right  –  NYRA should have rejected the application based on the name upon receipt.  Is there some doubt, however, that it is an ethnic slur?  A useful test for anyone thinking a particular term is acceptable is to go up to a friend and refer to him by that name.

Second, why is it only “Italian-Americans” who might be upset?  I would like to think that in a nation that thrives on diversity and inclusiveness, an insult to one is an insult to all.

And yes, removing the truck may have saved “the state and NYRA any potential discomfort,” but what about all the rest of us who find the name offensive and contrary to the ideals a state government should be promoting?

The interests of fairness may require a cash settlement to the truck owners because they relied upon NYRA’s approval to their financial detriment, but not because there is a First Amendment right for a commercial enterprise to say whatever they want while making money on state property.  That does not mean, however, that the state should allow the truck on the Empire State Plaza as recommended by the Times Union editorial.  While that particular ethnic slur may be one that is acceptable to the Times Union, it is not to many fair-minded people  –  and not just those with Italian heritage.  And let’s not forget what message is sent to all visitors to the Plaza who are not familiar with the litigation background and the sophistry of the Times Union.

What got you hooked on racing – and why?

Posted by noonante on September 12, 2013
Posted in: Horse Racing. 7 Comments

Attracting new fans to horse racing  –  and keeping existing ones  –  is one of the sport’s biggest challenges.  I started thinking about this more when I reported on the attendance at this year’s Saratoga meet.  Despite heavy promotion of the Saratoga 150 celebration and summer weather that was as close to perfect as we are ever going to see, attendance for this year was down almost four per cent below that of last year.

Most discussions about increasing interest in the sport center on the role of drugs.  While I do not discount the significance of that as a potential impediment, I am more interested for the moment in how you got into racing.  Perhaps a more difficult question is why you got hooked.  At the end, I will describe how you can respond to this question (with your privacy guaranteed).  But first, here is my story.

Growing up, my only contact with racing was being in the house when my father was watching one of the Triple Crown races.  He was not a racing fan and I suspect he was watching because of the limited menu of sports on TV.  I have a distinct recollection  –  for reasons that escape me  –  of Tim Tam’s Derby.  It may have been the name, or perhaps the call of Fred Capossela.

Other than watching the occasional Triple Crown race, I had no interest in racing until the woman with whom I was living got tickets for the Kentucky Derby.  She had watched the Derby the previous year with another man and they decided to each write for tickets.  When she got them, he was no longer in the picture, and we decided that even though we were buying a house, how could we miss the “greatest two minutes in sport?”

When we arrived in Kentucky that year, we heard that Churchill Downs actually ran races on days other than the first Saturday in May, and went to the track.  Kentucky Oaks day was the first time either of us had ever been to a race track.  The next day I actually had the winner and the woman who would become my wife had the second horse.  We had never heard of the term “exacta.”  We had a great time.  Someone told us that if we wrote to Churchill saying what a wonderful experience it was, they would continue to send us tickets.  We thought it would be a great thing to give to others, never thinking that we would actually want to go each year.

In August, a work colleague suggested getting a group together to go to Saratoga.  To me, “Saratoga” was a place on that page in the sports section where the baseball statistics resided.  We went on a day a race called the Travers was run. Neither of us had either part of the exacta this time, but we were hooked.

On the following Saturday, we went to a wedding in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden.  On the way, we had to catch the Hopeful.  So there we were, in the Penn Station OTB, dressed for a wedding.  I would guess we kind of stood out in a venue that was probably as far from the Saratoga experience as you could get, but we absolutely had to see that race.  (Gulch won.)

So that’s how we got hooked.  The why is a much more difficult question.  It turns out that we both loved to handicap, and we both loved nothing more than being at a racetrack, especially for the morning workouts.  We would go to Suffolk Downs in the morning (when we had horses there), and then go back through the tunnel to go to our jobs in Boston.  Nothing compares to the experience of having a horse nicker when she recognizes you.  Or, for that matter, nothing compares with winning a nice bet through some good handicapping.

So that’s my story.  What’s yours?  You can respond in two ways.  If you are willing to be public, you can click on “comments” under the heading.  If you do not wish to be public, please respond by email (noonante@gmail.com).  If you are willing to be contacted for follow-up, please let me know that by stating so in your email.  If I do contact you by email, it will only be sent to you and not to a broader group so as to guarantee your confidentiality.

I hope you respond.  I think this could represent an opportunity to inform the discussion about increasing the appeal of our sport.  And, if it doesn’t, it should provide some great stories.

Random thoughts from the Spa’s last 10 days

Posted by noonante on September 4, 2013
Posted in: Horse Racing, Political/Social commentary, Politics, Saratoga thoughts. Tagged: , , , , , , , . 5 Comments

Here are some random observations, or how did things turn south so dramatically at the end of the meet?

Maybe it’s Wayne Lukas who should be going to the post-race spit barn:  The Hall-of-Fame trainer seemed to be on the downside of an illustrious career not that long ago when he could not buy a stakes win.  He had a remarkable streak of something like two years without such a victory.  Now he pulls down two of the most prestigious races for three year-olds  –  the Preakness and the Travers  – with different colts, and then caps it off on his 78th birthday by winning the Hopeful.  The Travers featured one of the most exciting finishes in my memory.  With the top four finishers getting Beyers of 106 or 107, is it possible that this crop of three-year olds may be much better than they’ve been given credit for?  It was certainly one of the highlights of the meet, but was followed promptly by some of the absolute low points.

New York’s success in reducing horse fatalities came to a screeching halt:  Less than 24 hours after the Travers, two horses from the same race had to be euthanized.  That equaled the number of catastrophic injuries for the entire Belmont spring meeting.  On the very next day, a horse suffered a fatal injury while training.  In that incident, exercise rider Raymond Bulgado suffered a broken neck and was still hospitalized the last I heard.  On Wednesday, another horse died following a training accident.  Finally, on Friday, the popular Saginaw was euthanized after a racing breakdown.  The three racing fatalities brought the number for the meet to five, matching last year’s total.

Since we’re on a negative roll, let’s have an allegation of cheating in the Travers:  Eric Guillot, trainer of Travers runner-up Moreno, claimed that the winning jockey used an electrical stimulator to get Will Take Charge across the line first.  He filed a complaint with the State Gaming Commission that then turned it over to the State Police.  Guillot’s camp claims the evidence is indisputable, although differing news accounts have them with different allegations.  One source has the jockey dropping the device;  another has him tucking it under the saddle cloth during the gallop out.  Of course, this could be the result of bad reporting and not conflicting versions.  Obviously I do not know what happened.  Nor do the numerous sources who have weighed in with their opinion, including the insightful observation that Lukas changed jockeys before the race  –  ignoring the fact that the new rider was the sixth jock Lukas had used in the colt’s 12 races.   The race replay can support your belief that something did happen, although we have been down this road in the Preakness 10 years ago and an even earlier Derby.

It doesn’t bother me that Guillot filed a complaint with the Gaming Commission  —  that is the right thing to do if you think you were cheated.  What bothers me is that he went public with the allegations.  It’s a criminal investigation now, not a matter that will be put to a vote.  The sole effect of going public with allegations that have not been proven is to discredit a sport that doesn’t needed unwarranted bad publicity  –  that’s why we have The New York Times.  One would like to think that someone who makes his living from racing would have a sense of responsibility and not unnecessarily drag it through the mud.

If the allegations turn out to be true, Tom Durkin’s stretch call will go viral:  “… Will Take Charge with a late surge….”

Be sure your camera battery is charged if Chris Kay is in the area:  When Kay accepted the job of NYRA’s CEO and President, he acknowledged having much to learn since his only prior exposure to racing came more than 40 years ago.  In his educational efforts he must have discovered the archives of Post Time USA, because no one has been in more photographs in such an abbreviated time period since the days of Gino Stevens.

NYRA’s leadership does not inspire confidence that New York racing is in capable hands:  At the Board meeting held on August 28, Kay dominated the meeting by reading a prepared statement for about 40 minutes that included many video clips, most of which featured Chris Kay.  For someone who boasted about his experience as a litigator at his first press conference, it came off as somewhat of an embarrassment.  Board Chairman David Skorton took the opposite tack  –  his report barely lasted two minutes.  Skorton is appearing to lose whatever interest he had in New York racing.  His sole objective is to deliver Andrew Cuomo’s goal of eliminating VLT payments as a step to reprivatizing the franchise.  While this is certainly a significant matter deserving of a full discussion, Skorton wants to conduct it in secret, and has scheduled only one Board meeting over the next six months.

Attendance:  NYRA had to “audit” the attendance figures before releasing them publicly?  They could have added up the numbers reported each day in the Daily Racing Form (which gets them from NYRA), which is what I have been doing.  Attendance was down slightly as was handle.  Interestingly, there were two big drops on the weather-impaired days  –  Opening Day and Closing Day  –  but the biggest drop took place on the four giveaway days.  Of the total decline of 33,000 almost 12,000 were reduced spinners on the four Sundays.

Spa Christmas shopping doesn’t have to end with the beer steins:  For the Saratoga racing devotee on your list, consider the documentary produced by Albany’s WMHT, The Track at Saratoga.  The DVD is only available with a $60 contribution to this essential PBS/NPR affiliate.  You can also pick up additional copies for  –  I think  –  another $12 per DVD.  You can view an online version to get a flavor for this entertaining one-hour special.