NYRA:
1. Effective 1/22 there will be only 8 races during the week(wed/thur/fri)
2. Minimum maiden claiming price $16k up from $12.5k
3. A horse beaten by 25 or more lengths must work in 53 secs or faster for 4f before it can be entered back
4. No entry will be accepted unless a horse has at least 14 days in between starts.
........Brilliant!!!
Wow....point #4 will be a huge change for some outfits.
I was going to post yesterday that given the visibly pitiful performance of the You Take The Cake in its prior race 11 days earlier, maybe they were asking for trouble.
Then I said, nah, that was in the slop, longer dist , etc. Let\'s not get hysterical.
Well apparently NYRA brass have reached that stage. Better late than never.
Another breakdown today, apparently.
Short rest?? Somebody get Crist some Kool Aid.
NYRA shortsighted with new runback rule
By Steven Crist
Nearly 50 years ago in his "Complete Guide to Thoroughbred Racing," the groundbreaking granddaddy of modern handicapping books, Tom Ainslie instructed readers to view with extreme skepticism any horse who had not raced in the last 14 days. Sharp and in-form horses should be racing at least that often, he said, and a quick runback was a sign of a thriving horse.
Today in New York, Ainslie would never make a bet. Under a bizarre and ultimately cynical directive issued by the New York Racing Association last week, no horse will be allowed to race at Aqueduct more than once every 15 days. The measure is supposed to address safety concerns raised by a rash of breakdowns at the Aqueduct winter meeting.
It is unlikely to do so, given that it is based on false assumptions and corporate image-crafting rather than any science or even common sense.
It's a good thing NYRA doesn't host the Preakness: No horse who ran in the Kentucky Derby would be allowed to run 14 days later in the second leg of the Triple Crown. Woody Stephens would not have been allowed to win the Metropolitan Handicap on a Monday and the Belmont Stakes five days later with Conquistador Cielo. John Veitch could not have sent out Proud Truth to win the Discovery a week before taking the Breeders' Cup Classic.
But what do Hall of Fame horse trainers know about training horses, compared to a bureaucracy trying to claim credit for safer racing and then overreacting when the numbers turn against them?
As a practical matter, the 15-day rule won't accomplish a thing besides understandably angering owners and trainers, who are in effect being told they are irresponsible and courting disaster every time they run back a horse in 14 days or fewer.
"Whoever made that rule has no idea about training horses," trainer Mike Hushion said last week.
As a symbolic matter, it is a terrible precedent that can only harm the sport by endorsing the falsehood that quick runbacks are inherently dangerous.
It would be one thing if NYRA or anyone else had done a legitimate, comprehensive study proving that horses who run back within 15 days break down more often. But there is no such study because it isn't true. In fact, research presented several years ago by The Jockey Club suggests the opposite: Horses who race early and often appear to gain bone strength and turn out to be sturdier. The most at-risk horses are not the sharp claimers running back on 10 days' rest but the 5-year-old maidens making their belated debuts after years of physical problems.
The 15-day rule does absolutely nothing to address the breakdown situation; you might as well hire a witch doctor to chant spells over a black candle at midnight. The rule sounds as if it might have something to do with safety, but all it really does is to anticipate the wrongheaded objections of the misinformed. The horses must be running too much, so let's have them race less often! Look how much we care about safety!
NYRA has generally done a commendable job of doing what it can to promote safety and equine welfare, instituting most of the recommendations of a state task force and taking the issue seriously. Unfortunately, it also has taken advantage of brief swings in the fatality numbers to congratulate itself for allegedly superior management, so now it is embarrassed and panicked when the numbers inevitably even out and start to trend the other way.
The problem with taking credit for randomly good times is that you then have to offer an explanation for the randomly bad times. Whoever is telling NYRA to stake its claim to competency by counting casualties and blaming trainers is giving it very bad advice.
Officials say fans should not worry about the 15-day rule messing up stakes races at Belmont and Saratoga because it is only a short-term measure, likely to disappear this spring. If so, that sends another curious message. If mandating 15-day rests is a lifesaving safety rule in February, why isn't it the same in June? Either it is a good and necessary measure or it isn't.
It isn\'t
Eight late scratches today decimating the card because no one can count to 14 at NYRA?
I have never seen data to support this rule and when I looked for evidence of over racing in denigrated performances, I had to go out to 10 races in 90 days which happens extremely infrequently.
Didn\'t a horse win by 35 or something recently too basically forcing the rest of the field to \"qualify\" via workout?
Why license people if the state is going to usurp the decision making?
1)It is ridiculous that the beautiful online HD platform is restricted to NYRA rewards/roku or wtf ever. They\'re basically not showing their best signal to the bulk of their customers-it is ludicrous.
2)NYRA rewards have the highest rebates-isn\'t that a violation of the commerce clause of the constitution that insures against economic discrimination merely because someone is in or out of state? I could be way off base here but I thought that was the nuts of the interstate commerce clause?
Breakage Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> 1)It is ridiculous that the beautiful online HD
> platform is restricted to NYRA rewards/roku or wtf
> ever. They\'re basically not showing their best
> signal to the bulk of their customers-it is
> ludicrous.
>
> 2)NYRA rewards have the highest rebates-isn\'t that
> a violation of the commerce clause of the
> constitution that insures against economic
> discrimination merely because someone is in or out
> of state? I could be way off base here but I
> thought that was the nuts of the interstate
> commerce clause?
When your business is begging for customers, why do this? Give everyone the HD, and give everyone the rebates.
They fixed it for quite a while, but the chronic \'stalling\' video on the HD feed is back. Anyone else see the problem?
decimating another card and resulting in a potential match race.
Can\'t wait to see the -500/+120 on a two way proposition.
I got the days mixed up.
good guess--11 stewards + 5 others. another great card
Don\'t agree with Bill Finley about many things regarding NY racing but could have written the same article.Not addressed by Finley is the weak NYRA top management which is substantially disconnected from the gambler.Disagree that Panza has done anything special and can tell you from first hand knowledge that he is no \"friend\" to the gambler.
A long, cold winter at Aqueduct
Bill Finley
Special to ESPN.com | February 17, 2015
New York winter racing was never a good idea. A racing franchise that had always stood for unparalleled excellence in the industry sullied its image and brand in 1975 when it began winter racing, which amounts to bad horses running for good money in dismal conditions.
But this is the year it has hit rock bottom.
Monday\'s card at Aqueduct was the 11th cancellation in 2015, plus another card was scrapped after two races were run. The biggest news of the meet has not been who won the Withers or Jerome or how many winners the Ortiz brothers have had but how many horses have died racing over the winter track. Fourteen horses have been euthanized thus far this winter.
Perhaps these numbers are outliers. Or maybe they\'re not.
During the winter of 2011-2012 thirty horses died at Aqueduct. Those sorts of numbers never occur at Belmont, Saratoga or during the spring and fall, main track meets at Aqueduct. Perhaps there\'s something wrong with the inner track. Or maybe trainers are encouraged to push the envelope because they know a win at Aqueduct in the winter can mean a huge payday for a horse with zero ability. Whatever the reason, far too many horses have been dying in the winter and it can no longer be looked upon as a coincidence or mere run of bad luck.
As for the weather and the cancellations, get used to it. Climate change is likely going to mean brutal winters will be the norm and not the exception.
NYRA/Adam Coglianese
Does winter racing at Aqueduct have a future?
And even on days when things do go right, when the weather is bearable and all the horses and jockeys get around the racetrack safely, what do you really have? The fields are small and the quality of racing can be Finger Lakes-esque. There is a serious horse shortage going on and NYRA cannot possibly hope to field full, quality cards with 49, 50 weeks of racing, much of it on a five-day-a-week-basis ... especially when the horse population takes a serious hit in the winter when the majority of the top stables head to Florida.
The facility is dilapidated and has zero charm. The handful of fans who do attend sit there and watch bad horses run for huge purses. The Sport of Kings this is not.
Martin Panza has done so much good work pumping life into Belmont and Saratoga, with creative concepts like the Stars and Stripes Day and turning Belmont Stakes Day into a card that rivals the Breeders\' Cup. But there\'s nothing he or anyone else can do to turn the winter at Aqueduct into anything more than a joyless three or four months that can\'t end soon enough.
The answer is to return to the good old days prior to 1975 when New York racing shut down around Thanksgiving weekend and didn\'t re-open until mid-March. That would breathe so much life into the New York racing product. The fans and the horses would be fresh and eager to go in the spring and no one would ever again be forced to sit through a race where the favorite, going for $26,000, runs 28 Beyer numbers. And it would drastically cut down on the number of horse deaths at the New York tracks.
As with so many things in horse racing, getting rid of winter racing in New York is one of those things that can help the sport but will likely never happen. There are several impediments in the way and NYRA management cannot simply wave a magic wand and make it go away.
Under New York law, Aqueduct must run 120 days a year and there are other regulations that require a large percentage of those dates must be held during the winter. But these are state laws and the state essentially runs NYRA. The law can be changed and Governor Andrew Cuomo, who has been outspoken about how horrible it is every time a horse dies at Aqueduct, should be the one leading the charge to change things.
If he did he\'d likely be told by the pro-winter racing forces that Aqueduct helps pay for the big purses at Saratoga and at Belmont. There was a time when this was true. Because the purses are lower at Aqueduct than they are at the other two NYRA tracks and the betting on the Big A is still rather robust, NYRA actually comes out of the winter meet with extra purse money that can be utilized to help bump up purses at Saratoga or help create events like Star and Stripes Day.
But that\'s an argument out of the past. First, slot revenue funnels so much money into purses that they\'re going to be huge at all three NYRA tracks no matter what. Secondly, when NYRA doesn\'t run it actually makes money. With its own ADW and with the core of people who will come to Aqueduct and Belmont to play the races even when the local card is canceled, NYRA\'s going to pocket a good $200,000 on such days from importing simulcasting signals. In fact, now that NYRA makes its financials public at its Board meetings, all you need is a pencil, a calculator and some patience to figure out the economics of their operation. Should they shut down in the winter it appears that, thanks to their simulcast business/ADW business, they\'d actually be able to stock away even more money for the rest of the year than if they ran.
The only people who would be hurt by the end of winter racing would be the horsemen that stick it out in New York in the winter months. But it\'s not like they wouldn\'t have other opportunities to run at Parx or Laurel or to send their better horses to Florida. And this is one of those situations where the good of the sport and the New York Racing Association should come before the needs of an individual group of trainers.
You can\'t look at this winter and conclude anything other than it was a disaster. And you can\'t logically argue that things will get any better in winters to come. It\'s time. Winter racing in New York has to go.
miff Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Don\'t agree with Bill Finley about many things
> regarding NY racing but could have written the
> same article.Not addressed by Finley is the weak
> NYRA top management which is substantially
> disconnected from the gambler.Disagree that Panza
> has done anything special and can tell you from
> first hand knowledge that he is no \"friend\" to the
> gambler.
>
After multiple cancelled racing days, one would think that
owners/trainers/horses would be quite anxious to run.
Saturday\'s nine race card includes three (3) races for 12,500
claimers.
Panza and his racing office are responsible for filling the backstretch
with, and writing races for, horses that the public will want to wager on.
They have failed miserably this winter and the weather is not an excuse
for their failure.
My latest is here, and examines how we got into this whole winter racing mess in the first place.
http://around2turns.com/2015/02/19/the-big-a-winter-racing-on-ice/
Bob
Amen.
There were actually a few events on Sunday\'s card that resembled horse racing.
NYRA continues to wander aimlessly!
David Grening DRF
NYRA to rescind two-week rule effective March 5
Effective with the entries for March 5, the New York Racing Association will rescind a rule that prohibited horses from running back in 14 days or less from their previous start, it was announced Tuesday.
The rule was one of four enacted last month in the wake of 14 equine fatalities during the first 27 days of the inner track meet, which began on Dec. 3. There has not been a fatality since Jan. 22, a period of 14 racing days. Four of the 14 horses who died ran back in 11 days or less from their previous start.
"Aqueduct operates under some unique circumstances, and equine welfare will always be the top of our concerns,\" said Martin Panza, NYRA\'s senior vice-president of racing operations. \"This rule served a purpose through a difficult period of time. We appreciate the understanding and support of our horsemen.\"
Three other measures that NYRA put in place starting Jan. 22 will remain in effect for the time being. One is a reduction to eight races from nine during weekdays. This rule remains in place despite the fact there have been 13 full-card cancellations this winter, eight since Jan. 28. Second, the bottom level maiden claiming level has been raised from $12,500 to $16,000. Third, horses defeated by a minimum of 25 lengths are put on a "poor performance" list and must complete a half-mile workout in 53 seconds or faster to be permitted to enter in a future race.
At meeting of the New York State Gaming Commission on Monday, Robert Williams, the organization's executive director, said the commission's "investigative review into the circumstances surrounding each fatality continues."
Beginning with Thursday's program, there are 19 scheduled cards remaining for the inner track season before racing moves to the main track on April 1.
Someone was PAID to find Chris Kay to run NYRA!!!
Times Union
The New York Racing Association paid a search firm $130,060 to come up with the winning candidate for chief executive officer. Once NYRA\'s board acted on that recommendation and hired Christopher Kay, the payments didn\'t stop.
According to people familiar with the arrangement NYRA made with RSR Partners, a managing partner with the headhunting firm that found Kay was retained for another $75,000 to \"mentor\" the new CEO about the world of sports management.
Kay bonded with the adviser, lawyer John Keitt, to the point that Kay came very close to hiring him as NYRA\'s next chief counsel. But once the Cuomo administration learned of the plan, state officials raised concerns about the optics and suggested that Chairman David Skorton unwind the proposal. Keitt backed out while this push and pull was going on, according to a person familiar with the situation.
Keitt, a former top lawyer for the Associated Press, did not take calls from a reporter. His colleague at RSR, Joseph Bailey, said the firm never talks about its relationships with clients. NYRA spokesman Eric Wing also would not talk about the matter.
NYRA partially granted a Freedom of Information Law request for information about RSR\'s fees and reports. The limited information provided shows that the Greenwich, Conn.-based RSR received three payments in April and May for its search work, plus some expenses. Not included in the documents provided under FOIL was any mention of the additional deal with Keitt for his mentoring services — a type of consulting known as \"onboarding.\"
Ummm... how do they get to \"partially grant\" a FOIL request?
I had always assumed Kay was someone\'s brother-in-law. Now that I know what actually happened, I think I\'d feel better if I\'d been right with my first hunch.
Curious hire alert! Mike, did you see this?
http://www.drf.com/news/jockey-club-purchases-controlling-interest-blood-horse
The Jockey Club buys a controlling interest in the Blood Horse, and who do they name as their new publisher? None other than John Keitt, the guy who brought Christopher Kay to NYRA. This smells of something, but I\'m not sure just what.
Magic,
Not that surprising as most of those jackoffs hang in the same circle. Let\'s see if the useless Jockey Club makes the Bloodhorse a profit center and begins to nickel and dime the players.
Mike
I can tell you for a fact that other publications are not happy about this.
Wing\'s still w/NYRA, eh? That would be a scoop, were it actually true.