http://commerce.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?p=Hearings&ContentRecord_id=962520f8-4154-444a-b555-f5a2bc9da2ab&ContentType_id=14f995b9-dfa5-407a-9d35-56cc7152a7ed&Group_id=b06c39af-e033-4cba-9221-de668ca1978a

They seem to archive the hearings so you don\'t have to listen live.

miff: Loaded with the \"sky is falling\" types!

Boscar Obarra: Watched about 1/2 of it so far. They sure do talk a good game.

miff: More and more info leaking in Albany about the hatchet job Gov.Cuomo\'s close advisors have for NY Racing/NYRA.It is now reported that NYRA should look like all other NY State agencies, from civil servant type staffing to pensions etc.How about like Motor Vehicle for example? Gov.Cuomo, of Italian heritage, is said to despise the rich blue blood wasps who have controlled the NY Racing game and traded jabs with his father.It appears that a full court press will be needed by owners/trainers/breeders/players to stave off this Politically driven crowd. Steve Crist has nailed it in his blog and states the same thing being heard from those close to this.

Steve Crist:

\"It has been a heartening start, promising the kind of a meeting that both the operators and fans of New York racing have been dreaming of for more than a decade, through a bitter fight to retain the racing franchise, after battles with the now mercifully defunct New York City Offtrack Betting Corporation, and amid countless delays in the opening of the Aqueduct facility. It should be a time of satisfaction and celebration.

Instead, however, it is a meeting enveloped in apprehension and uncertainty because almost as soon as it is over on Labor Day, the state of New York, in its infinite wisdom, is poised to blow it all up.

Last month, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that he is taking over the New York Racing Association sometime this fall, when he will appoint the majority of a newly constituted board of directors of the New York Racing Association, with only five of NYRA's current board members allowed to continue serving. His appointees on the Franchise Oversight Board said they are reconsidering the allotment of racino revenue to racing and have threatened to suspend it. Cuomo's lieutenants have said that key members of current management will be replaced right after Saratoga and that the new board will conduct a nationwide search for new executives.

Much of the gossip around the track and the town's watering holes is about who these new board members will be. The names being floated are typically disheartening: political operatives between state appointments, former legislators, deep-pocketed political donors, minor celebrities who have never operated so much as a lemonade stand – most of them people with little knowledge or respect for racing.

Cuomo has yet to articulate a single goal or vision for racing in New York, a single thought about what if anything he thinks needs to be changed, other than that it would all somehow be better off with his cronies in charge. He also has said or done nothing to dispel widespread concern that he'd be perfectly happy if horse racing disappeared in New York, replaced by full-scale casino gambling.

So it seems destined to be a summer where there is a successful race meet with excellent sport, but with an ax hanging over everyone's head. Every employee is nervous about whether he'll have a job this fall, the horsemen are worried that the higher purses will disappear, and Saratoga residents and town officials are fearful that charitable and cultural institutions supported by NYRA racing for decades are now in jeopardy. The customers have no idea what to expect. We might as well just enjoy the improved sport, for as long as it lasts\"

HP: Here\'s the problem with this point of view.  The CURRENT crowd of people have run things into the ground.  The only reason Cuomo is able to do this is because the very people crying about what Cuomo is going to do have royally screwed the pooch.  If the \"owners/trainers/breeders\" had done a GOOD job in New York, working with the people who administer the finances, Cuomo would have nothing to attack.  These people collectively have no one to blame but their own idiocy and ineptitude.  And they are dragging the players and the people who love the game into the pit.  Instead of blaming Cuomo they all need to take a long look in the mirror.  Cuomo is just the last nail in the coffin.  The powers that be in NY have done a good job of nailing the rest of the box shut all by themselves.  

HP

Rich Curtis: HP,

Precisely. And Steve Crist is very close to being the last person who should be writing in that tone of voice.

HP: Wow.  I didn\'t even think of that.  I was blinded by the obvious, where the \"clueless clowns\" are pissed off that someone is finally taking their candy away.  As if New York racing is theirs to screw up in perpetuity.  I didn\'t give Crist a second thought.  Crist is a guy you might have thought of awhile ago as someone you could appoint to speak for the players.  That\'s all over now isn\'t it?  

HP

Boscar Obarra: Are you saying Crist has gone from an \"A\" to a \"C\"?