Holy Crap

[TGJB]

Anybody but me wonder how they got the email?

Aside from that and the obvious stuff about NYRA, there\'s a bit of an issue about Crist and the DRF burying a very big story...

[devilinahorsesuit]

I don\'t know if your troll comment was directed at me or not, nor do I really care, but for the record the Times did run a piece on this very thing today (not with Drape\'s byline). It\'s on page A23.

[sighthound]

Yeah.  You noticed that, too?

[miff]

Drf:


The New York Racing Association put two officials on administrative leave Monday after a report issued earlier in the day by the New York State Racing and Wagering Board challenged claims by the association it was unaware late last year that it had been incorrectly applying a higher takeout rate to its trifecta and superfecta bets.

The report called into question a statement by Charles Hayward, the NYRA president, that the association had made an "inadvertent error" when it applied the wrong takeout rate to the wagers over a period of 15 months. The report cited several e-mail exchanges involving Hayward that indicate he was at least aware that a law raising the takeout from 25 to 26 percent on the wagers in 2008 had sunset on Sept. 15, 2010, although the e-mails do not make clear whether Hayward was also aware that the sunset of the law required NYRA to reduce the rate to 25 percent.

After the report was released Monday, Governor Andrew Cuomo said that the state's Inspector General had been asked to conduct a probe into whether NYRA and its officials violated any state laws. Robert Megna, Cuomo's budget director, who is also chairman of a state oversight board with broad powers over NYRA, called the allegations in the report "deeply troubling."

NYRA chairman Steven Duncker said in a statement late Monday afternoon that Hayward and Patrick Kehoe, the association's general counsel, had been placed on administrative leave without pay, pending further review.

"NYRA takes the matters identified by the Franchise Oversight Board and the New York State Racing and Wagering Board extremely seriously,\" said Duncker. "NYRA will take all appropriate steps and actions to cooperate with the state's inquiries and insure the integrity of our operations."

The incident stems from a discovery late last year by the state's comptroller's office that NYRA had been incorrectly applying the takeout rate to trifecta and superfecta bets since the law raising takeouts on all wagers by one point expired 15 months earlier. When the law expired, NYRA did not lower any of its takeout rates. The association was not in violation of the law under the new takeout rules with one exception, the rate for trifectas and superfectas, where the maximum rate fell to 25 percent.

The report cites two e-mail exchanges. In the first, a racing fan e-mailed Hayward on Sept. 28, 2010 – two weeks after the takeout increase expired – to ask him whether the law had indeed expired.

"Would you mind letting me know if it has or hasn't, and if it hasn't, why?" the letter asked. Hayward responded by saying that he would forward the mail to the association's general counsel,

In the second, Steven Crist, the publisher emeritus of the Daily Racing Form , forwarded on Aug. 1, 2011, a letter from a reader that noted the law providing for the higher takeout rate had sunset and that NYRA's trifecta and superfecta rate "is currently outside the parameters of the law." The letter went on to say, "If NYRA wanted to lower takeout all they have to do is make to [sic] request to NYSRWB."

Hayward replied to Crist that the reader was correct and that NYRA was considering how to proceed on the matter. Hayward also said that he wanted to keep the discussion with Crist confidential.

Hayward is the former president and chief executive officer of Daily Racing Form.

Asked about the e-mail exchange, Crist said, "Then as now, I personally believe NYRA was not aware it was deliberately applying an incorrect rate."

[sighthound]

\"Asked about the e-mail exchange, Crist said, "Then as now, I personally believe NYRA was not aware it was deliberately applying an incorrect rate." \"

How can you be unawares of something you are doing deliberately?

This may get ugly regarding who knew what, when.

Edit:

The Daily Racing Form reports this line different:  \"Asked about the e-mail exchange, Crist said, "Then as now, I personally believe NYRA was not aware it was applying an incorrect rate."

[Deadrockstar]

Crist: "Then as now, I personally believe NYRA was not aware it was deliberately applying an incorrect rate."

This is utter horseshit if you read the emails.


It is an absolute scandal that the publisher of the world\'s leading racing publication, who writes blog posts complaining about various injustices done to horseplayers, would accept a weasely off-the-record response. And then to sit on information that was ripping off his readers is mind-boggling.

I am a journalist. Off the record means you can\'t used the information (in this case, NYRA\'s CEO\'s acknowledgement that the takeout was wrong) But he can use the fact that DRF knows the takeout rate is wrong to send David Grening to NYRA and DEMAND an on-the-record response.

If Crist were writing for the Times, he would have cut NYRA\'s balls off in a second. For some reason he sat on this information and it is a scandal.

Dead

[sighthound]

Crist is friends with Hayward, Crist used to work for NYRA, Hayward used to work for DRF.

[Deadrockstar]

I know. Doesn\'t begin to excuse it.

Unless you bet through a NYRA account or had a signer, you\'re up a creek for the money you\'re due. It is millions of dollars.

[miff]

They repaid the difference to all signers they could find.Discussion of making the rest of the unidentified players \"whole\" died.

[Rick B.]

Someone please explain to me why Crist hasn\'t resigned already.
 
He sat on evidence of horseplayers getting robbed?

How will he ever show his face at a racetrack again? He\'ll never hear the end of it from the bettors. He\'s got an earful coming from me, if I ever see him.

Inexcusable.

[plasticman]

Rick this is REALLY bad. Crist has always portrayed himself as a \'friend\' of the bettors, a friend of the little guy and now this?

You could make the argument this this scandal is actually WORSE than the Chris Harn fix 6 scandal because the people involved in this were highly respected in the industry.

[JR]

Bottom line is Crist and Charlie are friends above all else...until the state\'s witness thing comes up.

[HP]

Miff if you handicap the Derby as well as you handicapped this one you will do alright.  Great call on Heyward being axed!  HP

[richiebee]

Matt Hegarty\'s take on Takeoutgate was posted in DRF at 9:23 PM. Steve Crist is
listed as \"publisher emeritus\" of DRF.

Would you ruin a reputation to protect a friend?

Do the right thing, Charlie. And take PJ \"turf sprints\" Campo with you.

[BB]

Miff, today you are the embodiment of cluelessness.

You think the Times has four racing reporters?

Further, if you think a bunch of vets, trainers and owners is going to laugh this guy http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walt_Bogdanich out of any room, I\'ll book that bet. If you think Drape is the one driving this bus, you\'re wrong again.

Full disclosure: I work at the Times, on the business side of things