Joe Drape in Today's NYT

[richiebee]

The NYT gave a lot of space in its Sports section for horse racing. Instead of
addressing the Triple Crown or the changes in leadership at NYRA, Drape wrote
about a Jon Sheppard jumper who collapsed moments after winning a stakes race in
Tennessee.

On the same page as a photo shows the victorious jockey aboard the winner high
fiving the groom, there is a picture taken moments later showing the horse after
he collapsed being tended to by folks (who thought he was dying of heat stroke)
applying ice bags to try to revive him.

I am behind the Drape et al pieces which have appeared in the NYT recently
regarding Racing\'s drug problem and the mistreatment of thoroughbreds, especially
at the cheaper tracks and at the Racinos, but this was an 8 year old trained by a
man who has been beyond reproach his entire career.

In this case, given there are so many other addressable issues in the sport, I
don\'t understand why this article needed to published..

[miff]

Times racing lightweight Joe Dope and Co missing the biggest story in the racing world by far. Seems Gov. Cuomo attack dogs hell bent on running racing on a day to day basis.Along with others,the newly appointed NYRA President being investigated by State for possible complicity in the takeout fiasco.

Bloodhorse:

NYRA Blasted for Hiring New President
By Tom Precious

New York regulators are blasting the New York Racing Association's board of trustees for appointing a new president to take over for the ousted Charles Hayward, the latest development in the ongoing scandal over takeout levels. They raised the possibility that NYRA could lose its operating franchise over the matter.

The officials said the state has also ordered, effective immediately, an end to daily payments made by Genting New York, the operators of the new Aqueduct casino, to NYRA--with the funds, instead, being diverted to the state lottery agency that oversees racetrack-based casinos.

The nuclear letter from the regulators is the most dramatic sign that past and possibly present NYRA officials are facing growing legal troubles--but also that the very future of NYRA is now on the line.

The officials said NYRA will either "immediately" act in the best interest of racing or risk being replaced by a new entity to run its racetracks.

The May 14 appointment of Ellen McCalin as president, and Kenneth Handal as secretary is "entirely inappropriate," violates NYRA's own bylaws, and will not be recognized as valid by state officials, wrote the heads of New York's two main racing regulatory bodies.

The regulators warned of a number of other problems at NYRA that, combined, could force them to issue an order to show cause whether "these actions by NYRA merit the revocation of its franchise."

John Sabini, chairman of the state Racing and Wagering Board, and Robert Megna, chairman of a panel that oversees NYRA's finances, said in an angry letter May 15 that the management and NYRA board of trustees will be examined to determine if they have the "character and fitness" to hold racing licenses in New York.

"NYRA has established a pattern of activity which demonstrates the association is not acting in the best interest of racing, but only in its own proprietary interest," Sabini and Megna wrote in the letter to NYRA Chairman C. Steven Duncker.

NYRA has been accused by Sabini's agency of knowingly failing to drop takeout rates on exotic bets for a 15-month period after a state law's enactment--costing bettors more than $8.5 million.

The state inspector general's office has already launched what could end up as a criminal probe of the affair, and the state has not ruled out trying to go after NYRA's exclusive franchise to operate Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga racetracks.

The two regulators said there are still unanswered questions "as to which executives--and potentially NYRA board members--were aware of or participated in this misconduct." They noted McClain has been serving as NYRA's chief operating officer and that her role in the takeout scandal "remains unclear." As such, they said, the board's action to make her the new president "is entirely inappropriate."

"The election of officers under these circumstances is only the latest action to demonstrate NYRA's failure to comply with New York state regulatory and legal requirements," Sabini and Megna wrote. Megna is also the top fiscal advisor to Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has been sharply critical of NYRA for months. Importantly, Megna's financial oversight board has the legal authority to take over the NYRA franchise.

The regulators said NYRA has continued to stonewall investigators' demands for documents, forcing the inspector general's office to rely on subpoenas to unearth paperwork in the case.

They said the failure to turn over documents "demonstrates a basic lack of moral character and fitness to fulfill its obligations" under the state's Thoroughbred laws--legal language that could be setting the groundwork for the state to go after the racing licenses of NYRA officials.

The regulators raised the issue of equine deaths this year at Aqueduct and failure by NYRA "to provide basic living conditions to the backstretch workers" at Saratoga.

"We take none of these choices lightly, but unless NYRA immediately starts to act in the best interest of racing and the taxpayers of this state, we will pursue a course of action to reestablish the racing franchise with a qualified, ethical, and responsible steward of horse racing," the two regulators wrote.

NYRA officials were not immediately available for comment.

[phil23]

Certainly things could have been done better wrt the takeout issue, but I think that which Hayward/Crist were precisely afraid of (excessive political bs and interference) is exactly what is coming to pass.  

Just as things were sorta looking up for NY racing too.  What a mess.

[twoshoes]

Forgive me for asking if this has been covered, but why aren\'t Sabini and Megna being called on the carpet for not doing their job? It would appear on the surface that the Racing and Wagering Board and the Oversight Board failed to provide any real oversight? I would think that ultimately the Racing and Wagering Board would be responsible for making sure that the state laws are being adhered to? On another note, I thought I read where Elen McClain was unanimously appointed President by the NYRA board. Does thast imply that all of the state appointees on the board (Governors,legislatures) voted affirmativley as well?

[dlf]

Byline is Joe Clancy, not Joe Drape, Richie.
The piece certainly read more \'literary\'(think Death in the Afternoon) than Drape\'s investigative pieces. I don\'t think the intent was to be critical of the sport, or the connections; in fact trainer and jockey were presented in a positive light; and Arcadius in a heroic one. Sometimes a journalist just wants a good story, even (especially) if it has a tragic ending....

[richiebee]

DLF:

Huge faux pas on my part. Inexcusable. Thank you for bringing it to my attention.

BUT, as someone who has tirelessly worked to expose (in a good way) steeplechase
racing, I do not know why Joe Clancy, when given so much space in the NYT, would
focus on a race where the victor met an untimely, though heroic, end. Yes trainer,
rider and even the groom were portrayed in a good light.

Now, looking at the piece, I still wonder why the fallen horse had to be pictured in
his last moments of distress. As humans, I believe we all have an expectation, or at
least hope, of privacy in our final moments.

Given recent articles by Joe Drape et al in NYT (which as I have said, I support),
I wonder if Clancy\'s article would have been published (or given so many column
inches) if it did not end in an equine death.

[magicnight]

Joe Clancy writes for the Steeplechase Times and was there because it was a big race for jumpers.

[richiebee]

Magic:

I know who Joe Clancy is, I may have been one of the handful of people who read his
book about Saratoga. My question remains: If the winner did not collapse and die
after the race, would NYT have given so many column inches to this story? Was it the
tragedy that made the story compelling? Did the NYT editors subliminally hope that
readers would make a connection (equine death) to the Drape pieces?

[sighthound]

Joe Drape is trying to destroy horse racing.

[sighthound]

I don\'t see how racing survives in NY. The politicians want all the casino money.  They couldn\'t care less about horse racing, and the bigwigs in the Jockey Club no longer have any political pull.

Between this and the absurd attempt to \"ban lasix\", we may be seeing the final few years of horse racing.

[richiebee]

... or maybe that was Joe\'s brother Sean who wrote the book?

[richiebee]

Sight:

Why don\'t you knock it off with them negative waves?

[MO]

Did horse racing screw him in some way? What\'s his beef?

[MonmouthGuy]

He hasn\'t picked a winner since Monarchos in 2001.

[HP]

It\'s going to be summer soon, so get ready for articles about carriage horses in Central Park dropping dead too.  This article really didn\'t get my attention the way the ones on the FRONT PAGE did.  Good points about Sheppard, 8 yo, etc.  The \"series\" in the Times is focused more on systemic abuse and violations.  This one is different.  I\'m hanging in there to see if there\'s ONE story about a nice day at the track, or somebody having a good time, which does actually happen.  That would be \"fair and balanced.\"  

HP