Archive for July, 2008

Dear John,

Are you nuts? I mean, seriously, how do you want your legacy to read?

John J. Brunetti, the savior of Hialeah Park, the man who fought the establishment for years after buying the South Florida track in 1977, resisted the temptation to sell the historic grande dame of racing to developers, and kept fighting the good fight until a white knight came along to help him achieve his dream?

Or…

John J. Brunetti, the irascible real estate developer who bought Hialeah Park in 1977, ran it into the ground, made enemies of nearly everyone in racing, and finally destroyed one of the world’s most beautiful racetracks rather than sell it in 2008 to someone with the vision, capital and passion to restore Hialeah Park as a thriving operation that merges the past with the future.

John, when you swooped into Miami from New Jersey in 1977 to buy Hialeah, many people really thought you were going to be a savior, that you would reverse the trend that began in the 1960s, when Hialeah business began to decline and the track started losing its unmistakable luster as the wintertime playground for northern snowbirds who loved to gamble or watch their own horses run amidst a park-like atmosphere that included a daily flight of pink flamingos in the track’s infield. This was the park about which English statesman and Thoroughbred owner Winston Churchill uttered one word: "Extraordinary."

But true saviors have a plan, John. You didn’t. Frequent turnover of track managers and racing office personnel led to a confused operation that continued Hialeah on its downward path. You pleaded endlessly with racing commissioners for the best winter dates (January through March) that Hialeah once owned, but had no strategy other than nostalgia for keeping those dates. Meanwhile, Doug Donn at Gulfstream Park was putting more effort and money into marketing his track, and the positive results, as measured by handle and tax dollars to the state, led the commissioners to give those cherished middle racing dates to the Hallandale racetrack. You were shuffled off to the second-best dates at the end of winter, and, eventually, to the third-choice early winter dates in November and December.

Sports Illustrated said Donn came to one racing commission dates meetings in the late 1980s armed with facts and figures to support Gulfstream’s case for the best dates. John, you showed a movie depicting Hialeah’s glory days that left commissioners shaking their heads. Then you begged for a bailout.

"John is trying to bring back the 1950s," Sports Illustrated quoted Donn as saying following one dates battle. "He’s devoted his efforts to that and not to competing in the ’80s. In the ’50s you got a license and a racetrack and you didn’t have to be a genius to make a profit. That’s not the case today."

John, when you inevitably lost nearly every battle with the racing commission or state legislature, when Donn and even Calder racetrack management outhustled and outsmarted you, when you rejected compromise after compromise, all you could do was threaten to close Hialeah and develop it into condominiums or an office park.

After deregulation came to Florida’s racing industry, you tried going head to head with the other tracks and were pummeled at the pari-mutuel windows and turnstiles. When your revenue was running dry you jacked up the takeout rate to the highest percentage horseplayers had ever seen. You finally closed up shop and lost your pari-mutuel license.

In the middle of all this, while Hialeah was gradually being destroyed under your watch, you went out to California to make a pitch to officials there to win the franchise to operate Del Mar when the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club’s contract expired in 1988. Thankfully, your promise "to do for Del Mar what you did for Hialeah Park" didn’t resonate with state government officials.

John, you were the underdog in the fight against Gulfstream Park and Calder, and people love the underdog. But they didn’t love you because you alienated so many of us. You not only ticked off the horseplayers, you enraged horse owners to the point they filed suit against you for allegedly failing to live up to purse agreements.

Yes, there have been some highlights during the time you have owned Hialeah. There was the afternoon in November of 1990 when more than 30,000 spectators welcomed racing back after a self-imposed hiatus. Over the years there has been great racing, even without the prime middle dates that launched so many Triple Crown horses on the road to glory, including Citation, whose statue stands proudly near the grandstand.

Those days won’t come back under your watch, John, even though your friend, Frank Stronach, made it a lot easier for you, ruining Gulfstream Park by wasting hundreds of millions of dollars on a new casino/racetrack monstrosity that no one likes. Your track record speaks for itself.

However, Hialeah can be restored, if you’ll give this Internet whiz kid, Halsey Minor, a chance. I know you’ve said you’re not interested in selling the track to him or becoming his partner. Please reconsider.. Minor has a real passion for the sport, the same passion that led you to Hialeah some 30 years ago and keeps you breeding horses at your Florida farm and going to the races at Del Mar every summer. He has the capital to invest in Hialeah’s future. He has a vision for 21st century sports and entertainment businesses and the operational know-how to get things done.

John, we all feel nostalgic about what Hialeah Park once was, and I’ve seen your eyes mist up talking about it like it’s part of your family. Your heart has always been in the right place. Allow your mind to follow your heart, and your legacy will be assured as the man who did the right thing and led Hialeah Park back to its rightful place in racing history.

Sincerely,

Ray Paulick

Tomorrow in the Paulick Report: Who is Halsey Minor and why does he want to bring Hialeah Park back to life? 

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By Ray Paulick

The installation of the new Pro-Ride synthetic surface that began at Santa Anita Park in mid-July is "ahead of schedule," according to Ron Charles, the track’s president and chief operating officer of Magna Entertainment. Santa Anita is hosting the 2008 and 2009 Breeders’ Cup world championships during the Oak Tree Racing Association meeting that opens Sept. 24. The two-day Breeders’ Cup is schedule Oct. 24-25. 

"Right now it all looks good," Charles told the Paulick Report. "We did run into areas where the drainage system had problems; sand had gotten down in there, but those sections have been fixed. The entire drainage system was replaced before, but a lot of it has been replaced again because of the damage."

Pro-Ride was chosen by Santa Anita officials, Charles said, after they took a long look at synthetic surface and conventional dirt options. "I truly believe this was the right choice," Charles said. The previous synthetic surface, Cushion Track, developed serious drainage problems last winter that led to the cancellation of 11 racing days. Santa Anita has filed suit against the manufacturers of Cushion Track, which is also in place at Hollywood Park. The California Horse Racing Board mandates that all major Thoroughbred tracks in the state have synthetic surfaces.

Ian Pearse of Pro-Ride was brought in to help repair Santa Anita’s Cushion Track problems, developing a hybrid of Cushion Track and Pro-Ride that allowed Santa Anita to complete its meeting without further cancellations. Following the completion of the meeting, Santa Anita reviewed its options and in June announced it was going with Pro-Ride, a company based in Australia. 

A small percentage of the Cushion Track surface will remain, Charles admitted. "Some of the original sand and fiber and rubber will still be in there, but it all will be mixed with the binder and new fiber," Charles said. "It will be 95% Pro-Ride. We’ve been screening the material and have removed some rocks, a lot of the rubber, and have reduced whatever odor there was."
Charles said the timetable calls for the installation to be completed a week before horses return to Santa Anita from Del Mar, which closes its meeting Sept. 3. The surface will be flooded twice to test its drainage efficiency - once before the Pro-Ride material is added to the drainage system and rock base and once after the material is added. "We’ll test it extensively," Charles said. "We want it to be 100% right before we let 1,500 horses on there for training." 

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The following guest commentary by Alex Brown (www.alexbrownracing.com) discusses the recent implementation by some racetracks of a zero tolerance policy for horse slaughter and the unintended consequences those programs may have.. — Ray Paulick

 By Alex Brown 

Recently some racetracks in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region have adopted a zero-tolerance policy for horse slaughter. They will no longer tolerate horses from their racetrack going to slaughter. They will penalize the connections of those horses that are discovered in the slaughter pipeline.

On the surface, this policy sounds excellent. It certainly is well meaning. If you combine this new policy with the resources that are now being targeted for rehoming racehorses by racetracks, it’s even better. LongRun at Woodbine, the first I believe. Finger Lakes Thoroughbred Adoption Program. Philadelphia Park’s new program, Turning for Home. ReRun and Monmouth, and so forth. All very good. (Note: these racetrack programs are not listed because of their zero-tolerance slaughter policy, but because they have assigned resources to support retiring racehorses).

The reality is, however, unless racetracks have done their research and truly understand the scope of the problem of their horses going to slaughter, and can provide alternatives for those horses, a no-slaughter policy may have unintended consequences. To ensure horses won’t go to slaughter, a racetrack needs to provide opportunities to account for all of the horses that are currently being shipped out to slaughter. Those racetracks that are providing alternatives, noted above, are for the most part full. They can only take on additional horses if more adopters and foster homes are found. They simply cannot take on additional horses as demand for their services dictate.

So what happens to the horses at the racetracks with zero-tolerance slaughter policies? Racehorses that were going to public kill auctions?

A policy of zero tolerance for slaughter simply sends some of these horses "underground." Rather than go to a public auction like New Holland, where they can be seen by private buyers and horse rescues, they go directly to kill buyer feedlots and kill pens. Rescues that once had access to these feedlots and kill pens will no longer be provided access.

Fewer racehorses may enter the slaughter pipeline, but more may ultimately be slaughtered.

Certainly as an industry we are becoming more aware of the problems facing our retiring stars. And kudos for the racetracks who have made these positive steps — especially those tracks that have assigned resources to actively support their retired stars. I just hope that we continue down this path so we are able to safeguard all our stars from slaughter, and not simply divert a number of them underground. Of course, we should also actively support a federal ban on the practice of horse slaughter.

Alex Brown was the web master for www.timwoolleyracing.com, a site that became Barbaro central. following the 2006 Preakness. Alex left Tim (on good terms of course) and the Fair Hill training center to travel North America, from one racetrack to the next. He started at Penn National where he spent three weeks as a freelance exercise rider. He then went to Presque Isle Downs, for five weeks during its inaurgural meet (September). He was a groom, hotwalker and exercise rider. Next stop was Keeneland for its October meet working for Eddie Kenneally. He was a salaried exercise rider. He then moved to Churchill Downs with the same job for a couple of weeks. In November of 2007 he moved to Sam Houston Race Park, as a salaried exercise rider, to work for Steve Asmussen. In April 2008 he moved to Woodbine to continue working for Steve Asmussen. This site will follow Alex’s journey, as he also writes a book about Barbaro and Barbaro’s legacy.

Alex has worked in racing for the last twenty years in North America, at Fair Hill Training Center. He has also worked in racing in the UK, if only more briefly. Alex has an MBA, taught Internet Marketing for ten years, worked in the admissions office at the Wharton School, and has written a couple of whitepapers on transparency and the use of blogs.

By Ray Paulick

TVG, the horse racing channel sold earlier this year when parent Gemstar-TV Guide was purchased by the digital technology company Macrovision (MVSN) , is now being shopped around to potential buyers by Swiss-based financial services company UBS, the Paulick Report has learned.

The auction of TVG gives the horse racing industry a tremendous opportunity to consolidate its convoluted and contentious cable television and account wagering system platforms that frustrate and anger horseplayers who are often required to hold multiple online or telephone wagering accounts to bet on their preferred tracks.

To seize this opportunity a group hug would be required among the major players, including Churchill Downs, Magna Entertainment and the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Group that now negotiates account wagering contracts for most state horsemen’s organizations. With ongoing litigation by Churchill Downs against the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Group and rumblings of a divide between Churchill and Magna on their TrackNet Media simulcast business joint venture, a deal seems unlikely at this time.

But what if logic prevailed?

The merging of two unprofitable racing channels into one could lend truth to that overused business cliché of one plus one equaling three. There is just one Golf Channel for that popular sport and one Speedtv channel to cover all motorsports. It is not logical for a struggling industry like horse racing to have two full-time cable channels, with separate management teams, productions staffs, and on-air talent.

Churchill and Magna are partners in HRTV, which was launched solely by Magna in 2003 and has been the No. 2 network behind TVG in distribution. Both TVG and HRTV are on the Dish Network and HRTV is on some cable companies, but TVG has broader cable distribution and is also on DirecTV. TVG, which launched in 1999, was owned by TV Guide before being purchased by Gemstar. Macrovision’s purchase of Gemstar-TV Guide was valued at $2.8 billion, with TVG’s value estimated at roughly $112 million, according to a report in Multichannel News, which quoted SNL Kagan analyst Derk Baine. The deal, announced last December, closed the first week of May 2008. 

With credit markets tight, it seems unlikely any outside media companies would be interested in buying TVG, especially given the declining number of exclusive contracts TVG holds with racetracks and the shaky state of the racing industry. Even with the number of exclusive tracks in decline, TVG remains the market leader, both in distribution of its signal and dollars handled through its wagering platform. TVG handled $479 million in 2007 through a wagering hub in Oregon, compared with $177 million for Magna’s XpressBet and $215 million for Churchill Downs’ TwinSpires.com and affiliated companies Churchill purchased midway through the year. 

Negotiations between account wagering companies have become far more contentious with the recent formation of the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Group, which negotiates on behalf of nearly every major state horsemen’s organization. Churchill was unable to reach an agreement with the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Group this spring and as a result could not offer online wagering on any races other than a handful of stakes, including the Kentucky Derby. That led to a significant decline in handle during Churchill’s spring-summer meeting. Account wagering on other tracks, including Churchill Downs-owned Calder in Florida and Magna-owned Lone Star Park in Texas, was shut down when the two sides failed to reach an agreement on how revenue should be distributed.

Doesn’t it make sense for the two major companies that own so many tracks (Magna and Churchill) and the Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Group to quickly come to terms on a broad-based revenue distribution formula for account wagering, then put their previous differences aside and think in terms of working together to grow this part of the pari-mutuel horse racing business.

The best way to achieve growth would be through a single cable network that carries all of the best simulcast signals and a powerful wagering platform that offers virtually every racetrack with live racing. The cable network and wagering platform could be owned by industry stakeholders, including racetracks and horsemen’s representatives, and be more widely promoted than the current patchwork of television channels and account wagering.

There would be concerns, of course, principally from owners of small racetracks who fear their simulcast signals would not get the exposure they currently get with two full-time racing networks. Other independent account-wagering companies might find it hard to compete, but anti-trust laws should prevent them from being monopolized.

It’s a long shot that industry organizations accustomed to fighting at the table over a dwindling pile of scraps can think in terms of growth and cooperation, so we can only hope that logic will someday prevail. The pending sale of TVG provides that opportunity. 

Copyright © 2008, The Paulick Report

By Ray Paulick 

Within two weeks of the June 19 Congressional hearings that looked into Thoroughbred racing’s safety and medication issues, a small group of industry insiders met at Keeneland in Lexington, Ky., to discuss potential reforms that could stave off threatened federal intervention.

A confidential discussion document that came out of the Keeneland meeting and talks with other industry stakeholders outlines a far-reaching program of potential reforms as well as suggestions for implementing and enforcing them. The Paulick Report has obtained a copy of that confidential discussion document and memorandum (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) sent to the board of directors of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association written July 9 by NTRA CEO Alex Waldrop.

Among the possible reforms discussed in the document are minimum national standards for medication, drug testing and penalties; benchmark safety standards of racing surfaces and/or a mandatory switch to synthetic tracks; a ban or limitation on racing fillies against colts; eliminating timed workouts at 2-year-old sales and distance restrictions for 2-year-old races; a funding mechanism for permanently disabled jockeys; wagering protocols and mandatory public disclosure of wagering abnormalities; uniform scratch rules and "other player-friendly advances"; integrity clauses and potential revocation of Eclipse Awards for individuals involved in infractions; and a national placement program for retired racehorses.

"As part of our post Triple Crown public relations and communications strategy based on consumer research findings, it is clear that the industry must implement real reforms in the area of horse health and safety ," Waldrop wrote in the memorandum to the NTRA board. "It is equally clear that the NTRA must play a leadership role to ensure responsible, timely and uniform execution of the equine health and safety reforms put forth by a number of industry organizations, including The Jockey Club Safety Committee. To that end, we believe it will be necessary for industry stakeholders to come together to reach consensus on industry reforms and to agree upon the methodology for timely implementation."

Waldrop recommended two days of meetings of industry leaders in Lexington, Ky., Sept. 3-4.

Waldrop called the confidential discussion document "far-reaching and ambitious to say the least and impacts virtually all segments of the industry. However," he added, " it appears that virtually all segments of the industry are in agreement that if we do not take pro-active action on the integrity front, the Federal government will very likely act on our behalf. And the questions from fans and media asking, ‘What has the industry done since Eight Belles?’, will come soon enough."
Congressman Ed Whitfield of Kentucky, the ranking Republican member of the U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee that conducted the hearings, is calling for an amendment to the Interstate Horseracing Act of 1978 that would set minimum standards for racetracks wishing to conduct interstate simulcasting.

In fact, the threat of federal intervention will be used as leverage to get people on-board with the reforms, the document suggests. Suggested implementation would occur in four phases, beginning with "house rules" at racetracks "commencing upon the start of each track’s first full racing meeting in 2009." Phases II and III would depend on adoption of model rules and minimum standards by the Association of Racing Commissioners International and its member associations in various racing states. The final suggested phase would be the formation of a "national governing body comprised of key industry stakeholder and legislative bodies under an interstate compact."

Potential penalties for failing to comply with whatever reforms are pushed are loss of eligibility to host a graded race, loss of Breeders’ Cup stakes money or consideration as host site of the championships, loss of NTRA membership or loss of right to conduct interstate simulcasting.

The discussion document also calls for the commitment of owners, trainers and jockeys to compete only at tracks that operate under the agreed upon rules.

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By Ray Paulick

Saratoga opens, and so do the skies.

That sums up the first several days of the upstate New York Spa’s business, which is not good news for a bankrupt organization that says it will need more bailout money from the state sometime in the next couple of months. Heavy rains washed away numerous turf races and showers even made an unscheduled appearance on Whitney day.

The NYRA has survived far worse weather patterns, including the near-perfect storm of a federal indictment, bankruptcy and a franchise renewal drama whose end-game could have led to a game of "musical boxes" on the front row of those cherished clubhouse seats at Saratoga. In the end, power and tradition won the day for the old guard, thanks to some new guard knee-capping by the dynamic NYRA chairman, Steve Duncker, a Wall Street fightin’ man originally from the anything but hardscrabble suburbs of St. Louis (west, not east St. Loo).

Fortunately for NYRA’s trustees and executives, there are some people around who make them look human, led by the husband-wife team of John Hendrickson and Marylou Whitney, who took backstretch philanthropy into their own hands (with assistance from a group of local businesses and horsemen) by providing weekly banquets and nightly movies for the stable hands.

BUT THE EARTH DOESN’T ACTUALLY CIRCLE around Saratoga in July and August (though some may think it does). There’s also Del Mar, whose first-week business declines had the guys in Hawaiian shirts and sandals looking very grim until a gigantic wave of Pick Six mania washed ashore on the July 26-27 weekend, contributing (along with a free concert and micro-brew festival) to the ninth-highest handle in track history. No one picked all six winners and $1.5 million carries over into Sunday’s Pick Six, promising to make that program a big one, too.

Purse cuts looked imminent, but maybe the surge can work where the Turf meets the Surf.

Incidentally, Del Mar won the head-to-head battle of the gate against Saratoga on Saturday, 32,291 at Del Mar to 29,655 at Saratoga. Saratoga won the handle bout, $25,017,333 at Saratoga to $20,531,679 at Del Mar. Del Mar’s numbers were way up from 2007, when just 24,873 attended on the same day. Saratoga’s were down 9.7% in handle and 5.9% in attendance from 2007 when 31,510 were on hand for the first "Win and You’re In" day and handle was $27,708,217.

HIALEAH PARK’S John Brunetti was among those in the large Del Mar crowd on Saturday (he lives in nearby Rancho Santa Fe). Brunetti told the Paulick Report that he is hoping to bring live racing back to Hialeah Park on his own accord and doesn’t need the help of Halsey Minor, the cash-rich, Internet-savvy Virginian who actually is willing to invest tens of millions of his own cyber dollars into not only reopening Hialeah Park but making it a showplace.

Poor old Mr. B (it could stand for "beleaguered") just doesn’t get it. Brunetti seems to be a very nice man, but he’s been consistently outfoxed by Doug Donn, Ken Dunn, Churchill Downs and even Frank Stronach in the South Florida racing wars, and his same old "woe is me" song to state legislators isn’t going to change things for the better. He hasn’t run a live race at Hialeah since 2001, and he ran many horseplayers years earlier when he jacked up the takeout to unprecedented rates following deregulation.

But there is an unmistakable opportunity to bring Hialeah Park back if Brunetti is willing to put his ego and bluster aside. He could ride off into the sunset a hero as the man who kept the Hialeah Park dream alive long enough for the new sheriff to come into town and clean up.

The Paulick Report will have more on Hialeah and Halsey Minor in the coming week.

DID I MENTION EGO AND BLUSTER? That leads me to Aurora, Ontario, Canada, home of Magna Entertainment, which lost another top manager last week with the resignation of Scott Borgemenke, the vice president of racing. This management change was another in a long line of executive exits in Frank Stronach’s empire detailed in the Paulick Report.

Stronach does some things right … breeding horses, for example. His champion filly, Ginger Punch, was one of the on-track stars at Saratoga during the Breeders’ Cup’s "Win and You’re In" telecast on ABC Saturday afternoon (which featured an entertaining back-and-back forth between Michael Iavarone and Rick Dutrow, the owner-trainer team that handles Big Brown). In winning the Go for Wand under tough circumstances (every jockey in the race tried to keep her boxed up), the daughter of Awesome Again displayed the kind of guts and determination every breeder would like to see in his or her horses. She was impressive.

So was Tracy and Carol Farmer’s 7-year-old Commentator, who ran away with the Whitney in powerful fashion. Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito said the win was one of the high points of his own career and puts the New York-bred gelding by Distorted Humor in the same league as Kelso and Forego, two legendary geldings from the past.

Heady company indeed. 

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By Ray Paulick

Copyright ©2008, The Paulick Report

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Gavin Landry, the New York Racing Association’s new vice president of sales and development, borrowed a highly successful concept from the Boston Red Sox when he recently created the NYRA Nation racing fan club. Could it be the biggest thing New York lifted from Boston since the Yankees signed Babe Ruth in 1919?

The early money says "no."

The execution of NYRA Nation makes it look like a cheap and poorly executed imitation of the robust Red Sox Nation, the official Boston Red Sox fan club that was formed in 2005 and has spread throughout the country (thanks, no doubt, to the recent World Series successes of the team). (Sidenote:The Red Sox just launched a new ad campaign for Red Sox National created by the Conover Tuttle Pace agency that has been responsible for some horse racing campaigns, including the "Who Do You LIke Today?" ads developed for the National Thoroughbred Racing Association.)

Give NYRA credit for at least recognizing the value of establishing a fan club that can be used to reach out to horseplayers as a marketing tool. And we’ll even give them time to see if they build on the program’s low-budget launch.

NYRA isn’t the only organization getting onto the “nation building” bandwagon. Republican presidential candidate John McCain recently created the McCain Nation, which the irreverent political blogger Wonkette had some derisive words for when it launched the other day as a late starter in the race against Democrat Barack Obama, whose online fund-raising and organizing efforts have set a new standard in politics.

Come to think of it, there may be some similarities between McCain’s campaign strategists and the NYRA braintrust, but I won’t get in to that here. 

By Ray Paulick

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There was a time when the New York Racing Association was accused of being both arrogant and complacent, when it was run like a country club by wealthy, old men, most of whom could care less about the concerns of the people who showed up to bet on the horses day after day.

Many of the same wealthy, old men still populate the board of trustees of NYRA and hold title to the cherished clubhouse boxes on the finish line at Saratoga and Belmont Park. The organization, however, has been run since 2005 by a far more dynamic leader than it had seen in its sleepy past: C. Steven Duncker, a former Wall Street financier and poker playing gambler with a sense of street smarts and toughness that he put to good use during the New York racing franchise renewal process that ended happily for NYRA. 

When the tandem of Duncker and the late Peter Karches took over the sinking NYRA ship in the wake of a federal indictment in late 2003, the franchise renewal was looming, and NYRA, careening toward bankruptcy, was becoming everybody’s whipping boy in state government. Among its harshest critics was Eliot Spitzer, the Democratic attorney general who had designs on the governor’s mansion and had said NYRA was a "disaster" and "indifferent to corruption." Even Republican Gov. George Pataki, who would be leaving office around the time the franchise was expected to be awarded in late 2006, had turned on the association. 

In the summer of 2004, Tim Smith, then-commissioner of the National Thoroughbred Racing Association, was having high-level discussions to become NYRA’s president and CEO. Charlie Hayward, who had just stepped down as president and CEO of the Daily Racing Form when it was sold to a group of investors, was being recruited to head a new organization, the Friends of New York Racing, a study group with broad-based support that would make recommendations on the future of racing in the state and likely influence the franchise renewal process. 

Duncker, according to sources, fought the appointment of Smith as president, lobbying with Jockey Club chairman and former NYRA chairman Dinny Phipps to go in a different direction. Duncker played his cards correctly, and Smith was suddenly out of the NYRA picture, ending up as president of Friends of New York Racing. Hayward was named president of NYRA. 

The overlap between the Jockey Club and NYRA is unquestionable, with Phipps the most common thread between the two organizations. There is little doubt that he was intimately familiar with the mission and plans for the Friends of New York Racing, since the Jockey Club was one of its founding members. 

Smith soldiered ahead with Friends of New York Racing, writing a report in December 2005 that called for a complete overhaul of the racing laws in 2006 in anticipation of NYRA’s franchise expiration at the end of 2007. The recommendations called for, among other things, consolidation of the racetracks and OTBs and a restructuring of the franchise bidding process that would make it more open to outside groups. 

After Friends of New York Racing was dissolved, Smith eventually became an investor in Empire Racing, a rival to NYRA for the franchise that also had the support of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, Churchill Downs, Magna Entertainment, among others. The move by Smith led to public indignation by Duncker and Hayward, even though insiders said NYRA had once signed on to the idea of joining together with others to bid for the franchise. 

A third major player for the franchise, Excelsior Racing, also emerged. Excelsior was led by hotel and casino developer Richard Fields and assisted by a team of high-profile names that included retired Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey. A fourth bidder was Capital Play, a group affiliated with legal bookmakers in Australia. 

An ad-hoc committee was appointed to review the applications of the bidders and make a non-binding recommendation to the state legislature and governor in late 2006.

Bennett Liebman, executive director of the Government Law Center of Albany Law School and a former member of the New York State Racing and Wagering Board, said he thought NYRA was a long shot to get the nod from the committee. "I would not have anticipated NYRA getting the franchise, considering the way Spitzer treated them when he was attorney general," Liebman told the Paulick Report. "The committee judged NYRA as having the most modest proposal, ranking them third of the three groups (after Capital Play was knocked out for getting their application in late)." 

But Duncker had an ace in the hole, and he was letting everyone know it was there. His power play was the land on which the three NYRA tracks reside. Spitzer, who was elected governor in a landslide as the renewal process was winding down, had said in Saratoga Springs during the campaign that the land was owned by the state of New York - not by NYRA. "We own the land," Spitzer said. "I don’t care what they say. They’re not going to use that as leverage. They are a state entity, created by the state. They’re a pawn of the state. They’ve been told that repeatedly and they should be tossed out on their ear if they don’t understand." 

That didn’t stop Duncker, called a "jihadist" by one of his rivals, from threatening to blow up any deal that didn’t involve NYRA. Duncker is alleged to have said he would sue the state, saying the racetrack properties were owned by NYRA, and tie up the franchise renewal in court for years. He also said NYRA had copyrights on all of the historic races, including the Belmont, and if the franchise was awarded to anyone else they would not be entitled to use the names of such races as the Belmont Stakes. At the same time he was threatening a lawsuit, Duncker lobbied with Spitzer’s office, trying to convince his aides that the NYRA of 2006 was not the same old NYRA that had jumped the tracks legally and financially a few years earlier. As proof of that, a court-appointed monitor had reported that NYRA had cleaned up its act, leading to the dismissal of the federal indictment. Curiously, that same monitor, Neil Getnick, was later hired by NYRA in a controversial no-bid deal. 

When all was said and done, Duncker, who had retired from Wall Street in 2001 at the age of 43 and was taking no salary to head NYRA, helped get the association a 25-year renewal. In exchange, NYRA has received bankruptcy bailouts from the state and gave up its claim to the land, which Duncker told the New York Times earlier this year was worth $1.5 billion.
Spitzer, who would later resign from office following a sex scandal, was singing a different tune when the franchise was renewed to NYRA: ""The only thing that remains of NYRA today that was there when I began to investigate is the name." he said. It didn’t help matters for Excelsior when Spitzer was investigated for riding on Fields’ private jet during the time he was attorney general. Excelsior backed away from its bid when it was clear NYRA was going to get the renewal. 

The deal has not been finalized, and NYRA has had to get a half-dozen extensions from the state since Jan. 1 to continue to operate. It has not yet emerged from bankruptcy, and Hayward has said the association may run out of money as early as next month. Union workers are unhappy because they haven’t received raises in several years, and critics are beginning to question some of NYRA’s recent moves. 

"There have been a series of missteps," said one longtime NYRA observer, who was particularly critical of the hiring of Gavin Landry as vice president of sales and market development. Landry struck a deal with the New York Post to make it the "official" newspaper of NYRA tracks, which hasn’t gone down well with one trustee of the association. "For what?" he asked of the Post deal. "The guy thought he could buy out the press, and (Post racing writer Ed) Fountaine is more critical of NYRA than ever."
Fountaine, in fact, has led a chorus of criticism over Landry’s creation of "NYRA Nation," a fan club whose benefits (a membership card, welcome letter from Hayward, e-mailed newsletter, lapel pin and opportunity to participate in contests) are meaningless to many horseplayers who are more concerned with reducing the takeout.

Landry also brought in a horse mascot during the Belmont meeting and named it Auggie, in "honor" of the founder of the track and one of the original movers and shakers of New York racing. Is that really how August Belmont would like to be remembered? 

The most serious criticism involves the bankruptcy proceedings. "They are spending money like drunken sailors," said one horseman who said he has knowledge of NYRA’s finances. "Charlie Hayward is playing a game of ‘chicken’ with the state, even though he has no tools left in his tool box. They gave away the land and don’t have that anymore, and don’t really have an advocate in state government. It’s time for them to stop running it like a country club." 

During the franchise renewal process, NYRA officials never put forth a vision publicly for what it hoped New York racing could become. The association’s life and death struggle seemed to be more about retaining control of racing than improving the economic conditions for owners or making the consumer experience better for the fans. 

NYRA won the battle, but what do its leaders plan to do with the spoils of their victory? 

By Ray Paulick

Copyright ©2008, The Paulick Report

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Everyone should have a mother like Jeremy Rose’s mom.

Cynthia Robinson is the sometimes meddling mother of the 29-year-old rider who has been in the news for whipping a horse in the face at Delaware Park and receiving a six-month suspension that was reduced this week by the Delaware Thoroughbred Racing Commission to three months.

Robinson apparently sought out reporters to give "her" version of the events that transpired when Rose whipped Appeal to the City in the left eye near the finish of the third race June 23 at Delaware Park. The 5-year-old mare was sent to the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center in Pennsylvania for treatment following the injury. She spent a week at the equine hospital, though according to published reports, her trainer, Howard Wolfendale, said she now is in good condition.

Jack Ireland, writing in the News Journal of Delaware, said Robinson suspects someone at the racetrack leaked news of the whipping incident to the media intentionally. "He ends up getting turned in by the SPCA, and I feel abused at times by the media over this," Robinson said. "He has lost $70,000 in earnings the past month and is being portrayed as an animal abuser. This is something now my son will have to live with for the rest of his life." 

Excuse me…you feel abused? 

To quote Benjamin Braddock from The Graduate: "Mrs. Robinson, if you don’t mind my saying so, this conversation is getting a little strange."

She wasn’t done. She also got the ear of the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Craig Donnelly, telling him: "We watched a son we are proud of [condemned] through the media and muddied and turned into the SPCA. The price he has paid is greater than the six months’ suspension. He has been portrayed as an animal abuser."

Robinson then told Donnelly a story of how Rose helped bring a retired gelding to the family farm and that he refused to have the horse euthanized even though he was blind.

Again, quoting Benjamin from The Graduate: "For god’s sake, Mrs. Robinson. Here we are. You got me into your house. You give me a drink. You… put on music. Now you start opening up your personal life to me…"

Aside from this unfortunate whipping incident (which Rose claims was an accident, but for which he will attend anger management classes), the jockey is best known as the rider of 2005 Preakness and Belmont winner Afleet Alex. Maybe it’s only right that Cynthia Robinson was given so much credit for her son’s achievements that year in an article that appeared on ESPN.com under the headline: "Preakness Winner Rose Has Mom to Thank." The story detailed her pushing him along on his career path as a jockey.

She also served as Jeremy’s unofficial publicist during his Triple Crown whirl. When I was editor of Bloodhorse magazine in 2005, I received a telephone call from a woman following the Belmont Stakes. The caller didn’t want to give me her name, but said she was a subscriber who was upset the magazine hadn’t profiled Afleet Alex’s winning jockey as it had done three weeks earlier after Afleet Alex won the Preakness.

I explained that when the same horse wins back-to-back Triple Crown races, the Bloodhorse mixed up the editorial package and tried to avoid repeating the same stories from the previous race. That didn’t slow the woman down. She then complained that the magazine had a profile on J.J. Graci, a former trainer and then radio host who was acting as a spokesman and publicist for the Afleet Alex team. Finally, the caller went on to tell me wonderful things about Jeremy Rose and that the magazine’s readers deserved to know them.

"Wow," I recall saying to her. "How do you know so much about Jeremy? You sound like his mother or something."

There was a long pause, followed by, "Well…I am his mother." 

It’s good to see Jeremy’s mom hasn’t changed much these last few years. Here’s to you, Mrs. Robinson!

By Ray Paulick

Copyright ©2008, The Paulick Report

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