COULD AQUEDUCT FINALLY BE ON THE FAST TRACK?
New York State Senator, Republican Marty Golden of Brooklyn, has introduced legislation to put the selection of a racino bid on the fast track. "The selection of AEG to run the VLTs at Aqueduct was made behind closed doors after a secretive, politically-influenced process with no public input or review of the submitted proposals," said Golden. "My legislation will put an efficient, transparent process in place so we can ensure the best vendor is chosen as soon as possible."
Speed in government? Forgive us if we’re a bit skeptical. But it is clear this is at least a step in the right direction. It appears the horsemen in New York are being heard.
Read it at the Thoroughbred Times
Then come back to the Paulick Report and let us know what you think
Tags: AEG, aqueduct, bradford cummings, Brooklyn, Marty Golden, Paulick Report, thoroughbred times, VLT
March 25th, 2010 at 9:22 am
A nice gesture, but since the Democrats control the state Assembly, the Senate and the Governor’s office, I’d feel more confident if Golden had a Democratic co-sponsor or two.
March 25th, 2010 at 10:52 am
Mr. Golden quoted:
Resolving this issue will bring in revenues to help us close the massive budget deficit,
and create hundreds of much-needed jobs for New York City residents.”
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And of course there is no mention in this slots plan that benefits the state
yet leaves so many dirty problems in modern horse racing unaddressed.
A vast majority of this slots revenue will filter out and away from South Ozone Park,
away from the NYRA racing product and back up Thruway 87 and into Albany.
This is but a temporary solution at best.
When are people in the horse racing industry going to realize that ultimately
it is going to be the horse racing customer that is going to carry the game into the future?
The national wagering model needs to be revamped so the host track benefits
more for putting out the racing product. Almost everything else falls in line after that.
March 25th, 2010 at 11:38 am
I totally support Senator Golden’s expedited and public process for choosing a VLT operator for Aqueduct. Senator Golden (R) is a retired police officer as is Senator Adams (D) who is Chair of the Senate Racing & Wagering Committee. They both represent districts in Brooklyn. Hopefully, they can work together in a bipartisan way to save the sport of NY thoroughbred racing which is imploding from the bankruptcy of NYCOTB and NYRA’s forecasted bankruptcy in June. We need leadership and problem solving ASAP.
March 25th, 2010 at 11:46 am
And the slot genie will now grant your every wish. Santa Claus will bring you prosperity, and of course, the Tooth Fairy will win the triple crown.
Slots will now allow management even more opportunities to ignore the needs of horsemen, and to destroy horse racing. One day the horse industry will wake up and realize that the publicly traded “horse racing” companies, we are so willing to shill for, have used us like cheap whores in Vegas to advance our own demise. Slots are not our friend. They become an excuse to remain glued to one spot, maintain incompetent and inept management and to tell each other we can’t change .
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March 25th, 2010 at 12:37 pm
They need to set up a new organization, the T.W.M.W.T.M.I.G. (those who monitor where the money is going), led by an oversight committee P.W.L.T.W.M.B.W. (people who like to watch millions being wasted). They can both report to the C.L.W.V.O.P. (corrupt leadership without vision or purpose)
The inmates of the multiple fiefdoms who run this asylum called thoroughbred horse racing need more cash! Hurry!
March 25th, 2010 at 1:45 pm
dray33 wrote:
They need to set up a new organization, the T.W.M.W.T.M.I.G.
(those who monitor where the money is going)…
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Agreed.
And this group should have full authority to make sure that the revenue is being used
to take care of horse racing’s problems before it finds its way to the state capital.
As a horse racing customer I would rather have my contributions
used towards the progress of the industry. Who does not ?
Priorties and common sense.
Slots revenues = another temporary band-aid. Why not finally get to the root of the problem?
March 25th, 2010 at 3:20 pm
I live in New York, and this good idea has about as much chance of happening as OTB merging into NYRA. The politicians in power here are mostly corrupt, self aggrandizing pieces of crap that are controlled by the public employee unions and self enriching special interests. My question is, how come we aren’t hearing from all the big, blowhard rich Kentucky horsemen who rolled out the carpet and check book to help Elliot Spitzer get elected? Pataki was almost as bad, but at least a casino operator had been chosen before Spitzer came in and pulled the rug out form under the process. Monmouth is nothing like Belmont or Saratoga in terms of its dirt track, but you gotta like what NJ is doing.
Great web site, Ray.
March 25th, 2010 at 3:25 pm
There is a chance NYRA will not open Belmont after Saratoga. That kind of crisis situation might get Albany to do something.
Right now, NYRA and NYC OTB look to be in deep trouble.
March 26th, 2010 at 12:05 am
The only thing good about NYCOTB is there television network, the man who runs it is a brilliant executive named Brian Flynn, he has restored the channel with racing from around the world , informative programming, great handicapping shows with a panel that has an excellent ROI, features, press conferences, interviews, etc., unfortunately he answers to the scumbags of President Ray Casey ( yes that fat slob Guiliani’s cousin who doesn’t know if a cockroach is running on his network) & now this awful, disgusting of a man they brought in to be the chairman, Meyer Frucher. Wow ! talk about ineptness!! This clown has no business making decisions on who should stay or go as they layoff their workforce,which absolutely has to be trimmed, & should start with the marketing director Ron Ceisler, this schister spends all winter at Gulfstream & all summer in Saratoga & he continues to be employed., Folks thats 5 months a year !! & he has an OTB vehicle!he & Frucher are in bed with Yonkers because they have the money they need down the road with his improbable plan, yet that imbecile Joe Faraldo says today that NYCOTB is directly responsible for handle down at Yonkers, PLEASE! They delay post times to suck people in to stay to push slots because they have the same phony, corrupt ,staged, fixed rat race 12 times a night & need ch. 71 to show it now at all times regardless of any other tracks that are running standardbred or thoroughbred, give the reins to this Brian Flynn guy, he has a genius mind for the sport & is not corrupt. We need more people to realize that if NYCOTB does not go private & is not able to relinquish their awful, lazy union 5 cent help & merge with NYRA , bye bye racing
March 26th, 2010 at 2:00 am
Somewhere along the line we have to face that racing needs to downsize and upgrade to get out of this cycle.
Seduction of easy money from the OTB interests [money that they didn't really earn in the sense that gate money has been earned because it reflects the public's willingness to participate in the occasion] caused the tracks to ignore their core customersexpansion.
If there had been no expansion in the number of race days then the original OTB idea might have been a good one; tracks might have maintained many of their visitors as well as benefiting from those who simply wanted to lose their money without going to the course. Had their been a significantly lower takeout on track that might have helped. As it was the ease of access to the new money meant more racing - even as attendances fell - that required more funding - which simulcasting seemed to guarantee for a time. The next brainwave was the installation of slot machines - presumably upon the assumption that racetracks would maintain indefinitely a monopoly in gambling licenses.
By this stage someone should have registered that it would have been perfectly feasible to play cricket [as they say here] between the stands and the track on most racedays. No-one did.
With most ultimately destructive policies, in any walk of life, one or other group does well in the short term. People who are getting big purses with poor horses don’t care about anything else. Unfortunately it will largely be their blood on the carpet when the inevitable downsizing occurs.
Horseracing is a wonderful sport. At its best it is everything you could wish for as a spectacle and as an experience. But that means Royal Ascot, Glorious Goodwood or Saratoga in August. The magic of “the sport of kings” isn’t strong enough to carry Wolverhampton and Penn National in their present form; lesser tracks, and everyone involved with them, must aspire to be the very best that they can be in terms of probity, horse welfare and general presentation if they are to survive.
March 30th, 2010 at 8:46 pm
Man U have some work to do now to beat Bayern
March 31st, 2010 at 12:41 pm
I really don’t believe it. I hope Rooney is better for the cup!