IAVARONE DEATH THREAT: IT’S NEWS TO NYRA
The head of security for the New York Racing Association told the Paulick Report Tuesday that no security resources were used to protect IEAH president Michael Iavarone on Belmont Stakes Day, June 7, the day Iavarone said he had been the subject of a “serious death threat.”
Iavarone said in an interview during ABC’s telecast of the Breeders’ Cup World Championships last Saturday that 
New York Police Department detectives came to his house June 7 to notify him of the threat, which he said came from “an extremist” in Tallahassee, Fla. A letter from this individual allegedly stated that if anything happened to Big Brown in the Belmont Stakes, neither Iavarone nor his family would be safe. The threat was said to have been relayed to the NYPD by the Tallahassee Police Department.
Kenneth Cook, vice president of security for the New York Racing Association, indicated that he was not made aware of any threat to Iavarone from the NYPD or FBI. “In the weeks and months (leading up to the Belmont Stakes), we had continuous contact between myself, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, NYPD, Nassau County Police Department and the MTA (Metropolitan Transportation Authority),” said Cook. “We did not divert a single resource to heighten protection for Michael Iavarone.”
Cook, a former deputy superintendent of the New York State Police who joined NYRA in 2003, added: “There’s a reason why you coordinate your efforts with all the agencies — there was so much information shared that day. Chiefs of police and bureau commanders participated. It would have been a catastrophic error not to communicate that kind of threat. We had celebrities here, along with the governor. Not a single asset was diverted (to protect Iavarone).
Asked if that meant NYRA was not aware of any death threat against Iavarone, Cook said, “You can read between the lines.”
An FBI agent contacted by the Paulick Report would neither confirm nor deny the existence of a death threat: “We don’t comment on this type of inquiry.”
Kelly Wietsma, a publicist for IEAH, said the threat was very real. In a comment posted on the Paulick Report article recapping Iavarone’s revelation during the ABC telecast about the alleged threat, Wietsma said: “In total, there were at least eight detectives on hand at Belmont Park that day that were sent by the NYPD. It was explained to me, by one of the plain clothes detectives, upon their arrival that the NYPD and FBI had received a letter that was forwarded to them from the Tallahassee Police Department, threatening the lives of the owners and trainer of Big Brown if the horse were hurt or killed. I was able to view the letter, and read it myself. It went on to say that no one at Belmont Park would be safe.
“This was extremely troubling as we did not know who sent the letter or how serious the threats were. They were obviously serious enough to the NYPD to send officers to Mike’s house and to Belmont Park. Michael Iavarone knew nothing of the threats until the officers showed up at his house that morning. You may not have seen detectives with him but they were by his side at all times throughout the day. He was not allowed to go to the paddock area, men’s room, the jockeys room or anywhere on the premises without them.”
The Paulick Report has been unable to confirm the incident with the NYPD’s office of public information.
Copyright © 2008, The Paulick Report
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Tags: belmont park, belmont stakes, Big Brown, fbi, iavarone death threat, IEAH, kelly wietsma, ken cook, kenneth cook, Michael Iavarone, New York Racing Association, nypd, nyra, Paulick Report, Ray Paulick
October 29th, 2008 at 1:57 pm
It’s always something with this group!
October 29th, 2008 at 2:23 pm
Iavarone and Dutrow deserve each other…but the industry deserves much better than these two clowns desperately attempting to keep their names in the spotlight each week with bizarre stories and ridiculous boasting.
October 29th, 2008 at 2:28 pm
NYRA didn’t know about the threat. As stated above, Kenneth Cook said, “In the weeks and months (leading up to the Belmont Stakes), we had continuous contact between myself, the Department of Homeland Security, the FBI, NYPD, Nassau County Police Department and the MTA.” There is your answer to whether there was any credible threat.
If there had been a letter by some nut in Tallahassee who sent it to his own police department instead of the intended target, no one would take this kind of threat seriously. This story smacks of an elaborate defense for such self-important actions as hiring bodyguards, and publicists, for that matter. Are there 8 x 10 autographed glossies of Iavarone for his fan club too?
BTW, Ray, can we get some glossies of you?
October 29th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Now Now!! Let’s play nice. I am not a huge fan of Dutrow, but long before the partnering of Iavarone and Dutrow, Iavarone shady past and numerous untruths about his education and professional career has plagued him. There is a difference between a guy who deliberately set out to deceive and another (Dutrow) who shoots his mouth off without thinking of the consequences. Whether you are a Dutrow fan or not, this guy have come up through the ranks and earned himself the respect he should be given as a trainer. I’d like someone to tell me one trainer out there who has never done anything wrong in their whole training career. Sure! I can call a few of the top of my head (they just have never been caught). So get off the Dutrow hate wagon, he is who he is, not perfect, and he would be the first to say the same.
Now back to Mr. Iavarone and his alleged death threat. It’s unfortunate. That being said, whether the story is true or not, I am to this day still dumfounded that a well respected veterinarian like James Hunt (often referred to as the leading veterinarian with the biggest practice on the NY circuit race track), be the front guy for the prestigious Ruffian Equine Medical Center (R.E.M.C.) currently still under construction and way behind the original opening date. I for one am quite concern. Whether Mr. Iavarone threats came from extremist or other sorts (maybe of the underworld) who he has been rumored to have connections with, could possibly have their hands in this venture as well ?. We really must consider this. Apparently the prestigious Dr. James Hunt did not.
October 29th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
I am convinced, as well, that Iavarone has a problem with NOT being in the spotlight.
If the FBI showed up on his doorstep, I’m sure it had little to do wtih death threats and more over something else, entirely different!
October 29th, 2008 at 5:35 pm
Owners and trainers tend to be a perfect match. Dutrow is a good horseman.
But could Dutrow have ties to the underworld? He races in NY and NJ, some or all of his owners are huge gamblers like him, he is based in his own little world at Aqueduct where he was able to sneak by security in the middle of the night while serving a suspension and visited his horses (spooky as hell), his coup with Wild Desert, drug positives, arrogance, rumors of his racing ringers, his warning toward all jockeys before the Belmont Stakes that (paraphrasing here) if they pulled a Smarty Jones on Big Brown they would risk being assasinated… and last but not least a series of damaging comments made by Steve Allday, DVM (Steve Byk Sirius Radio show “At the Races” , November 2, 2007, Hour 1) that Dutrow likes to cheat, he is bad for racing, etc. This show is worth a listen!
Apparently the prestigious Dr. Patricia Hogan don’t mind being associated with the Ruffian Hospital either.
October 29th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
Wake up Snowburn,
Wild Desert was not a coup, the NYRA racing sec. had a beef with the owner and ruled his horses off NYRA property, you can’t blame Dutrow for trying to do everything he could to train a nice horse up to a big race. He went too far as far as trying to officially switch training locales, but he got caught and did the time, so what?
As for the Dr. Allday piece on Sirius, that should all be thrown into the trash heap along with half of everything that he says about trainers that he has worked for IN THE PAST. Note that his tirade came within a week of Kip Deville winning the BC Mile at Monmouth, and there are probably several dozen trainers in racing that can tell you not to believe anything Allday says. Dr. Allday and Dutrow fell out in Oct. 06 and if there is anything the talented, but nuts Dr. Allday can’t stand, it’s one of his former clients continuing to do well without his overbearing BS, self-aggrandizing self being involved with it!!!!
October 29th, 2008 at 8:10 pm
Makes sense that anything this character says is up for a fact check.
If we learned one thing in racing this year, it’s that one can only take anything Iavarone says with a grain of salt. From High profile Investor, to UCLA graduate, to future major league baseball star, he has created quite a list of outright lies. Not misunderstandings, not mistakes, no outright 100% lies. But he’ll get his people in this case “Kelly” to back him up. That’s just the way it is. One lies the other swears to it, old story.
On a more serious note, I see IEAH is selling off a lot of their stock at the FT sale. Looks like the biggest buyers are becoming sellers, does that mean no hedge fund? Could this latest saga be Iavarone’s last chance for pubic sympathy from the masses, which he obviously craves (see his Talkin Horses interview on bloodhorse)? Or is it real? Who knows but I got to give him credit, he isn’t boring and he and his crew have changed horse racing in America forever. Dinny Phipps and Farish were so sick of Dutrow and Iavarone beating their tales from coast to coast, they had to do something. They may have accidentally saved American breeding/racing, and that is no lie.
October 30th, 2008 at 6:57 am
Wow, just when you thought Mike couldn’t be even sleazier he finds a way. Hopefully some racing jurisdiction will deny him a license due to his lack of character. Be nice to see the industry rid of him.
October 30th, 2008 at 12:30 pm
one more note:
The prestigious Dr. Patricia Hogan gained a whole lot of mileage off the fact that she put some stitches in Smarty Jones head when he was a yearling or so. There are perhaps a hundred people or more who could make the same claim that they saved the life of every racehorse in training, be it a Kentucky Derby winner or a 10K claimer.
It should also be noted that Dr. Hogan was the advisor of Afleet Alex’s premature, and ill-fated return to the races after a fracture was diagnosed, and gave T Ritchey the go-ahead to resume training.
If racehorse veterinarians such as the prestigious Drs Hogan and Hunt that are involved with the IEAH REMC would begin to act more like doctors that their degrees empower them with, we might not even be saddled with the current debate that dirt racecourses endanger horse’s lives. Dirt courses are not the problem, medication (cortisone in joints $$$$), along with poor medical advice coming from vets whose only care is to paint a bright picture to trainers who stuff their pockets, are..
October 30th, 2008 at 5:06 pm
opey: Wild Desert may have been a multi-layered coup. Doping had to be suspected based on the unprecedented anti-doping/EPO measures Woodbine took the following year which may have caused its Plate favorite to finish last… Allday is no pansy. He was clearly angry at Dutrow and said: “It’s pay-back time”.
I agree with you that Afleet Alex came back too soon. Was Dr. Hogan pressured by AA’s people and caught in the middle? Was this an experiment? Worth taking a chance? Did she make a mistake? Dr. Hogan has a great reputation as a veterinarian beyond Smarty’s eye and is also a strong supporter of equine welfare.
Dirt vs. synthetic. Humans directly and indirectly break horses down at least 95% of the time. I have yet to see the total number of injuries synthetic vs. good dirt, which include injuries severe enough to be season and career ending. Fatality numbers for synthetic used over and over for PR purposes are deceptive since synthetic tends to cause more soft tissue injuries which may not be immediately fatal like fractures can be but become fatal following complications days and weeks later and when horses are sent to slaughter.
Cortisone: should be banned from racing, yet it is hardly mentioned because it enables sore horses to fill an insane number of cheap races. Drug pushing vets, abusive owners and trainers, cheap racing where the majority of injuries happen all need to be reformed and cut back. Slots keep racing afloat in some states as the decadent claiming game spreads. Both are enablers and killers. Major solutions are painfully obvious but too tough to tackle, yet.
October 30th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Just a first-hand comment on the two vets mentioned in this thread. Both Jim Hunt and Patty Hogan have treated my horses, and they’ve both been fully professional. Dr. Hogan, in particular, is more than professional; she’s lavished the same care on my mid-level claimers that she did on Smarty Jones, and in fact managed to save the eye on our horse Tactical Gold after several race track vets thouhght he’d lose it to an infection.
As for their involvement with IEAH, I have no inside information, but I’d hope they think that they could be doing good work. Belmont certainly needs a major surgery facility nearby; at present we have to ship horses that need surgery up to Cornell, down to New Bolton, or to Dr. Hogan’s place in New Jersey. I just hope they don’t get screwed by IEAH somewhere down the road.
October 31st, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Today the Blood-Horse posted a report where police confirmed the death threat and explained what happened: http://news.bloodhorse.com/article/47841.htm
November 3rd, 2008 at 12:37 am
I still don’t believe it. Remember earlier this year when IEAH donated to the Nassau County Police Detective who was injured? And now after the NYPD denies it as does NYRA, Nassau somehow just remembered. Not buying it.
November 3rd, 2008 at 8:52 pm
Yes, because an entire police department would make the whole thing up for… what reason exactly? I mean, come on.