I wonder if he were a contemporary; would he find that profit motivations and insatiable tax appetites alter circumstances.  It is what I see as I watch racing struggle.

Past performance is the most vital tool to handicapping and no where is it more important than in selecting who should wield the power in decisions which determine the future of the industry.  In New York, Senate Majority Leader, Joseph L. Bruno is viewed by many as a “friend of racing”, and this could prove dangerous if the new governor is unable to get the issues plaguing racing to the top of his own ‘to do’ list.  It cannot be ignored that an “inquiry” light continues to flash on Bruno’s past performances.  The hotter news of recent weeks has been the Spitzer debacle, but as late as 2-4-08 it was reported in the Daily Intel, “The FBI has been investigating the State Senate majority leader’s outside business interest for nearly two years now, and today we learn they have widened their inquiry.”  The lobbying interests of Sen. Bruno’s son, Kenneth are not convincingly dormant though he earlier left that role to enter a private law practice.  To date the questionable ethics surrounding Sen. Bruno and his son have not been conclusively proven, but it would be a mistake to wager the racing industry on men whose business interests have a tendency to bear off course.  It is especially pertinent now, as the time draws near to select parties to install and run Video Lottery Terminals and to provide board members to NYRA.

The possibility remains that VLT’s could prove to be a ‘sucker bet’.  These tax revenue producers add purse money, but they have yet to make the racing industry itself healthier. The statistics which support the marriage of VLT’s and racing are often deceiving; akin to bikinis, they show almost everything!  VLT’s are a passive pursuit, calibrated by the house and it is unlikely that many slot machine players will cross over into the more challenging arena of handicapping and wagering on horses.  The sooner we recognize that alternative gambling is a stimuli and not a fix for racing, the better off we will be.

Gambling is the largest growth industry in America today and slots are a huge contributor. 

Politicians can be expected to measure space and expense against tax productivity and a natural inclination will be to reduce high maintenance racing in favor of the space efficient and more easily managed slots.  A high priority of most politicians is reelection and toward that end the next logical step would be to gain large economic returns by selling parcels of real estate required for racing and to grow votes on the land.   If we risk our racing plants too heavily toward VLT’s, a time-tested, viable industry could be left hobbled; unable to escape the circling vultures. 

Thoroughbred racing contributes $2 billion annually to New York’s economy; there are more than 400 breeding farms in the state, and 40,000 people are employed in the industry.  The ancillary impact reaches much further and a massive amount of open space would be lost if this ‘cash cow’ is hazed into the back forty by VLT’s.  Since NYRA’s inception and through 2006, they have paid more than $3.069 billion in direct tax revenue.  It’s dubious when legislators make it sound as if they are reaching into their own pockets to assist racing.  She is still producing well, just not as much as insatiable tax appetites are demanding.

We have our work cut out to preserve horseracing.  It represents a large facet of our culture, is ingrained in our history, and is the nom de plume of our own city’s tourist attracting image.  Saratoga cannot stand alone, it needs our downstate tracks.   

It is true, New York racing has been plagued for years with NYRA’s mistakes, but we may be wrong to confuse that past performance with present management.  Charles Hayward, CEO/ President and Chairman, C. Steven Drucker are diligently working toward getting NYRA back to a profit generating model, but so far the reins have been held out of their reach.  If they are to succeed; they must be given the reins.  A whip with which to fend off government greed would be in order as well!

It is vitally important that the imminent closure of Off Track Betting Parlors (OTB’s) be averted.  NYRA furnishes OTB its product and they should be granted the authority to harness its income to the proper directions.  Since its inception, OTB has not provided its fair share back to the industry and as usual, it is the horsemen who suffer the largest neglect. The state has gotten their cut, they are good at that!

An unfortunate loss of opportunity occurred while New York played political football and trifled over racing franchise bids from other management entities.  During this time the largest media market in the world lost consideration to host the Breeders’ Cup, the world championship of racing.  The economic impact for the host sight is upwards of $50 million; this lost opportunity hurt NY’s economy and deals another left jab to its premier position within the hierarchy of racing. Belmont, the great sandy loom track with the big sweeping turns and the capacity to handle 90,000 people will experience just another lackluster day of racing on Cup Days while the twice rewarded Santa Anita and their Cushion Track will enjoy the spotlight of the racing universe. 

Why the BC committee veered from its policy of placing the venue at revolving tracks and delegated the championship races to Santa Anita for an unprecedented two successive years is a mystery.   In the usual rotation Belmont, host of four prior Breeders’ Cups would have been the logical choice for either this year or next, but instead New York is caught up in the impact of the changing landscape of racing, synthetic surfaces.

A recently completed study has disclosed that synthetic track surfaces yielded virtually identical fatality rates as dirt surfaces.  It is important to view this study with similar lenses which looks at the statistics relevant to VLT’s paired with horseracing.  The likeness of statistics to bikinis can again be employed for again there are important things not visible.

It cannot be ignored that many top trainers with the best horses are showing a strong preference to train and run on synthetic surfaces, and should the trend prevail; NYRA is ill-equipped to finance installation of these expensive surfaces. 

Michael Matz, the trainer and Barry Irwin of Team Valor International, the majority owner of Gotham winner, Visionaire are opting to give their Derby hopeful his final prep against the Kentucky Derby favorite, Steve Asmussen trained Pyro in Keeneland’s (Toyota) Bluegrass Stakes on Polytrack.

Steve Asmussen and his team sent Curlin to Dubai and came home with the $6-million Emirates Airline Dubai World Cup trophy.  Curlin is scheduled to arrive in Lexington on April 6, to prepare for future races.  Asmussen is the tour de force trainer in the world; his decision to train his top horses on synthetic surfaces is a heavyweight decision in favor of them.

There are two or three of the top ten KY Derby contenders who have never raced on anything but synthetic tracks. The influence of these surfaces cannot be ignored and even more so because the next two Breeders’ Cups will be run on them.  It should be expected that Belmont will have fewer of the top horses in the weeks leading up to the world championships.

Horses and nature are eternal and we all crave them.  It is a sad reality that our fast paced times has caused many of us to lose sight of this.  Thoroughbred horses are a conduit to nature and by protecting racing we protect them.  It is not about money and gambling it’s about a quality of life.

A reduced numbers of horses will adversely affect our ecology and the quality of life even for those far removed from the thrill of thundering hooves will suffer.