Bonomo named chairman of NYRA Reorganization Board

Anthony Bonomo has been named the new chairman of the New York Racing Association’s Reorganization Board, a spokesman for the company confirmed Wednesday afternoon.

Bonomo replaces Dr. David Skorton, who resigned his position effective Jan. 1. Later this year, Skorton will take over as head of the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C.

“Governor [Andrew] Cuomo has appointed Anthony Bonomo to serve as the Chairman of the NYRA Reorganization Board,” John Durso, NYRA spokesman, wrote in a text message. “Mr. Bonomo’s appointment will be addressed at the April 22 NYRA Reorganization Board meeting in New York City.”

Sources also confirmed to Daily Racing Form that NYRA will continue to run under state control for another year through October 2016. In 2013, the state took over control of NYRA, and Cuomo appointed a new board charged with developing a plan to be voted on by October that would return NYRA to private control.

The state took over control of NYRA after previous management was found to have inadvertently overcharged the takeout rate on certain exotic wagers.

Bonomo, a horse owner who runs under the name Brooklyn Boyz Stables, was appointed to NYRA’s Reorganization Board in 2013 by Cuomo.

Bonomo, a graduate of St. John’s University, is president of Administrators for the Professions Inc., the insurance company management organization that operates, among others, Physicians’ Reciprocal Insurers, a medical professional liability insurer.

Bonomo has been a proponent of NYRA re-entering the New York City market with a version of an off-track betting system. NYC OTB closed in December 2010. Last August, Bonomo said NYRA had discussions with New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio about it, though nothing has come to fruition.

NYRA has not held a board meeting in 2015. Two meetings scheduled for March were canceled.

At board meetings held last year, both Skorton and NYRA President and CEO Chris Kay said NYRA would have a reorganization plan ready to present to the state by April 17 so the governor and legislature would have six months to review it before deciding under what model NYRA would operate moving forward.

It is unclear if NYRA has such a plan ready to present and if or when the state would review it.