Bill would raise N.Y. awards

A bill proposed by New York state Senator William Larkin would raise the distribution cap on New York breeders' awards, allowing the New York Breeding and Development Fund to give out more of its total revenue.

Larkin, who chairs the New York Senate's Racing Committee, has proposed that the statutory cap on distribution be raised from 50 percent of the fund's revenue to 65 percent, because of a sharp increase in the number of restricted New York-bred races. Since 2000, the number of New York-bred races at New York Racing Association tracks has ballooned from 452 to 722.

The breeding and development fund supports the legislation. Because of the cap on breeders' awards, the fund was unable to distribute approximately $300,000 last year to the breeders of New York-bred winners.

"It wasn't because we didn't have the money, but because we reached the cap," explained the fund's deputy director, Joe Spadaro.

The fund instead distributed those funds to stallion owners, whose cap of 15 percent of the fund's total revenue had not yet been reached.