Gaming commission levies $2,000 fine on NYRA racing secretary

OZONE PARK, N.Y. -- The New York Gaming Commission fined Keith Doleshel, the racing secretary for the New York Racing Association, $2,000 for failure to conduct business in a professional manner, according to a ruling on the commission website.

Brad Maione, the spokesperson for the Gaming Commission, citing the possibility of Doleshel appealing the penalty, would not elaborate on the reason for the fine.

“What’s on the website is what’s publicly available,” Maione said.

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According to NYRA spokesman Pat McKenna, NYRA is contemplating an appeal of the fine.

The fine apparently is a result of NYRA permitting an unlicensed individual to claim a horse during the 2022 Saratoga meet.

“The rules of racing in New York State require individuals to be licensed by the New York State Gaming Commission [NYSGC] and registered with The Jockey Club to be authorized to claim a horse,” McKenna wrote in an e-mailed statement. “Due to an unintentional administrative error, an unauthorized agent claimed a horse during the 2022 summer meet at Saratoga Race Course. NYRA subsequently discovered the error and notified the NYSGC of its findings. NYRA continues to question the NYSGC rationale for issuing significant financial penalties to individual NYRA employees for inadvertent administrative or clerical errors.”

This fine is the fourth issued by the Gaming Commission against a NYRA employee this year. In April, Doleshel was fined $2,000 for allowing a horse to compete twice in New York-bred races though the horse was not fully registered as a New York-bred at the time it ran.

In June, the Gaming Commission fined Frank Gabriel, NYRA’s senior vice president of racing operations, $4,000 for failing to follow proper claiming protocol which led to the voiding of the claim of the horse Battalion out of the fourth race on May 28 at Belmont. Gabriel, specifically, does not have anything to do with claims.

In May, the Gaming Commission fined clocker Richie Gazer $2,500 and suspended him 30 days for allegedly altering the time of a workout to make a horse eligible to race. That penalty was appealed and a final decision from the Gaming Commission on that appeal is pending.

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