Horseman quits NYRA board

Robert F. Flynn, a member of the New York Racing Association Board of Trustees since December 2004, resigned from the board on Thursday, citing the need to concentrate more on his job as executive director of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association.

Flynn has been executive director of the horsemen's association for 12 years.

"If you have two jobs and one pays a salary and one doesn't, you have to select the one that pays the salary," Flynn said.

The horsemen have become involved with a group, Empire Racing Associates, that plans to bid on the franchise to run racing at Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga. NYRA currently holds that franchise, which expires Dec. 31, 2007. The horsemen's association has a 3 percent equity stake in Empire and two seats on its board.

Richard Bomze, the president of the horsemen's group, said his organization did not make Flynn resign.

"It was something he did on his own volition, and I think he did the right thing," Bomze said. "They expected him to give them a hint or two of what we were up to, and I don't think that was fair."

C. Steven Duncker, the chairman of the NYRA board, said Flynn "remains somebody we have a very good relationship with."