New York appeals court throws out Linda Rice suspension

A New York state appeals court has ruled that a three-year suspension of trainer Linda Rice handed down by the New York State Gaming Commission is “so disproportionate to the offense and shockingly unfair as to constitute an abuse of discretion as a matter of law” and should be thrown out, according to the ruling.

The ruling, which was issued by the Appellate Division of the New York Supreme Court on Thursday, concerns a three-year suspension that the NYGSC handed down to Rice in May 2021 due to “conduct detrimental to racing” for her role in receiving information from racing office employees about horses entered in races she also was targeting. Rice immediately appealed the decision and received a stay of the penalty two days after the suspension went into effect. Rice also was fined $50,000.

Andrew Turro, Rice’s attorney, said that the ruling was the “correct conclusion” in an interview on Thursday.

“I’m happy and I’m gratified that she is able to continue to train and pursue her livelihood,” Turro said.

A spokesperson for the NYGSC said Thursday that the commission had no comment on the ruling.

In the ruling, the court said that while there was “substantial evidence” supporting the gaming commission’s assertion that Rice received confidential information about the entries, the “significance” of that information was in dispute, given testimony by New York Racing Association officials during an eight-day hearing conducted late in 2020 to consider the allegations.

During the hearing, Martin Panza, the former senior vice president of racing operations at NYRA, said that Rice’s “actions compromised the integrity of racing,” according to the ruling. However, P. J. Campo, a former racing secretary at NYRA, testified “that the public would not be ‘in any way misled,’ ” the ruling said.

The ruling also stood out, the court said, because no trainer had ever been punished for receiving the information, despite assertions during the hearing by racing-office employees that trainers were occasionally given the same information as Rice.

“Not to be overlooked is that petitioner is the only trainer ever disciplined for this rule violation – a troublesome point given that petitioner is the only female trainer ever to win a training title at a New York track,” the court said.

While the court ruled that the suspension was “entirely unwarranted,” it also wrote that it would “take no issue” with the monetary penalty and remit the case back to the NYGSC “to reassess the penalty.”

Rice has won more than 2,300 races lifetime and was the first female trainer to win a trainer’s title at a NYRA track when she took the top spot at the 2009 Saratoga meet. She also won back-to-back training titles at Aqueduct in 2011 and 2012.

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