New York Assembly OK's dates cut

The New York State Assembly overwhelmingly passed a bill Friday that will allow the New York Racing Association to cut 12 days from its Aqueduct race meet. The legislation has already been passed by the Senate and will be sent to Gov. George Pataki, who is expected to sign the bill.

Under the new legislation, NYRA will be required to run 95 days at Aqueduct from December to April. The association was previously required to run 107 days.

NYRA officials have said that they will likely trim days from the racing schedule around the Christmas holidays and in March and April. The officials also said that they would eliminate some makeup days caused by weather-related cancellations.