New York Gaming Commission rejects appeal of voided claim
ELMONT, N.Y. – The New York Gaming Commission rejected the appeal by the connections of Battalion to have the voided claim of their horse from a May 28 race at Belmont Park overturned.
Owner Michael De Bella and trainer Bob Klesaris argued that the voiding of the claim of Battalion from them for $25,000 by owner Sandy Goldfarb and trainer Rob Atras was an abuse of the stewards’ discretionary powers under the circumstances and they were being penalized for it.
“Appellants are not being ‘penalized,’ contrary to their contention,” Peter Moschetti Jr., a gaming commission member, wrote in his decision affirming the voided claim. “They are losing the ability to exchange the horse for the claiming price, but they still own the asset with which they started the race. That result does not constitute an abuse of the Stewards’ discretion under these circumstances.”
The stewards voided the claim of Battalion because the horse was not brought to the test barn for a post-race examination immediately following the race. That was because the New York Racing Association clerk of scales, Jack Welsh, did not notify the proper person stationed by the winner’s circle that there was a claim of any horse in that race.
Battalion, who finished last of seven in the race, was brought back to Klesaris’s barn by his groom. It wasn’t until Klesaris was contacted by phone by someone from the test barn inquiring where his horse was that Klesaris knew there had been a claim. Klesaris instructed his assistant to get the horse to the test barn immediately, but when the horse got there, the claim had already been voided.
In his ruling, Moschetti wrote: “Through no fault of Appellants or Claimant, Claimant was deprived of the assurance that the horse was under the observation of Commission staff from the end of the race until delivery to the test barn for examination. There is no specific Commission rule on how to address such a situation, in which a horse’s trainer is, mistakenly, not informed promptly of a claim and, therefore, the claimed horse is not brought directly to the test barn. Rule 4022.21, however, empowers the stewards to exercise discretion in circumstances not otherwise explicitly addressed in Commission rules.”
Drew Mollica, the attorney representing De Bella and Klesaris, said the stewards’ discretion in this instance was “ill-founded.”
“If the horse had won by five, they would have waited patiently,” Mollica said. “Because he ran poorly, they voided claimed and therein lies the ill-advised decision. The commission took a side when it should have been equal to all.”