The New York State Gaming Commission on Monday approved a proposed rule that would allow horses with common ownership to run uncoupled in any stakes race worth $50,000 or more, one of two steps it took at a meeting to modify state racing rules to address short fields. The rule now goes to a 45-day public-comment period, after which the commission can amend the rule, accept it as initially written, or reject it. Most proposed rules are accepted without substantial changes. New York’s current rule allows for uncoupled entries in stakes races of $1 million or more. Under the new rule, the stewards could still rule that horses remain coupled in stakes races of $50,000 or more if “doing so is necessary in the public interest,” wrote Edmund Burns, general counsel of the commission, in a packet delivered to the commission’s members in advance of the meeting. “The proposed decoupling amendment is not absolute,” Burns wrote. The commission also approved a proposed rule that would allow superfecta wagering in races with coupled entries. Racing commissions have traditionally required horses with common ownership to run as coupled entries so that one or more of the horses cannot be used to benefit another part of the entry. But those restrictions have gradually been loosened over the last two decades, in large part because uncoupling the entries provides an additional betting interest in a race. Supporters of the rule changes also contend that collusion in races with large purses is unlikely.  Also at the Monday meeting, the racing commission accepted a hearing officer’s recommendation that harness trainer Lou Pena be suspended three years and fined $343,000. The case dates to 2012, when the commission charged Pena with violating more than 1,700 medication rules, based on records from his vet that appeared to indicate that medications were being administered to his horses within timeframes in which the drugs were not allowed to be used. Since being suspended indefinitely in 2012, Pena has sought to have the case thrown out in the courts, but his appeals have been rejected.