N.Y. Gaming Commission to permit exemptions to rule on ratio of purses to claiming price

The New York Gaming Commission on Monday approved a rule allowing tracks to apply for temporary exemptions to a regulation requiring that purses be no more than two times the claiming price in a race.

The ability to request an exemption had been sought by the New York Racing Association, which operates Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga Race Course, principally as a means to bolster purses in low-level claiming races to compete with purse offerings in competing jurisdictions that do not have a similar restriction, such as Pennsylvania. The rule passed on a voice vote after being debated for some time at the commission’s previous meeting in September.

The rule approved by the commission said that the exemption can be granted only in cases in which the track has put in place “enhanced measures to ensure close examination of the competitiveness, soundness, and safety of each horse in such races.” The exemption language had the support of the board’s equine medical director, Dr. Scott Palmer.

The 2-to-1 limit was first approved in 2012 as part of a handful of measures considered by the gambling commission during an investigation into a spate of fatalities at Aqueduct Racetrack. At the time, the commission said that rapid run-ups in purses at Aqueduct had given trainers incentives to enter unsound horses in claiming races. Palmer testified at the previous meeting that regulatory veterinarians were now applying additional scrutiny to horses in pre-race exams.

Also at the meeting, the commission deferred action on a set of proposed rules that would allow regulators to apply additional penalties to trainers who violate medication rules multiple times in a 12-month period. The penalties, which are known as the multiple-medication violation penalty scheme within the industry, have been adopted by most racing jurisdictions in the northeast and mid-Atlantic.

Barry Sample, the chairman of the commission, said during the meeting that the action had been deferred at the request of a commission member. Brad Maiones, a spokesperson for the commission, clarified after the meeting that the commission member had questions regarding the rules.

The commission also approved rules for public comment that expand the commission’s requirements for safety equipment from riders to any person “mounted on a horse.” Those rules also increase the maximum weight of safety vests from two pounds to four pounds, to allow for riders to wear new models of the vests. The weight of safety equipment is not counted for the purposes of determining a jockey’s riding weight.

Finally, the commission approved rules for public comment that would apply standards to housing provided by the New York Racing Association on its properties for backstretch workers. Those standards range from fire-safety measures to the overall size of individual dormitories. The commission said in its memo to commissioners that the standards were based on the state’s existing migrant farm workers’ housing requirements set by the Department of Health.

NYRA has renovated a large portion of its backstretch housing at all three of its tracks since 2013, according to the association, at a cost of $23 million through the end of 2018. The work is expected to be substantially complete by the end of 2019.