NYRA bars a trainer

New York Racing Association officials have denied trainer Gregg Matties stalls for the Belmont spring meet and asked him to leave the grounds of their tracks after being alerted to irregular betting patterns in wagering accounts involving the Matties family.

"There were patterns of wagering activity at account wagering sites that we weren't happy about," NYRA's president, Charles Hayward, said. "We have reason to believe the accounts were in family-member names. We're not saying there was any race-fixing or anything like that going on."

Hayward said NYRA was made aware of these irregular betting patterns by the Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau.

Several members of the Matties family have competed in handicapping tournaments around the country. Paul and Duke Matties, who are brothers of Gregg, finished 36th and 56th in the Daily Racing Form/National Thoroughbred Racing Association Handicapping tournament in Las Vegas in January.

Matties, who had stalls at Belmont during Aqueduct's winter meet, won four races from 29 starters during the inner-track meet. He was 0 for 3 over the main track. His last runner, Debating, finished third in a $20,000 claiming race here on Wednesday and was claimed.