OZONE PARK, N.Y. – During a decade-plus career in racing operations at Canterbury Park, Andrew Offerman helped revitalize business at the seasonal Minnesota track. After working a year behind-the-scenes at the New York Racing Association, Offerman is now front and center as part of the team that is charged with advancing the future at NYRA. On Feb. 18, Offerman took over as senior vice president of racing operations, replacing veteran racing official Frank Gabriel, who resigned from that position after a two-year stint. Offerman, 38, takes over at a time when NYRA is in a state of transition. With a massive renovation project under way at Belmont Park that will take approximately two more years to complete, Offerman must guide NYRA through a period when downstate racing will be conducted exclusively at Aqueduct though the first quarter of 2026. Offerman, who interned in NYRA’s racing office for four months in 2009, wore many hats at Canterbury over 16 years spent at the Minnesota track, in a region where he grew up. Offerman became director of racing operations there in November 2015 and worked in that department with more glorified titles through the fall of 2022. During that time, annual handle on Thoroughbred racing at Canterbury rose from $39,693,415 in 2016 to $91,856,879 in 2022. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. “Canterbury had an amazing reputation for doing unique things, kind of being the minor league baseball-type venue that attracted fans, but didn’t necessarily draw wagering attention,” Offerman said in a recent interview. “The thing I was most proud of, especially in the last five or six years, was bringing national notoriety to the venue that people knew what racing events to expect. “Our handle obviously skyrocketed as a result of both that and being able to expose our product to a different market during COVID and continuing that increase of its profile as not only the fun, attendance-driven-facility. To see it really pay off in terms of drawing wagering attention and wagering activity was the most rewarding part of that journey.” Offerman came to NYRA in November 2022 as vice president/general manager operations. He oversaw departments such as wagering, security, parking, programs, and cleaning. When Gabriel resigned in February, Offerman transitioned to the racing side. Offerman has spent the first month on this job making introductions, both to New York-based horsemen and to horsemen in other locales whom Offerman would like to recruit to New York. During his tenure at Canterbury, Offerman said he’d spend 2 1/2 to three months of the winter on the road, visiting horsemen from Arizona to Florida in an attempt to bring outfits to Canterbury. “I prided myself on building relationships with horsemen across the country, getting to know not only a lot of people that participated with us, but a lot of people that weren’t going to participate with us because it didn’t fit their program,” Offerman said. “I think our reputation as horseperson-friendly paid off in helping me out-recruit areas that might have been better economically for people, but they enjoy the atmosphere we brought, the way we treated people, the fact we were willing to listen, take comments, and try to turn it into positive feedback that made things better for them.” One of the biggest challenges in recruiting horsemen to New York is the higher cost of doing business and cost of living compared to other states, especially Kentucky, where purses have skyrocketed in recent years and appear only headed higher. Offerman believes that NYRA’s integration of a third surface – a synthetic track that is being constructed at Belmont for use beginning in the fall of 2026 or winter of 2027 – will be a lure to horsemen as is a robust turf program. He also believes the overall investment being made at Belmont Park provides a stable future for industry participants. “I think if you take a step back, the generational opportunity that is the new Belmont, if we’re able to put programs in place, if we’re able to explain to people why the cost of doing business makes sense in New York – you’re really sitting on an opportunity to potentially have the best year-round hub that you could pick to do business in,” Offerman said. “When you look at that, combined with the surfaces, hopefully people are viewing it as an opportunity to establish a business that has a decade or decades of potential, depending on where they’re at in their career and provide that long-term stability that many of them seek.” The short term, however, could be a struggle. While the new Belmont is being built, downstate racing will be conducted at Aqueduct through at least the first quarter of 2026. It will force NYRA to be judicious with the use of Aqueduct’s two turf courses, which now must be viable for seven months of racing. This spring, NYRA has pushed the start of turf racing back two weeks, the first grass races are now scheduled on April 20. In the previous two falls, when Belmont’s fall meet has been held at Aqueduct, turf racing was cut short in mid-November, a few weeks earlier than usual. “We’re still going to be offering all of the same conditions. It’s a question of how many times you can get to them and how the turf courses wear over the course of the summer,” Offerman said. Filling all dirt races during the winter has become more difficult over the years. In recent years, NYRA has reduced racing to three days a week in March after four-day race weeks in February. This year, at behest of horsemen, that schedule was reversed. In a rarity, NYRA only filled eight races for its last two scheduled Saturday programs. “I wasn’t involved in the discussion with where the four-day race week should fall, February versus March and how that should play out,” Offerman said. “How we filled during February – granted three days a week – was a lot better product than we put out the last couple of weeks. So, I’m definitely concerned with where we’re at in terms of where the product is, but understand that the decision was made previous so we’ll make do with what we have as best we can over the next [month] and look at the things for 2025.” :: Get the Inside Track with the FREE DRF Morning Line Email Newsletter. Subscribe now.  Offerman said that includes having discussions with horsemen and racing office personnel about any tweaks that could or need to be made to the condition book. Offerman admits that until turf racing begins, the cards at Aqueduct are “going to be skinny,” he said. Another issue with the Belmont project is the fact the main track will not be open for training this spring or summer. That means added congestion on the training track. NYRA is planning to open Saratoga’s main track on May 6 – more than a month earlier than usual – and is enticing horsemen to stable there by waiving stall rent fees for the spring training season. Those fees are typically $15 daily per stall. Communicating and promoting incentives like this and other programs such as a trainer’s health insurance program that has been in place for three years is an area Offerman believes NYRA has fallen short over the years. Coming up with new ideas to attract horsemen to race in New York is the challenge that lay ahead for Offerman and NYRA. “Clearly the announcement of purse parity for [New York-bred] foals of 2024 is a step towards recruiting a part of that market,” Offerman said. “I think there are other things that we can do, whether it be enhanced shipping programs or looking at other incentive programs long-term to not only get people here but then also keep them here.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.