Study: N.Y. racing big business

An advocacy group that hopes to change racing regulations and laws in New York has released a study that contends the state's horse industry provides for 35,200 jobs and has an annual economic impact of $2.4 billion.

The study, paid for by the advocacy group, Friends of New York Racing, and the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, estimated that the state's Thoroughbred industry accounted for more than half of New York's total horse-industry impact, at $1.3 billion.

The study said that 16,900 of the total jobs produced by the horse industry were involved in Thoroughbred racing.

Thoroughbred racing itself generated an impact of $869 million annually, the study said.