New NYRA Rule Controversial Among Horsemen

By Mike Kane

A few hours before a closed-door meeting to discuss the New York Racing Association’s new safety regulations was held Thursday evening at Aqueduct, another horse suffered a catastrophic injury on the inner track. 

Miss Macarena was vanned off after sustaining damage to her left front leg in the first race and was subsequently euthanized. The 4-year-old New York-bred filly was the 14th racing fatality since the start of the inner track season in early December. Trained by Jeremiah Englehart and ridden by Jose Ortiz, she was making the fourth start of her career in a $25,000 claiming race at 1 1/16 miles. 

Another horse was vanned off later in the program, but NYRA later reported that the horse was lame, but did not have serious injuries. 

Following the 13th death of the meet Thursday, Jan. 15, NYRA instituted a set of safety rules. The changes include: reducing weekday programs to eight races, raising the minimum claiming level from $12,500 to $16,000, requiring horses that were beaten 25 lengths or more to complete a half-mile workout in under 53 seconds before they could race again; and prohibiting horses from being entered in races within 14 days of their previous start. While horsemen agreed with the first three rules, several have taken issue with the ban on running horses back inside of 14 days. 

Earlier this week, Anthony Bonomo, chairman of the NYRA’s Reorganization Board’s Safety Committee, scheduled the Thursday meeting with horsemen to discuss the situation. Rick Violette, president of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, flew in from Florida Thursday afternoon to attend Bonomo’s meeting with other trainers, trustees and NYRA officials.

“I don’t think it will be a contentious meeting,” Bonomo said. “It’s not a meeting to lay blame on anyone. It’s a meeting where all of us have a stake in racing and we should all be coming together to do what we believe are steps that need to be taken to protect the equine athlete and the jockey. I think it’s about explaining what we did and getting the trainers’ input on what other steps they think we could do or shouldn’t do. It’s a matter of listening and learning.” 

At the December trustees’ meeting, NYRA President Chris Kay cited the improved safety statistics at the association’s three tracks in 2014. That week, horses began suffering serious injuries at Aqueduct. There were eight racing-related fatalities in December and the epidemic of problems has continued this month. The racing surface has been inspected and deemed safe and NYRA has cancelled programs for weather-related concerns. In its quest to stop the injuries–an eerily similar repeat of the breakdowns of the 2011-12 season–NYRA initiated the new safety regulations. 

“We’re constantly evaluating what’s happening during races,” Bonomo said. “I’ve said this from the day I became the chairman of the committee: ‘One death is one too many, but in reality in the sport we’re in we know there are going to be unfortunately untoward events and equine fatalities.’” 

Bonomo said while some injuries are unavoidable, the racing industry must do everything it can to prevent breakdowns. 
“From time to time it takes us making adjustments, like the ones we put out last week,” he said. “Whether or not they will be effective remains to be seen. We’ve just put them in effect. We have to constantly look at what’s going on and tweak where we must, and hope it helps and see what happens. 

“These are not decisions made lightly. We try to do what is in the best interests of the sport, taking into account the safety of the horse and the jock.” 

Bonomo, Violette and trainer Linda Rice said they expected that the 14-day rule would be a major topic at the meeting. It was put in place because four of the first 13 horses that suffered catastrophic injuries occurred in races less than two weeks after their previous start. 

Violette said he understands why the change was made in the wake of the accidents, but acknowledged that the most pushback from horsemen has been over that restriction. 

“There is serious conflict between perception and reality,” he said. “Looking at the statistics from across the country of thousands of horses in thousands of races running back on short notice, there is a smaller likelihood that horses break down running on seven days or less than they do coming back from an extended rest period of 90 days or more. It seems illogical, but the study shows that the greater exposure is for a horse coming off a layoff.” 

However, Violette said that when four of the 13 fatalities were with horses running back quickly, NYRA officials had to take a serious look at requiring a minimum number of days between starts. 

“While we anticipate this being a short-term model and rule, maybe it’s until the end of the winter season, you can’t just disregard it,” he said. “It’s hard to maintain credibility with people on the outside looking, with regulators or with those in Albany if you’re not taking a good, hard look at all possibilities. 

“There are a lot of horsemen upset with the rule, and there is some justification for being upset, but if it’s an overreaction, then it’s an overreaction for a just cause. I think we’re trying to explore all areas to try and make this a safer environment out there.” 

Rice said NYRA should take a second look at the 14-day restriction. 

“I’m in agreement with all of those rules. I’m not for the 14-day rule, though,” she said. “I think it creates a lot of problems for horse trainers and horse owners to manage their horses properly and make them cost-effective.” 
Citing an example from her own stable, Rice said the rule would prevent her from running an older filly in an upcoming stakes race. 

“I’ve never run her back on short rest, before but if I want to run her back in 12 or 13 days I feel that the ability to do that should not be taken out of my hands,” Rice said. “I understand why they’ve put the rule in place, but I think with the 14-day rule there are few different options we could take. I don’t think that rule serves us all well. We’re talking about a horse that has just run a big race, not a horse that has been beaten 30 lengths. These are horses that are performing well.” 

Rice said she favors having the rule amended to make it more accommodating but still provide safety. 

“Maybe give the racing secretary more discretion on horses,” she said. “If he sees a horse that he feels is running back too much, give him the ability to call an audible and not take the entry. It also locks the rest of the community into the same rule and there are a lot of horses that can very well run back on short rest, 13 days or 12 days, and perform very well, exceptionally well. 

“I think that rule is problematic and needs to be altered in some fashion. Maybe the rule should be seven days and after that it’s on a performance situation. If horses are horses are performing very poorly, the racing secretary has the ability to say that he doesn’t want them to race in New York.”