New York Racing Association

Average daily all-sources handle for the recently concluded 15-day Aqueduct fall meet was $10,295,293, according to a release Thursday from the New York Racing Association. That figure represents an 11.2% increase over 2020, and average daily handle at the fall meet has risen 25.4% since 2019. The release noted that NYRA has also seen strong handle growth at Belmont Park and Saratoga Race Course: "Average daily handle at the Belmont fall meet has grown 39% since 2019 with the 2021 summer meet at Saratoga eclipsing $20 million in average daily...

Jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. has been handed a 30-day suspension by the Aqueduct stewards for his ride aboard Gran Casique (Algorithms) in the eighth race on Friday. News of the suspension was confirmed late Sunday by NYRA spokesman Pat McKenna. McKenna said the suspension would begin "some time this week." Aboard Gran Casique, Ortiz came over several paths toward the rail on the run down the backstretch and cut off Ragtime Blues (Union Rags) and apprentice jockey Omar Hernandez Moreno. The infraction was so egregious that the Equibase chart caller...

Unlike in 2020 when NYRA's Toys for Tots collection was entirely online because the COVID-19 pandemic had closed racing to fans, the 2021 campaign marks a return to a longstanding holiday tradition at Aqueduct, as Marines will be at the Big A on behalf of Toys for Tots to collect new, unwrapped toys that will be given as holiday gifts to disadvantaged children in the community. You can give this year online--and in-person at donation boxes at Aqueduct's main clubhouse entrance, as well as the Turf and Field entrance. The...

Michael Del Giudice, the New York Racing Association (NYRA)'s Chairman of the Board of Directors, has retired from his post, NYRA announced Wednesday. The board's executive committee has appointed Marc Holiday to serve as interim chair until a full meeting of the NYRA board set for Dec. 16. Del Giudice joined the NYRA board in 2003 and has served as its Chairman since 2017. He was also Chairman of the NYRA Reorganization Board of Directors from 2015 to 2017. According to a release from NYRA, "During [Del Giudice's] tenure, NYRA...

Backed by a number of animal rights groups, two New York state lawmakers have introduced a bill that would end payments made to the state's racing and breeding industries from slot machine or video lottery terminal (VLT) revenue. According to a press release issued Wednesday by the animal rights group NYCLASS, the bill would cancel out the $230-million payment made annually to horse racing and breeding and will redirect the money to "help New York's taxpayers, schools, workers and other social programs." NYCLASS has led the effort to ban carriage...

In an attempt to rein in an already cumbersome litigation process in the Bob Baffert vs. New York Racing Association (NYRA) lawsuit, the federal judge in charge of the case ordered Tuesday that the Hall of Fame trainer will be allowed to amend his initial June 14 civil complaint that alleged NYRA violated his constitutional right to due process by trying to bar him over his history of equine medication violations. Baffert's desire to amend his complaint stems from NYRA summoning him to a hearing back in September to adjudicate...

The New York Racing Association has released the 2021-22 Aqueduct winter stakes schedule, which includes 46 stakes races on offer worth nearly $6 million in purses. The 56-day Aqueduct winter meet begins Thursday, Dec. 9 and runs through Sunday, Mar. 27. Live racing will generally be conducted Thursday through Sunday through the end of February with a holiday break set for Dec. 20-29 and the addition of a special Presidents' Day card Monday, Feb. 21. March will then feature a Friday-Sunday schedule of live racing through the conclusion of the...

Joi L. Garner has been named Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Corporate Secretary of the New York Racing Association, NYRA announced Wednesday. Garner succeeds Joe Lambert, who is retiring, and will assume her responsibilities on Oct. 15. Garner previously served as Executive Vice President and General Counsel at THINK450, the marketing and licensing subsidiary of the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA). At THINK450, Garner was the lead negotiator in several of the NBPA's most significant licensing deals, including agreements with Take-Two Interactive (NBA2K), Fanatics and Dapper Labs. Garner was...

Both plaintiff Bob Baffert and defendant the New York Racing Association (NYRA) traded volleys of legal filings that were posted electronically just before 6 p.m. Tuesday. They all relate to Baffert's ongoing quest to fight NYRA's attempts to either banish him outright or to give him a hearing that would adjudicate the "detrimental conduct" charges NYRA has levied against Baffert over the repeated equine drug positives in his trainees. NYRA on Oct. 12 filed a memorandum of law in support of its earlier motion to dismiss Counts I, III, IV...

A Jan. 24, 2022, start date for the hearing process to determine whether the New York Racing Association (NYRA) can exclude trainer Bob Baffert from racing at its three tracks was mutually agreed upon by the two parties during a Monday videoconference. A NYRA spokesperson confirmed to TDN that the schedule was established during the Oct. 11 conference by hearing officer O. Peter Sherwood. Baffert must answer to a three-count complaint filed against him by NYRA in the form of a "statement of charges." Those three counts correspond to Baffert's...

Linda Rice took a legal swat at both the New York Racing Association (NYRA) and the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) with a court reply underscoring that her participation as a trainer (currently permitted because of a temporary injunction) poses no threat to anyone. This latest legal filing comes as Rice continues to try and get a three-year license revocation and $50,000 fine for "improper and corrupt conduct" overturned via the state's judicial system. The Sept. 29 memorandum of law filed by Rice's legal team in Schenectady County Supreme...

After a year lost to the COVID-19 pandemic, the FDNY Stair Climb returns to Belmont Park on Sunday, October 17. This year's 7th annual event is part of the nationwide 9/11 stair climb program that pays tribute to the FDNY firefighters who died more than 20 years ago on 9/11. The climb benefits the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF), which supports the families of fallen firefighters and the FDNY Counseling Service Unit. "Twenty years later, I still remember what trauma looked like etched on the faces of firefighters at the...