New York Budget Deal

[SoCalMan2]

Apparently, the state has a new budget deal.  I seem to recall earlier proposals affecting purse distributions and having other effects on NY Racing.  Anybody follow this closely enough to know what impact the deal with have on NY Racing?  Aren\'t we very near time where the Aqueduct VLTs should start kicking in?  Is the NY Bred program dying or still there?  Just curious what to expect for the NY Racing scene if anybody has any wisdom.  Could VLTs inject a lot of money into the game?

[miff]

So Cal,

Short term,slots will pump up NY purses, like PA, Louisiana et al.In the long term, racing at NY and many venues facing disaster when state aid/ slot subsidies no longer available.Add smaller NY BRED slow rat foal crops in the future to the existing national horse shortage and more trouble as field sizes will shrink.
This winter, NY racing was dominated by NY bred maiden claiming slow rats of the highest order! Many large and small bettors I know refuse to gamble on most of the NY winter product.

Steve Crist, DRF, wrote a great article on what is likely to happen to National racing once the politicians see all the state money from slots/table games vs racing.Under the bus is where they will throw racing,like Gov Christie is leaning to in NJ.Kudos to NJ horse people trying to save their game with bold ideas/initiatives.

On the other hand,clueless,smug NYRA,with their insulated subsidized monopoly,posting on their website old news about their importance to NY State racing, ignoring that they were often rescued by public/state money and \"stole\" owners purse money to continued to operate in deficit just a few years back.

Staten Island Senator,Andrew Lanza(on several racing committees), just got an earful from me on NY racing/clueless NYRA. Hopefully he got the message.

Mike

[HP]

I have not played much this winter but I do tape the NYRA replay show.  I\'ve been following winter racing at AQU since I was in high school.  Over 30 years.  The product this winter is/was beyond horrible.  Just a complete embarassment.  

For years they have been talking about a break...it just makes absolutely no sense to have a year-round product in New York if this is how it\'s going to be.  They should take a two month break, at least, if not three (perhaps the whole \"Inner Track\" meet should go).  That\'s something everyone should be able to agree on, regardless of all the other nonsense.  HP

[BitPlayer]

SoCal -

The place I get all my news of this type regarding New York is the \"Left At The Gate\" blog.

http://leftatthegate.blogspot.com/

He reports today that the purse surcharge was not included in the budget deal.  Nor was an alternate source of funding for the Racing and Wagering Board identified. He posted a while ago that the VLTs had been delayed until September by construction issues (lead paint et al).

HP -

What I have read in the past about the inner track meet is that the small outfits need that meet to make a go of things.

[HP]

I am sympathetic to the smaller outfits, but something\'s gotta give.  Nobody wins with that horrible product.  It\'s just not sustainable, unless you are completely ignoring your audience.  Will be curious to see overall handle stats for this winter\'s meet.  HP

[TGJB]

If NYRA doesn\'t run during the winter but has some kind of effective OTB-like system, they will make enough on out of town races (while not having as much in expenses as if they ran) to kick up purses, run an extra race a day, etc. It\'s been my theory for a long time that the reason they ran during the winter is they knew their players would just bet with OTB if they shut anyway.

[Niall]

Pretty sure that winter racing is mandated by legislation, as is everything in NYS. A constitutional ammendment would be needed to change that. It\'s the primary reason the OTB structure hasnt been changed.

[HP]

This is a good point.  

In the past, no one would mistake the Inner Track meet for a peak on the calendar, and there were always bad weekday cards, but there decent cards here and there.  Now even on weekends with their focus/feature races...5 horse fields all day.  Feature race is a stakes race with 4 horses.  It\'s just gotten SO much worse.  I would go as far as saying that it is probably the worst regularly scheduled daily card up there now.  

I still remember cutting school and being home from college on winter break and having to cross over from that \"S\" train to the \"A\" line from Brooklyn, and there were GOOD racing days back then.  The Peter Ferriola years.  Totally bums me out that it\'s come to this.  Jersey is not far behind.  HP