A new take on horse racing in New York

Everybody loves horses, right? That’s a fair statement. They are things of grace and beauty. They have been the subject of some epic movies, starting with Elizabeth Taylor in “National Velvet,” and followed by such classics as “ Seabiscuit,” “The Horse Whisperer” and “Black Beauty.”

So why is it that New York state has treated horses and horse racing so poorly?

Not everybody likes horse racing. Some love it for the challenge of the sport and the thrill of seeing majestic animals galloping around the track. Others think that it’s a cruel way to treat innocent animals that bring such joy to the world. But love it or hate it, the time is fast approaching for the state to take some serious action to clean up the sport once and for all.

Back in 1955, the State Legislature, unwilling to get too deeply involved in the sport, turned over its operations to a nonprofit corporation called the New York Racing Association. NYRA, as it is called, closed the old Jamaica Race Track and took over the Belmont, Aqueduct and Saratoga facilities. Backed by powerful horse owners, NYRA had a free ride for another 50-plus years.

Every time NYRA approached the State Legislature, its franchise would be renewed and it was given a healthy dose of taxpayer dollars to refresh the aging tracks. All NYRA had to do was ask and it got a blank check. Then, in 2003, NYRA’s reputation took a major hit when it was indicted for tax evasion and money laundering. That was followed by a bankruptcy filing. Despite all of these ills, NYRA continued to run the tracks with little meaningful outside supervision.

NYRA’s charmed life ended this year, when two major events hit the news. It seems that the new “racino” at Aqueduct Racetrack was generating lots of fresh dollars and the purses being paid to the owners were getting bigger and bigger. A few clever horsemen started running substandard horses that in most cases cost them less than their winnings. There were rumors that there was a sharp increase in deaths at Aqueduct and nothing was being done to stop it.