Inquiry faults racing officials in horse fatalities at Aqueduct

by JOE DRAPE and WALTER BOGDANICH

Cross-posted from the New York Times

SELECTED EXCERPT

Only veterinarians can legally prescribe medicine for horses, yet veterinarians often let trainers, who are paid to win races, make medical decisions, including which drugs to use. These veterinarians also have a powerful financial incentive to prescribe drugs. They are both doctor and drugstore, so the more drugs they prescribe, the more money they make. Selling and administering drugs accounts for most of their income.

INTRODUCTION

Horses at Starting Gate. Google Image.

More than half of the 21 racehorses who had fatal breakdowns at Aqueduct Racetrack earlier this year might have been saved had racing authorities more closely monitored their health and the liberal use of prescription drugs to keep them racing, according to an investigation ordered by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York.

The sudden rise of horse fatalities in the early part of the year at Aqueduct coincided with the opening of the Resorts World casino there, which greatly expanded the size of the purses.

Both racing officials and regulatory veterinarians, who were supposed to protect the horses, often ignored signs that they were ailing and allowed them to race for purses inflated with money from the track’s adjacent gambling casino, according to people with direct knowledge of the investigation’s report.

The investigation found that veterinarians and officials of the New York Racing Association often cared more about filling races that generate revenue for trainers, owners and the racetracks than about whether horses were fit to compete.

Mr. Cuomo, who took control of racing in the state this summer, is expected to announce a series of overhauls on Friday in Albany that will restrict the use of potent anti-inflammatory drugs known as corticosteroids, as well as clenbuterol, a widely abused bronchodilator that can build muscle if used improperly.

“At the New York Racing Association, concern for the health of the horses finished a distant second to economics,” Howard B. Glaser, Mr. Cuomo’s director of state operations, said in an interview. “Our reforms, which will go in effect immediately, will put horses’ health and rider safety first.”

Continue reading >>

We’ll see about that. Convince me Mr. Glaser. — Editor.

Horses entered for the Travers Stakes face heightened scrutiny

Joe Drape writing for the New York Times reports:

Stay Thirsty, winner of the 2011 Travers Stakes, heads toward the first turn at Saratoga racecourse in New York. 2012 entrants face heightened scrutiny because of increasing public awareness concerning the drugging and treatment of racehorses thanks to articles by Joe Drape and the New York Times. Photo credit: Hans Pennink/AP.

“New York authorities have ordered that all horses racing in the Travers Stakes on Aug. 25 be placed under 24-hour surveillance, and their trainers will have to document each medical treatment a horse receives in the 72 hours before the race.”

and

“For the Belmont Stakes on June 9, state regulators required every horse to move to the same barn by noon the Wednesday before the race. The decision drew the ire of horsemen, who complained loudly about how the prerace routines of their horses were upset as well as the public perception it created that they were all cheaters.”

The report continues with details concerning the condition and treatment of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner I’ll Have Another prior to the Belmont Stakes and the horse’s sudden withdrawal the day before the final leg of the Triple Crown due to a “freakish injury involving his left front tendon.”

Also of note in Drape’s report are these damaging statistics compiled by the New York Times:

• Twenty-four horses a week die at the nation’s racetracks
• Horses break down or show signs of injury at the rate of 5.1 per 1,000 starts
• Since a casino opened last fall at Aqueduct, 30 horses have died at that meeting in New York, a 100 percent increase in the fatality rate over the same period the previous year

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New York seizes control of horse racing tracks

Cross-posted from ABC News

WRITTEN BY RICHARD ESPOSITO

Aerial view of Belmont Park where I’ll Have Another will bid for the first Triple Crown since 1978. Google image.

With the Belmont Stakes — and a potential Triple Crown victory for I’ll Have Another – just weeks away, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced today that the state will seize control of the scandal-plagued organization that operates the Belmont, Aqueduct and Saratoga racetracks.

Under the terms of a deal completed Tuesday morning, a 17-member “turn-around” board will run the New York Racing Association for the next three years. The board will include elected members of the state legislature, appointees chosen by the governor and representatives of the NYRA and the horseracing industry.

The article points out:

The president and general counsel of the NYRA, a private agency, were fired recently after state regulators alleged that they knew the NYRA had shortchanged bettors by $8.5 million over 15 months. Continue reading >>

Cuomo earlier called for a full investigation by an independent panel into the deaths of 20 racehorses at Aqueduct, which is currently underway.