New York Relaxes Some Timing Restrictions on Claims

New York regulators June 24 gave final approval to changes in rules governing Thoroughbred claiming races that state officials and the racing industry say will expand the number of owners eligible to claim a racehorse.

The measure was approved unanimously, and without discussion, by the members in attendance at the regular monthly meeting of the New York State Gaming Commission. These rules will go into effect upon the Notice of Adoption in the State Register, which will occur July 10.

 John Crotty, the board member who got the plan postponed at last month’s commission meeting when he raised possible equine safety concerns over the changes, was not present at the June 24 meeting, which was held at the agency’s headquarters in upstate Schenectady and its downstate offices in Manhattan. Robert Williams, the commission’s executive director, said Crotty told him that he would have voted for the proposal if he had been at the Monday meeting.

The proposal features a number of changes, including reducing from 30 days to 20 days the restriction against running a claimed horse again for a claiming price less than 25% greater than the claiming price. It allows owners who have raced within 120 days on a circuit to be a claimant and extends from 30 days to 60 days the prohibition against running a claimed horse outside New York State, with the exception of horses claimed near the end of the meet at Finger Lakes Gaming & Race Track. (Those horses can run outside of New York after 30 days.)

In the rulemaking document issued for public comment earlier this year about the plan to reduce the number of days from 30 to 20 before an owner can race a claimed horse, the commission noted that horses generally run on a 28-day schedule.

“Under current regulations, a claimant who wants to start a horse again in the same class may be effectively forced to wait 56 days from the date of the claim. The position has been advanced that such a period is unnecessarily long and causes issues for owners, trainers, and the racetrack, which seeks to fill competitive races,” the agency wrote in promoting the rule that was printed this winter in the New York State Register.

That document noted the plans were developed with the assistance of various Thoroughbred industry stakeholders, including the New York Racing Association.

“NYRA conducts race meetings of varying lengths and horse populations. Consequently, the current rule, which requires an owner, in order to be eligible to claim, to have entered a starter in the previous race meeting, precludes some otherwise active owners from claiming horses,” the proposal stated. “Some owners may not have participated in a previous meeting because of the meeting’s short duration or because racing opportunities had been incompatible with the owner’s stable of horses. The proposed rule would address these concerns by allowing claimants who have raced on a circuit within 120 days, which would increase the number of owners qualified to make claims.”

The proposal was supported by the commission’s staff, noted Williams, who told the board the changes would not weaken equine safety standards.

Speaking remotely to the commission meeting, Dr. Scott Palmer, the state’s equine medical director, noted the issue of claiming rules “is a subject under constant revision and consideration.”

Palmer said research has shown that horses in claiming races are at an increased risk of catastrophic injury, especially 30 days after a claim. The research, Palmer said, shows the need for those who purchase horses in claiming races to use the month or so after the claiming race to “constructively and aggressively” examine a claimed horse to ensure it is healthy to race again.

“While I have identified some concerns with changes to the claiming rule to permit a run-back within 20 days, my experience with the professionalism and stewardship of the NYRA and Finger Lakes attending and regulatory veterinarians generally allay those concerns,” Palmer said.

The claiming rule changes were given preliminary approval last year by the commission before being sent for a public comment period. It was expected to be easily approved at last month’s meeting—as is the case with nearly all items making it onto the commission’s meeting agenda—when Crotty raised a question whether the proposals could lead to a “walking back” of the claiming provisions approved a decade ago.

“It seemed like we took those steps for safety,” Crotty told the board last month of the changes 10 years ago.

Board chair Brian O’Dwyer last month quickly tabled the matter after Crotty raised the concerns, saying the panel would wait to hear from Palmer. O’Dwyer introduced Palmer at the Monday board meeting.

In other matters:

• O’Dwyer said the commission is looking to quickly form an advisory panel of outside experts or stakeholders to provide guidance to the agency on “the proper use” of undetermined funding that the state will be making available—via voluntary income tax form donations or other charitable contributions—to help fund programs and facilities that care for retired racehorses. He asked those interested in being considered to reach out to the gaming commission (info@gaming.ny.gov) before the board meets again sometime this summer.

• The board also heard from Williams about recently approved legislation that sets a specific set of dates for the state to follow in the process underway that could award three new casino licenses in the New York City area. The bill has not yet been acted upon by Gov. Kathy Hochul. Practically speaking, the measure would have little effect on the timetable already set out by the gaming commission for the awarding of the licenses, which is not slated until the end of 2025 or early 2026.

• The commission named Vicki Been, a New York University law professor and member of a gaming commission panel charged with selecting winning bidders in the downstate casino selection process, as that group’s new chair. The panel will hold a public meeting Thursday in Manhattan. The casino selection process has spawned a battle of who’s who of global gambling interests, with plans proposed to build gambling complexes at everywhere from Aqueduct and Yonkers racetracks to Midtown Manhattan to a spot adjacent to the stadium home to the New York Mets.