Barry Schwartz

Article by Bill Heller

What is more exciting for an owner and breeder than a two-year-old colt with talent? Former New York Racing Association Chairman of the Board and CEO Barry Schwartz’s New York-bred colt El Grande O certainly gives him reasons to dream. Off a head loss in the Funny Cide Stakes at Saratoga on August 27th, El Grande O dominated five rivals on a sloppy track at Aqueduct September 24, scoring by 8 ¼ lengths as the 3–5 favorite in the $125,000 Bertram F. Bongard Stakes under José Ortiz. Linda Rice trains the son of Take Charge Indy out of Rainbow’s Song by Unbridled’s Song who has two victories, three seconds and one third from his first six starts with earnings of $204,000.

El Grande O is Schwartz’s 26th Thoroughbred to win more than $200,000—a list that includes his top earners Boom Towner, Voodoo Song, The Lumber Guy, Kid Cruz, Princess Violet, Three Ring and Fire King. All of them earned between $700,000 and $1 million.

Now 81, Schwartz and his wife Sheryl still reside at their farm, Stonewall Farm, in northern Westchester County, with a second home on the ocean in California. Schwartz keeps busy playing the markets and running his horse stable.

The Calvin Klein years

It seems like forever since he and his childhood pal Calvin Klein, took Calvin Klein Inc. from a $10,000 initial investment to a global operation, which they sold for $430 million smack in the middle of Schwartz’s four-year reign at NYRA.

Schwartz and Klein, who both lived in the Bronx and had fathers who owned grocery markets in Harlem, went into their first partnership when they were nine, reselling newspapers and collecting bottles. “We’d go to the newsstand when the papers came in early evening,” Schwartz said. “We bought them for a nickel and sold them for a dime. We’d go to all the hotels, especially in the summer. On a good night, we’d make $3 apiece. That was a big deal then.”

When they began Calvin Klein Inc., they rented room 613 in the New York Hotel in Manhattan. The front door was open and faced the elevator. Calvin had the six women’s coats he had manufactured with Barry’s investment. 

One morning the elevator stopped on the sixth floor. One passenger walked out while another noticed the coats and got off. That passenger was Don O’Brien, the general manager of Bonwit Teller, one of New York’s most fashionable stores. 

Schwartz was home when Klein called him with great news: “You’ll never believe this. I got a $50,000 order from Bonwit Teller!” Schwartz replied, “Who’s Bonwit Teller?”  

He figured it out, and Calvin Klein, Inc. went onto incredible success.

The NYRA Years

In the four years Schwartz served as Chairman of the Board and CEO of NYRA from October 2000, to October 2004, racing in New York reached a pinnacle, a shining example of how racing should be operated—when fans and bettors mattered; when the right people in the right positions made the right decisions. 

It didn’t last. When Schwartz departed out of utter frustration from battling politicians and their inept decisions, racing in New York was never the same. It was almost like it was a mirage—a wonderful mirage.

But it was real. It was Camelot at Aqueduct, Belmont Park and Saratoga.

That he did this while he continued to operate Calvin Klein, Inc. is remarkable. To do it, he had to commute 30 to 45 minutes through New York traffic every morning. And he did NYRA pro bono.

Why? Because he cared deeply about racing, specifically New York racing. Schwartz’s goal at NYRA was straightforward: “to make New York racing No. 1 in the world.”

Schwartz, who had been a member of the NYRA Board since 1994, was approached by acting CEO and Chairman of the Board Kenny Noe, who had decided to retire in the fall of 2000. “I was excited to be asked,” Schwartz said. “I was flattered. My two biggest supporters were Kenny Noe and Dinny Phipps (head of the Jockey Club). Dinny pushed for it. I was kind of flabbergasted, but I was thrilled. I got really energized. It gave me purpose, something to sink my teeth into. I went gangbusters, all in.”

Klein backed Schwartz’s decision. “The best thing that happened was that there was a long time before I took over,” Schwartz said. “I could work out the schedule I’d have to use. I spoke with Calvin about it. He thought it was a good idea. He always said, `If you’re near a phone, what’s the big deal?’”

So he did both. “At NYRA, my first two years were wonderful,” Schwartz said. “My first two years were a honeymoon. The next two years were just horrible.”

On the first day Schwartz took over NYRA and the three racetracks it operates—Belmont Park, Saratoga and Aqueduct—Schwartz went on NYRA’s new website, which had been designed by his son-in-law Michael, and asked fans and bettors what changes they wanted NYRA to make.

Then he made the changes, empowering fans, bettors and handicappers because he has always been a fan, a bettor and a handicapper.

This was a seismic shift in racetrack management, giving the people who support racing with their hard-earned cash every day a chance to impact the process. 

“On the website, we asked fans what they wanted,” Schwartz said. “We did that several times. Everybody loved that. The bettors could participate in the process.”

Bettors had never been asked that.

“It was genuine,” Bill Nader, former NYRA senior vice president, said. “He cared. He knew they cared. They shared the passion. It was a mind-blowing experience. It was exceptional, and I thought it was great that he heard their voice, that he gave them a seat at the table. He listened to what they said. He wanted to grow the business. He wanted to improve the business. Without consulting the customer, how do you do this?”

That initial fan survey on NYRA’s website received more than 4,000 responses. Schwartz responded by immediately making changes. Uniform saddle cloth pads—the 1 horse is red, the 2 horse is blue, etc.— made it easier to follow horses during a race. Claims, when someone purchases a horse that had just raced, were announced to the public. Barry also instituted a shoe board displaying each horse’s shoe type before every race.

A couple months after those changes, Schwartz said, “It really is true: talking to the fans is important. I’m going to continue involving the fans as long as I’m here. Without them, there’s no sport.”

On his first day, he promoted Bill Nader from Simulcast Director to Senior Vice President of Racing and watched Nader become one of the most respected racing officials in the world, serving as director of racing in Hong Kong for 15 years before becoming the president and CEO of the Thoroughbred Owners of California, June 21, 2022.

Schwartz said, “Bill was grossly underpaid. I didn’t want to lose him. When I reviewed the personnel and salaries, this guy was so underpaid; and I wound up signing him to a three-year contract. I wanted to make sure that he stayed. He was really close to me. When I got my people together, Bill was clearly the smartest guy in the room. He was the best guy I had.” 

Nader told Schwartz, “Wow, I’m thrilled, but I’m surprised.” Schwartz responded, “No, I’ve been watching.”

Nader’s appreciation of Schwartz’s support and impact hasn’t subsided more than 20 years later. “From day one, he just got behind me. That’s a huge amount of trust. He made me. He was the one person that changed the course of my life, providing me with the opportunity at NYRA. Six years later, the door he opened for me at NYRA led me to Hong Kong. He changed the path of my life, and I will be forever grateful.”

Schwartz didn’t take long to help all his employees in the first year. “NYRA got $13 million from Nassau County because NYRA had been overbilled for taxes,” Schwartz said. “I gave everybody a five-percent raise and a five-percent Christmas bonus. It was a big deal for the employees. They had never gotten a Christmas bonus.”

There was a new vibe at NYRA, and you could feel it. “What differentiated Barry was Barry was a New York guy,” top jockey-turned TV commentator Richie Migliore said. “He created his success through hard work. He was as comfortable shooting pool in the jockey room as he was in the boardroom. I remember him beating Jorge Chavez, who thought he was a really good pool player. Barry smoked him.”

Breeders’ Cup 2001

There were many shining moments during Schwartz’s four years, perhaps none more important than supervising the 2001 Breeders’ Cup at Belmont Park just weeks after the tragedy of 9-11 had left a city and a nation broken.

Like every other person in America, Schwartz remembers vividly the horror of 9-11 unfolding: “I was home in New Rochelle, getting dressed and ready to go to the farm. We were building our house there. It was in the very beginning. I saw the first plane hit. I told Sheryl, some idiot just flew his plane into the Trade Center. A few minutes later, I’m driving to the farm, and we hear about the second plane hitting. We spent the whole day at the farm. It was a safe haven at a very scary time. Sheryl’s brother got my kids out of the city.”

Belmont Park, in Elmont, Long Island—just 12 miles from “ground zero”—had already been selected to host the 2001 Breeders’ Cup on October 27, less than two months later; and no one was quite certain if that was still going to happen. “We had conversations with everybody,” Schwartz said. “I was in the same camp as Dinny. I thought it was very important to show New York was alive and well.”

Breeders’ Cup President D.G. Van Clief Jr. issued a statement saying, “Obviously, on the morning of Sept. 11, the world changed, and it certainly changed our outlook on the 2001 World Thoroughbred Championships. But it is very important for us to stay with our plan. We’d like it to be a celebration and salute to the people of New York.” 

Schwartz leaned heavily on Nader to get it done. “It was challenging,” Nader said. “We literally worked 18 hours a day. There was the normal preparation. Then the security side. Nobody minded the extra hours. We wanted to be sure we didn’t miss a thing. It was the most rewarding race day of my career because of what it meant. We were beat up. We were sad. We were down. There was a clumsy period of what to do. What is appropriate? The uncertainty of running the Breeders' Cup at Belmont? For horse racing fans, it meant a lot that they could return to the track and feel good, feel alive. I believe it was the first international event held in New York after 9-11. For me, I’m not sure there has been a better day of racing than that.”

On October 11, Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum’s private 747 arrived at JFK International Airport from England. On board, were three of Godolphin Stable’s best horses including Arc de Triomphe, Juddmonte International winner Sakhee and major stakes winner Fantastic Light. They were accompanied by two FBI agents, four customs agents and three carloads of Port Authority police. There were no incidents, and the European horses settled in at Belmont Park. 

The day broke sunny. There were shooters on the roofs of many Belmont Park buildings carrying AKA assault rifles. “They were very visible,” Schwartz said. “We had sharpshooters on the roof. I went up to the roof, and the guys were just laying down with rifles. It was scary.”

Nader said, “Seeing the snipers on the roof, I thought, how are people going to handle this? Once the races began to flow, it became one of the greatest events I’ve ever been involved in.”

At the opening ceremonies, dozens of jockeys accompanied by members of the New York State Police and Fire Departments lined up on the turf course, each jockey holding the flag of his country. Following a bagpipe rendition of “Amazing Grace,” Carl Dixon of the New York State Police Department sang the national anthem.

Hopes for an all-positive afternoon disappeared before the first Breeders’ Cup race, the Distaff, when Exogenous, who had won the Beldame and Gazelle Stakes, reared and flipped while leaving the tunnel, slamming her head on the ground. The filly was brought back to Hall of Fame trainer Scotty Schulhofer’s barn but died several days later. Her death was only two years after Schwartz lost his brilliant filly Three Ring when she fell and hit her head in the paddock and died in front of Schwartz and Sheryl before her race.

The climax of the day was the $4 million Breeders’ Cup Classic matching the defending champion, Tiznow, against Sakhee, European star Galileo and Albert the Great. In the final sixteenth of a mile, Sakhee took a narrow lead on the outside of Tiznow, who responded by battling back to win the race by a nose. Announcer Tom Durkin captured the moment beautifully, shouting, “Tiznow wins it for America!”

America had won just by running the Breeders’ Cup as planned. That made NYRA, Schwartz Nader, and the rest of their team, winners, too.

Breeders Cup 2022 – the pick-six scandal

A year later, a day after the 2002 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Arlington Park in Chicago, Nader’s quick actions saved racing from further embarrassment when three fraternity brothers from Drexel University were not paid on their identical six winning $2 Pick Six tickets worth a total of more than $3 million.

Nader hadn’t even attended the Breeders’ Cup that Saturday, but he was at Belmont Park the following morning when he noticed something strange about the Pick Six, which had just six winning tickets from a single place, Catskill (New York) Off-Track Betting. “I asked Jim Gallagher to get the configuration of the tickets,” Nader said. “I looked at it, and I said, `Oh, man, this is a real problem. This is a scam.’ Catskill had made up just one-tenth percent of the Pick Six pool. The tickets were the same ticket six times. And the singles were in the first four races with all the horses in the last two.

“Back then, you didn’t get paid until the weekend ended. I called Arlington Park. I begged them not to pay it. The guy said, `Okay, Bill. I won’t pay them until you tell me.’ Then I called the TRPB (Thoroughbred Racing Protective Bureau).”

The tickets had been altered after the fourth race to list only the winning horse. Subsequently, investigators found that the fixers had tested their scam twice before the Breeders’ Cup. Additionally, they also had been successfully cashing counterfeit tickets of uncashed tickets all over the East Coast. The scam had been exposed before the cheaters got paid.

Racing’s image took a big hit from this, but it would have been much worse if Nader hadn’t acted. “It meant a lot,” Schwartz said. “If it came out after it was paid, it would have been disastrous.” 

Backing José Santos

Seven months later, Hall of Fame jockey José Santos, who had won the 2002 Breeders’ Cup Classic on 43–1 Volponi for Hall of Fame trainer Phil Johnson, also won the 2003 Kentucky Derby on Funny Cide. A week later, the Miami Herald broke just about every journalism standard there is, alleging that Santos had used a buzzer to win the race from a single phone interview with Santos, whose English was pretty good but not 100 percent; and a single photo the Herald deemed suspicious. This created national and international headlines that Saturday morning, and Santos learned the bad news that morning at Belmont Park, when he was having breakfast with his son, José Jr., at the backside kitchen.

Schwartz responded immediately for NYRA. He got the “suspicious” photo blown up, and it showed conclusively that what looked like an object in Santos’ hand was just the view of the silks of Jerry Bailey riding Empire Maker behind Funny Cide. Besides that, Santos would have needed three hands to carry his whip, the reins and a buzzer.

“NYRA defended me 100 percent as soon as it came out,” Santos said 20 years later. “They did everything to clear my name.”

A hearing in Kentucky two days later confirmed how ludicrous the allegations had been—mistakes the Herald paid for in Santos’ successful lawsuit against the paper.

Schwatz’s legacy

Schwartz’s biggest contribution at NYRA was lowering takeout—the amount of money taken from people’s bets—which, in turn, increases handle, allowing corresponding increases in purse money. Schwartz’s simple logic, which he had used his whole life at Calvin Klein, Inc., dictated that if products aren’t selling, you lower the price. That couldn’t penetrate many of the blockheads in the racing industry who still have failed to grasp this simple concept. When Schwartz left, the takeout was increased and handle declined.

“He came in with a different lens than anyone before him,” Nader said. “He looked at it as a retail business. How do I grow the business? That was retail sales. In our business, it was betting. I think that’s why he really connected. He came in as an owner, breeder and fan. That was the added dimension he brought. That was something we had never seen before. Suddenly, the business was growing.”

The numbers showed that. When bettors get more money returned in payoffs, they bet more—a simple process called churn.

Through intense lobbying, Schwartz got the legislature to reduce the takeout on win bets from 15 percent to 14—one of the lowest in the nation; from 20 to 17.5 percent on two-horse wagers, and the takeout on non-carryover Pick Sixes from 25 percent to 20 and then to 15. “It took a long time to get the bill passed,” Schwartz said. “It passed 211–0. I personally lobbied in Albany to explain how lowering the takeout was good for everybody. Once I convinced them, they endorsed it. It passed both houses, and Governor Pataki signed it. I had a good rapport with him. He’d come to my house at Saratoga every summer. I got along very well with him.” 

The impact of lower takeout was immediate. It began at the 2001 Saratoga meet, and handle rose 4.9 percent to a record of $553 million. Attendance at the 36-day meet broke one million for the first time. At the ensuing Belmont Park Fall Meet, handle rose 28 percent. In its first full year with lower takeout in 2002, handle increased at NYRA by $150 million when compared to 2000—the last full year with higher takeout. Schwartz felt it was just a start. 

“My goal is for this to be so successful I can keep lowering it,” Schwartz said in a 2001 article by Michael Kaplan in Cigar Aficionado. “With a 10 percent takeout, the size of our handle will become enormous.”

Such thinking was revolutionary to how business had been done at America’s racetracks. “Business got tough, so racetrack operators all over the country raised their takeouts,” Schwartz said in Kaplan’s article. “You don’t do that. Where I come from, you lower your price when business is bad.”

In 2023, Schwartz was asked why racetracks around the country haven’t lowered takeout: “The people who run racetracks just don’t understand the sport.”

Schwartz certainly does.

Redevelop, Revitalize and Revise

Words - Bill Heller

Gulfstream Park

Can racetracks prosper or even survive without redevelopment and/or revitalization? Must they become year-round attractions or even destination venues? Tracks have tried adding casinos, concerts, hotels, retail stores and even a village—all with a hope of increasing the handle that generates purses.

Yet several of North America’s most storied racetracks have closed their doors forever: Hollywood Park, Arlington Park, Calder Race Course, and, in the not-too-distant future, Aqueduct Racetrack.

“I think the product has to evolve,” David O’Rourke, CEO and president of the New York Racing Association, said. “Every situation is unique.”

His sure is. He’s taken on razing and rebuilding Belmont Park and closing Aqueduct. He’s also carefully tinkered with the historic Saratoga Race Course.

Woodbine, which launched a 25-year ambitious project in Toronto in March 2022, is already showing dramatic increases.

Churchill Downs has already spent millions improving its facility, so has Oaklawn Park and Kentucky Downs.

Frank Stronach was first, envisioning a very different Gulfstream Park more than 20 years ago. His 1/ST also operates Santa Anita, Laurel Park, Pimlico Racetrack, Golden Gate Fields and Rosecroft, a harness track in Maryland. 1/ST acquired Gulfstream Park in September 1999, for $95 million.

It didn’t take Stronach long to reach a conclusion about Gulfstream.

“We don’t get enough customers,” Stronach told Andy Beyer in his Washington Post column on February 7, 2001. “We don’t get a lot of young people. Something isn’t right. That’s why you’ve got to change. I like horses a lot—really a lot. But even I get bored sitting a whole afternoon. If I’m interested in the second race and the seventh race, maybe between them, I want to get a haircut or do some shopping.”

Beyer concluded 22 years ago: “Of course, it’s easy to find fault with any new ideas. But at the very least, Stronach deserves credit for trying hard (and investing confidently) to resuscitate the game he loves. If he fails, he will fail because the world has changed and there is no possible way to bring back the old days of grandeur and glory. But all racing fans would love to see him succeed, to see a day when Gulfstream is packed with young patrons sipping cappuccino by the paddock.”

Has that happened?

Gulfstream Park’s Carousel Club.

Actually, yes. Patrons at the adjacent Yard House, one of the dozens of restaurants in the Gulfstream Park Villages, can dine just outside the paddock. Whether they have come from the racetrack or will go to the racetrack after they dine is hard to tell, but at least that part of Stronach’s vision has come true.

Stronach used the mythological Pegasus to stamp Gulfstream Park with a new signature race, the Pegasus World Cup, and an enormous statue of Pegasus vanquishing a dragon is nothing less than stunning, At 110 feet, Pegasus is the second tallest statue in the continental U.S., topped only by the Statue of Liberty. The statue, which was pre-cast and shipped from China in 23 packing containers and steel beams shipped from Germany, cost $30 million.

Located adjacent to multiple parking lots separating the track and the backstretch, Pegasus guards the track. Inside the track, there is a casino on two floors, a large splashy simulcast room, two restaurants and offices. Outside, the village of retail stores is separated by the paddock and a normal-size statue of Cigar.

The Gulfstream Park Villages, which formally opened on February 11, 2000, consists of nine one- and two-story buildings spread over 400,000 square feet. offering shopping, dining, live events and booked events. There are seven fashion shops, three specialty stores, three art galleries, 11 home furnishing and houseware outlets, and four health and beauty salons. There are 36 dining options including fine dining, casual dining, quick bites, trackside eats, bars and lounges. Events occur every Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Marquis events include concerts. Events for the public include weddings, parties, meetings, suites and boxes, film setting and concert rentals.

All that’s lovely, but has it enhanced Gulfstream Park’s horse race meet, now year-round with the closing of Calder Race Course? It’s tough to tell if the vast amenities have created new racing fans. “There is no way to tell,” Gulfstream Park Executive Director and Vice President Billy Badgett said.

Handle numbers, which are tough to evaluate because of the two-year pandemic, have changed little the past year and a half.

Oaklawn Park is the shining example of racetracks changing, growing and increasing handle since it completed a $100 million expansion in 2021.

In its 2022–2023 68-day meet from December to May, Oaklawn’s average daily handle was $6.67 million, up from $6.23 million for its 66-day meet when December dates were first added last year. Purses averaged more than $700,000 daily.

Those weren’t the only good numbers. “Everything was up,” said Oaklawn Park President Lou Cella, whose family has owned Oaklawn for some 120 years. Both on-track and off-track handle were up. And it’s allowed Oaklawn Park to raise purses for its 2023–2024 meet beginning in December. Cella said maiden special weights will go for $115,000, allowance races for $140,000, and stakes race minimum $150,000. 

Oaklawn Park held four Kentucky Derby point-standing stakes races topped by the $1.25 million Arkansas Derby. “We’re going to raise every one of our three-year-old stakes, and the 2024 Arkansas Derby will go for $1.5 million,” Cella revealed.

Though Oaklawn Park stopped issuing attendance figures when it stopped charging for admission some 15 years ago, attendance on Saturdays during the meet ranged from 25,000 to 35,000 despite many rainy Saturday afternoons. The Arkansas Derby drew an estimated 65,000. “Once we got into gaming, it was hard to charge for racing because we weren’t charging for gaming,” Oaklawn Park Senior Vice President Eric Jackson said.

Business was also booming in the claim box as 556 claims were made for a cumulative $10.6 million.

Continuing to experiment, Oaklawn Park held its second annual Hall of Fame Day, featuring 19 members of the Hall. Donations of $2,500 were given to each Hall of Famer’s favorite charity.

Oaklawn Park gained momentum through its highly popular instant racing slot-like machines and kept adding amenities, including a hotel with a dynamic view of the entire stretch. Several restaurants are also available to patrons.

“We feel like we’re pioneers getting racing and casinos working together,” Jackson said. “The numbers are terrific. The model is working.”   

To be sure, Oaklawn Park is sweetening the deal for trainers and owners that began last year. Trainers and owners who have a starter during the final two weeks of the meet will receive daily bonuses of $200 a day and $400 a day, respectively. “They were designed to help the smaller trainer,” Cella said. “Last year, our average number of starters the final two weeks were 9 to 9.5.”

The Woodbine community plan

Woodbine’s numbers have rocketed up since the inception of its bold 25-year Woodbine Community Plan last year to literally become part of the Toronto community. Initial returns have been huge. Woodbine set a record for handle for the 2022 Thoroughbred meeting at $621 million, a dramatic increase from the previous record: $533 million in 2018. Last year was  the first year since 2019 that Woodbine held its complete Thoroughbred season after the pandemic.

Woodbine’s surge came after CEO Jim Lawson helped secure a historic funding agreement with the Ontario government in 2019 that allots up to $105 million annually to breeders, owners and trainers through 2038. 

Lawson said in a Woodbine statement in late December, “At the start of the pandemic, I felt that through determination and resiliency, which is the trademark of this industry, we would emerge stronger; and this record is evidence we are on the right track.”

That track includes railroad tracks. A train station is one of the many aspects of the Woodbine Community Plan. “We don’t have a good rail service here,” Lawson said in June, 2023. “We want to bring in a train station.”

Woodbine can do that because it encompasses 683 acres. “Only 240 is for the track,” Lawson said. “That leaves about 400 acres developmentable. We will make two large residential units with 30,000 housing units on this site. We will be able to make a lot of those people fans of horse racing.”

What Woodbine is doing is changing the game. Instead of bringing fans to the racetrack, these people will already be a short walk away from the track. “It will be a really cool place,” Lawson said. “It will take 10 to 15 years. This is my vision. It’ll be a vibrant community. There’ll be so much going on here. They can walk to places. The sky’s the limit. We’re talking about 12 to 14 million visitors to this site by 2025. That’s about double what we have now.

Woodbine CEO Jim Lawson

“We’ve got a 5,000-seat music auditorium opening in August that can be used for conferences as well. We hope to open a retail sports book later this year overlooking the track. It’s up to us to make sure they’re also betting on horse racing. We hope to have a FIFA World Cup in 2026.”

Woodbine already has The Stella Artois Terrace, a 300-seat patio and live music at the finish line that opened last summer. “It’s been successful,” Lawson said. “It’s hard to get a reservation there. We boast our food is as good as a restaurant. It’s bringing out new fans. There’s no admission charge. No parking charge. We want people to just watch racing.”

Woodbine will open a multi-story hotel trackside on its stretch in August.

Lawson—who also co-owns the Hamilton Tiger-Cats in the Canadian Football League, the same team his father led to the 1945 Grey Cup and the Canadian equivalent of the Super Bowl when they were the Hamilton Wildcats—believes in the sport of horse racing: “I’m a firm believer that you need to get people out to the racetrack to experience the horses, experiences the jockeys. It is important for horse racing to sell that game-day experience to get people out here to see the sport.”

To that end, Lawson is proud of Woodbine’s broadcast team of 54 people. “We have 2,000 people working here and another 3,000 on the backstretch,” Lawson said.

They will be direct beneficiaries of Woodbine’s brave new world. “It’ll be a vibrant community,” Lawson said. “It’ll be a cool place. It will take 10 to 15 years with horse racing sitting in the center of it all. It’s a major transformation of the site. It will take a few years, but it will sustain horse racing for generations.”

Belmont Park has already started a major transformation of its site. That happened when the New York Islanders decided to build a new, 17,500-seat, multi-purpose arena on the Belmont Park grounds. Opened in 2021, the USB Arena has been aptly nicknamed by fans and writers as “The Stable.”

That was an appetizer. On April 30 this year, New York State Governor Kathy Hochull and the State Senate and Assembly passed The Revenue Article VII Bill, which authorized NYRA to utilize a $450 million loan to build new facilities. 

The redevelopment, the first major one at Belmont Park since 1968, will ultimately allow NYRA to end racing at Aqueduct and finally bring the Breeders’ Cup back to New York for the first time since 2005. Last November, the Breeders’ Cup announced a commitment to include Belmont Park as part of its rotation of host tracks, which include Santa Anita, Del Mar, Churchill Downs and Keeneland.

Belmont’s 28-day 2023 fall meet will be held at Aqueduct from September 14 through October 29. Following the Aqueduct winter meet, Belmont will run its 2024 spring/summer meet. The grandstand/clubhouse will be demolished after that meet. NYRA plans and hopes to have the new Belmont Park ready to hold the 2026 Belmont Stakes.

The backdrop for that historic return of the Breeders’ Cup will be completely foreign to fans accustomed to seeing Belmont’s enormous grandstand. The current grandstand and clubhouse will be razed and replaced by one a quarter of its size. “To have a healthy market, the building is a component,” O’Rourke said.

In recent years, the look of few people at the enormous facility isn’t a healthy one. O’Brien is hoping to fix that.

NYRA CEO David O’ROUrKE

O’Rourke will forever be known as the man who changed or saved Belmont Park. His background is in finance, not horses. Growing up in New Jersey, two miles from The Meadowlands, he occasionally visited that track and Monmouth Park. “It would be generous to call me a casual fan,” he said. “My first real exposure to racing was at Aqueduct.”

O’Rourke graduated from Richard Stockton College and got an MBA at Tulane University. He worked for Zolfo Cooper and Capstone Advisory Group Corporate Restructuring Practices and was vice-president of operations at Datek Online.

O’Rourke, now 49, joined NYRA as director of financial planning in 2008. Two years later, he became vice president for corporate development. In 2013, he was appointed chief revenue officer and senior vice president. NYRA  named him interim CEO on January 23, 2019, and appointed CEO and President on March 26, 2019.

“I was on the building development side,” O’Rourke said. “When I came in, another executive came in, Glenn Kozak. He’s the track guy. For me, it was business.”

He began his NYRA career at a challenging time. “We had just come out of bankruptcy in ’08,” he said. He believed his lack of experience in racing was an asset: “It gave me an advantage. It was my first look at it. It was fresh. I noticed how fractured horse racing is. The one thing that stood out to me was you could wager on-line in 2008. It was only chance to wager on-line.”

Subsequently, he has been pivotal in developing NYRA Bets, NYRA’s national advance deposit wagering (ADW) platform and expanding NYRA’s national television coverage, which resulted in daily coverage of Belmont Park and Saratoga’s meets via Fox Sports. He is proud of both: “I just saw the potential. We launched NYRA Bets nationally and worked out a deal with Fox. We self-produce 1,000 hours for Fox. We fixed the business, and that gave us credibility.”

He also came to a conclusion about NYRA racing: “NYRA had an extreme challenge downstate operating two tracks. It was obvious to NYRA to reconsolidate. How do you do that? In 2019, we began work analyzing Belmont. Then COVID hit.”

That didn’t alter O’Rourke’s conclusion. Belmont Park needed a facelift, especially if it was to operate year-round with Aqueduct closing. “Belmont itself was a massive warehouse,” O’Rourke said. “Right after it was renovated, OTB opened.”

Yet Belmont Park staged a tremendous Belmont Stakes in 2004, when 120,000 fans—the most to ever see a sporting event in New York State’s history—witnessed Birdstone’s late-running victory to deny undefeated Smarty Jones the Triple Crown. 

“The building is impressive in scale but didn’t have the amenities people wanted,” O’Rourke said. “People are looking for clubs, more intimate settings. It’s changing from 1.3 million square feet with zero suites to 275,000 square feet with suites, dining and hospitality at a very high level. We’re going to shrink the building and open up acres of green space on the track side, bring the park back to Belmont and allow families to come in. What’s special about Belmont are the trees, the iconic arches. We have a lot of freedom, a lot of land. I think Belmont is going to look different, more New York City than a country fair like Saratoga.”

Specifically, Belmont is adding a one-mile synthetic track inside the inner turf course due to open at the start of the 2024 meet and a tunnel to the infield allowing fans to watch races from there. Eventually, there will be a second tunnel for horses. “We will also redo the inner turf course and redo the main track,” O’Rourke said. “I think it will be a destination place. It’s going to be iconic. I think Belmont is going to be iconic.”

Saratoga Race Course has been iconic for more than 150 years. NYRA has already created new facilities there including the 1863 Club, a new building on the clubhouse turn. “With Saratoga, you’ve got to be very careful,” O’Rourke said. “We have worked with the local community, with the Saratoga Preservation Society and local architects. It’s like you’re playing with a jewel. You just want to polish it.”

They best be careful. Other pricy amenities like 1863 Club are targeting upper-scale customers. Meanwhile, Saratoga has raised its admission price to $10, which includes neither a seat for you or your car in a parking lot. Stopping the extremely popular Open House, which drew more than 10,000 fans the Sunday before Opening Day and benefitted local charities, was a bad decision. Countless fans brought their families to Open House, and the smiles on their children’s faces as they did pony rides, kids’ rides and watched non-betting races suggested NYRA had the solution to making children racing fans for life. Stopping that was a mistake. 

Belmont’s reconstruction will mandate a new location for the 2025 Belmont Stakes, and there is considerable interest from NYRA to stage that race at Saratoga as part of a three- or four-day mini-meet. “Part of me would love to try it at Saratoga,” O’Rourke told David Grening in his June 10th, 2023, story in the Daily Racing Form. “I think it would drive a lot of activity up there. It might set some benchmark that would be tough to ever beat. It would be such a cool event. Everybody I know would want to be there.”

That decision has yet to be made by O’Rourke and the NYRA Board of Trustees. O’Rourke welcomes the input of his Board, which boasts several extremely successful business executives. “I’ve got a lot of people involved in this,” O’Rourke said. “We have a deep Board of Trustees who work to our benefit with their expertise, guys who have worked on billion-dollar projects. Belmont is a half-billion.”

Belmont is scheduled to begin destruction of the grandstand to begin a new grandstand that will start after the 2024 Belmont summer meet. “The goal coming in is having Belmont ready for 2026,” O’Rourke said. “That might be aggressive.”

Maybe aggressive is what Belmont needed. Maybe not. But it sure will be interesting to follow. 

Horsemen and fans got to see part of the new First Turn Club at this year’s Kentucky Derby, part of Churchill Downs’ $200 million, multi-year renovation. Situated about an eighth of a mile past the finish line, the new building, which cost $90 million, drew raves. “The scope of this complex is stunning,” Churchill Downs CEO Bill Carstanjen told Frank Angst of Blood-Horse. “It forever changes the personality of this portion of our venue, which historically had been dominated by a series of temporary structures and back-of-house infrastructure.”

The First Turn Club features 2,000 seats and is climate controlled. It features high ceilings, lounge spaces and large glass windows overlooking the track. Above the indoor area are 5,100 padded stadium seats on two levels. There is a 360-degree, wrap-around LED screen.

The Paddock Project design for Churchill Downs Racetrack.

The Churchill open-air paddock with an oval walking ring and grass center has been replaced with a three-story white brick building located between the track’s iconic twin spires.

Churchill Downs expects the renovations to be completed before the 2024 Kentucky Derby.

Churchill Downs Inc. also spent $148 million renovating Turfway Park, the track it purchased in October, 2019. It tore down its old grandstand, replaced its racing surface and constructed a new grandstand, gaming floor, clubhouse, simulcast area and event center. It also increased its number of historical horse racing machines to 850, a number which could grow to 1,200 if warranted. 

Also in Kentucky, Kentucky Downs—the unique track with a seven-day, all-turf racing meet—began a $25 million renovation project in 2019. Business has been booming ever since, allowing the track to up the purse of its signature race, The Mint Million, from $1 million to $2 million, making the race the second biggest purse for three-year-olds in Kentucky after the Kentucky Derby.

“It’s been a fun ride,” Ted Nicholson, Kentucky Downs’ vice president of racing told Amanda Duckworth, in her August 28, 2022, story in ThoroughbredRacing.com. “I have been doing this for almost eight years now, and it has been amazing to be part of the continued growth. I have an all-star team that helps me pull off the meet, and we have been trying to take care of the horsemen as best as we possibly can.”

No lie there. The purses at Kentucky Downs and its kidney-shaped turf course are off the charts, thanks to the continued success from its historical horse racing slot-like machines. Last year, a maiden race went for $150,000 and an allowance race for $170,000.

Despite the enormous impact of COVID, Kentucky Downs expanded its open-air Finish Line Pavilion, paved roads, added 40 new stalls and installed fiber internet throughout the facility. Diners have five options: the Irons Steak House, Diner’s Choice, the Corner Café, the Center Bar and the Oasis Sidebar.  

 A lot of tracks are spending a lot of money trying to renovate, experiment and stay with the times. Their futures hang in the balance.

Cella put it this way: “The only reason we’ve been successful and open for 120 years is because we evolved. We’ve taken the pulse of our fans to see how to enhance racing.”

Asked if he believed tracks must redevelop, revitalize and revise, Cella said, “One thousand percent.”         

Marketing racing - the efforts being made by tracks across North America

By Ken Synder

At some point in time—70 years or so ago in the 1950s—the decision was made by the “powers that were” in horse racing to not broadcast races on the burgeoning medium of television. There was a fear that it would keep fans home watching racing on TV rather than at the racetrack. The decision, of course, backfired. On-track attendance diminished in a sport that had historically been part of a “Big Three,” which included baseball and boxing.   

In one of those strange twists of history, the decision also succeeded many years later in driving the biggest part of racing’s fan base to… guess what? Television. Today, TV networks like TVG broadcast racing from around the country, and even the world, to viewers at home with Advance Deposit Wagering accounts. 

Things, obviously, have changed and changed hugely. But some things haven’t. The following newspaper headline, provided by Aidan Butler, chief operating officer of 1/ST Racing and president of 1/ST Content, is as true then as it is now: “No young people come racing anymore.” When was it written? The 1930s.

Young people and equally, if not more importantly, new owners don’t “come racing anymore.”  

Ironically, television is the lifeline for the sport and perhaps the “tip of the spear” for bringing in those missing young people and new owners.

In 2019, at one of the sport’s major venues, Santa Anita, there were 13 racing fatalities on the dirt surface. This may have been the nadir for horse racing, threatening the very existence of the sport in California with potential effects rippling to racetracks across America and those involved in breeding and sales in Kentucky and Florida. But in a state with the most virulent cancel culture, Santa Anita—specifically the Stronach Group and 1/ST Racing—“canceled the cancelers.” In 2020, there were zero racing fatalities on the dirt surface.

What do animal welfare and safety have to do with marketing? It’s elementary: Marketing begins with a product. “The best thing we’ve got is the horses above anything else,” said Butler. 

“The world is changing. Do people want to be involved or watch a sport that involves animals? There’s not one group now that doesn’t have an outlook toward the animal welfare and the care of the animals to make it safer.” 

He offers a brutal assessment of the past, which may account for racing’s journey to some kind of abyss in 2019. “We’ve inherited an old-fashioned model where maybe it [safety] once wasn’t the core focus.” 

“The culture now in California, particularly at Santa Anita, is one that, if anything goes wrong, everybody is horrified. Everybody sees that there’s not going to be a future. For years, when something went wrong, it was an accepted thing.”

The safety of horse and rider is part of a big jigsaw puzzle, he said, but perhaps it is the most important piece in marketing a sport perceived negatively by many. He recalled a dinner in California with someone who visibly winced when informed Butler was part of the racing industry. “He said, ‘You’ve been having a lot of injured horses, right?’” Butler conceded that yes, that was the case in 2019 but then went through changes that produced dramatic improvements—most critically vet inspections during training hours—to get across that positive animal welfare, born out statistically at Santa Anita, has never been higher.  

“In 30 minutes, he couldn’t wait to come out to the track,” said Butler, adding with a laugh, “It’s going to take a long time to go through everybody in California over dinner.”

Of course, that’s where marketing in the traditional sense takes over, but not all in the traditional mediums of radio, TV and newspaper. For younger potential fans, “the first touchpoint these days is digital,” said David Wilson 1/ST’s chief marketing officer. “It’s on the iPhone or smartphone. Having strong social media is really our opportunity to cultivate our community, connect with them and inspire them to come to our tracks. 

“It’s about the convergence of sports, entertainment and technology.” Wilson believes the task is creating narratives and stories that will capture the imagination of potential younger fans who have had  little or no exposure to horse racing.  

Part of that too, according to Wilson, is marketing to younger fans in audiences not previously targeted. “We need to look at how we are addressing women in the sport. How are we addressing African-American and Latino communities? How are we making sure that any minorities have opportunities not only to work within our companies but to feel represented? We make very conscious efforts that if we want to be a modern company, we want to address all of our customers, and all of our customers are diverse. Our marketing and our social platforms and the inspiration between the sport and entertainment all need to reflect that.”

Traditional markets as well are being looked at in new ways. “Your owners bring other people. These are potentially new owners and it’s grassroots, but it is something that’s been overlooked.” 

To show appreciation to owners, all 1/ST race tracks make “best turned-out” awards every day—something routine in the UK and Ireland but novel in the U.S., except for major race days.  Champagne toasts after every win are also standard at tracks.   

“It’s so difficult, especially during some of the big meets, to get a winner; and you have to try and bend over backward to show the owners that you are really thankful for their participation,” said Butler.

For bettors and others who love horses or simply want a day at the races, one task for racing marketers is how do you add to weekday attendance on, say, a Wednesday afternoon at Gulfstream Park in the blazing summer heat? “There is really no easy answer,” Butler admits, but there is effort. Gulfstream is attracting people to the track for business lunches with food and beverages on par with the best restaurants and a backdrop the restaurants, of course, can’t offer: horses.  

Gulfstream is also exploring the engineering for lighting the racetrack for night racing, which should boost on-track attendance on those days that normally don’t draw a lot of fans while also beating the Florida heat.  

1/ST is not the only racetrack seeking enhanced owner-engagement and new fans, especially in the wake of COVID-19. Some tracks are also doing things to combat unique obstacles.

Canada’s Woodbine Racetrack in Toronto—the premier racing venue in Canada—is challenged by a dearth of owners. “We don’t have tax benefits for owners like you get in the States,” said Martha Wakeley, who manages horsemen concierge services and is also manager of Racing Operations. The biggest hindrance, however, is a population base generally without a family background in racing unlike the U.S., where racing is bequeathed to succeeding generations in places like Kentucky.

COVID, oddly enough, offered Woodbine an opportunity to evaluate the owner experience. Because COVID allowed only owners on track during lockdowns, management was able to see and define needs in hospitality and customer service that had, perhaps, gone unnoticed before. Wakely called it a “silver lining” that came out of the pandemic. “We opened an exclusive lounge just for owners and trainers and their guests,” she said, noting that most trainers at Woodbine are also owners.  

The goal with owners is to recognize their importance and to make them feel special. Part of that, too, is for guests of owners to see that their hosts and hostesses are very important to Woodbine. Wakely stated something that is obvious but still often overlooked: “Without the owners, we don’t have a job.” 

The track has invested much time and travel in marketing to owners as well as everyday race fans.  Hospitality teams from Woodbine have visited Santa Anita, Saratoga, Keeneland and Churchill Downs to study and replicate what works at U.S. tracks.

Woodbine may, however, exceed the U.S. customer experience with concierge services beyond the racetrack. “We have looked at groups coming in for stakes races and being available to book golf tee times and tickets to the theater,” said Wakely. “We want to be able to offer all that to make it a whole weekend experience.”

The experience at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky is well-known; it is the “Fenway Park” of American racing—the required destination for “racing as it was meant to be,” to quote a marketing theme from years back. It is arguably the most picturesque and bucolic in the world. It is also not lacking for patrons. In the last pre-COVID year, 2019, Keeneland’s daily attendance average was just over 15,000 for the spring/April meet and was slightly higher in the fall/October meet.

So what do you do when you don’t lack for owners and, most critically, racing fans? In the case of Keeneland, they have written the proverbial book on corporate sponsorships. Two sponsors, Toyota and Maker’s Mark bourbon, have surpassed 25 years with Keeneland. Two other sponsors—Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital and Darley—will reach the 20-year mark with Keeneland this year.

“Sponsorships are incredibly valuable to Keeneland, as they provide important funding for our racing purses, our investments in fan education, advancements in safety and integrity initiatives, philanthropic initiatives for our sport and the central Kentucky community…and the list goes on and on,” said Christa Marillia, Keeneland vice-president and chief marketing officer.

In Lexington, local horse farms like Claiborne Farm, Coolmore, and the aforementioned Darley also sponsor premier stakes races, essentially investing in their own industry. “They buy and sell horses at our auctions, compete on our racetrack, and understand and appreciate the full circle of Keeneland’s business model,” Marillia said.

NYRA & Fox Sports host and paddock analyst Maggue Wolfendale (L) with host and reporter Acacia Courtney (R)

In an irony of ironies, racing beyond Triple Crown races and the TVG network catering to ADW accountholders has made its way to national telecasts regularly.  “America’s Day at the Races,” produced by NYRA and airing on Fox network channels FS1 and FS2, features live racing on Saturdays and Sundays.  The impetus for NYRA was entry into the ADW market, a revenue stream already flowing for Twin Spires, Express Bet and TVG. “We really were playing catchup so we thought we needed a TV strategy,” said Tony Allevato, chief revenue officer for NYRA and president of NYRA Bets.

“Our original concept was we would pick up selected dates during the year and put them on Fox regional networks—Fox Sports West, Fox Sports Ohio. We put together a pilot and showed it to Fox. They loved it,” said Allevato. Instead of a regional strategy, however, the pilot spurred Fox to suggest a show on FS2, broadcasting nationally.  

The first production was a daily show from Saratoga, two hours a day and produced by NYRA’s TV department with input from Fox that amounted to 80 hours the first year.

“We got a fantastic reaction from the industry,” said Allevato. Broadcast hours were added, and Fox acquired equity with NYRA, which gave the network a slice of the ADW wagering. “We’ve provided an extra revenue stream for the telecast. Not only is there the traditional advertising and sponsorship revenue, but you also have wagering dollars coming in; and it’s become a win-win for both of us. For Fox, they’re incentivized to give us the most distribution possible.”

Distribution included the recent Arkansas Derby, broadcast on FS1 as part of “America’s Day.” “We have a couple of shows that will be on Fox [the main network] this year, which will be over a million viewers for each one of those. That’s more eyeballs watching horse racing, more wagering, more account signups, more fans. It’s really almost like we’re creating a new ecosystem to help grow the sport,” said Allevato.  

Growth is aimed at more than just ADW accounts, he added. “Even though the sport has really gone to online betting, our goal is to get people to come to the track. That’s our number-one goal. We believe once you come to the track, you will become a fan for life.”

“America’s Day” content is aimed at driving live attendance at racetracks. “The stories are all there:  Within every race, there’s an owner, there’s a trainer, there’s a jockey, there’s a groom, there’s the pace of the race, there’s the favorite.”

NYRA doesn’t forget marketing to owners either, according to Allevato. “One of the rules for our show is we must interview one owner at a minimum, and that doesn’t mean just for a million-dollar race; it can be for a ten-thousand dollar race. 

Allevato, too, points with pride to production values that rival, if not surpass, that of other sports. “When we’re covering a race in New York, we’ll have 35 cameras on a certain select day, compared to a college basketball game with seven cameras. That is a real big-time production.  

NYRA & Fox Sports TV analysts Andy Serling (L) and Anthony Stabile (R)

“With the Arkansas Derby, we had three people at Aqueduct contributing remotely and six announcers at Oaklawn Park.  

“We believe horse racing is our sport. We want people flipping through the channels, land on a Fox Sports 2 or FS1, see “America’s Day at the Races,” and go, ‘Wow, this is major league!’ We don’t ever want to come across as a second-tier product.”

Can all of this be “the start of something big,” to borrow from the song title? Combined with the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act potentially providing central governance, successful marketing aimed at improving on-track owner-trainer-fan experiences, and NYRA’s venture into national television the impact, are promising. Can it take racing back to its preeminent days in the first half of the 20th century, when it was one of the three biggest sports in the land? There is more competition for sports fans than in the ‘50s.  

If “something big” isn’t starting, however, there’s a better-than-average chance racing may be in store for something bigger at least. 

Recruiting runners - The lengths that different tracks are going to maximize fields for their races

By Bill Heller

Remember the classic poster of Uncle Sam pointing at you saying, “I Want You” that was used to attract soldiers for World War I and II? Uncle Sam wanted you for the Army.

Picture a race secretary pointing at you exclaiming, “We Want You.” Not soldiers for the Army, of course, but shippers needed to fill their daily race cards.

The need has never been greater, thanks to a foal crop that has plummeted in the last two decades.

Asked if the New York Racing Association has had trouble filling fields, Martin Panza, NYRA’s Senior Vice President of Racing Operations, said in late February, “What racetrack in America doesn’t? The number of horses has greatly dropped.”

He’s not kidding. The Jockey Club reported that the foal crop has dropped from 40,333 in 1990 to 19,925 in 2018.

What makes those numbers even more impactful is that race tracks these days are trying to sustain year-round racing.

In response, several tracks have been offering incentives for shippers. And the leader of the pack is Del Mar’s Ship and Win Program—which is in a partnership with the Thoroughbred Owners of California—has been offering incentives since 2011. “We set the bar very high,” Del Mar Racing Secretary David Jerkens said. “It’s a lucrative program. It’s an attractive enhancement.”

And Jerkens said this year’s programs at both Del Mar meet in the summer and the fall and will be enhanced from last year when field size for the summer increased from 8.5 in 2017 to 8.7 in 2018. The amount of the increase in bonus payments was expected to be announced in April.

“Last year we had 107 horses participate just in the summer and 49 in the fall,” Jerkens said. “Any time you can add more than 100 horses to your inventory, that’s beneficial. Bigger fields create larger handle and larger purses.”

Here’s how it works...

When it began, Del Mar offered a $1,000 check for shippers making their first local start plus a 20% bonus on top of whatever purse money was earned in that first start. Those numbers grew last year to a $2,000 check and a 30% bonus. To qualify, a horse must have made his last start outside California and not raced in the state the previous 12 months. First-time starters are not eligible.

To date, more than 1,000 horses have participated in Ship and Win. According to Del Mar, those horses have made more than 1,500 starts at its track and more than 3,500 starts at other tracks in California.

Surprisingly, most of the benefactors of Del Mar’s program are local horsemen. “Seventy percent of our starters from Ship and Win have been local owners and local horses,” Jerkens said.

Trainer Bob Hess, whom Jerkens said is the “poster boy for the program,” has been on-board with it from day one. “This is a wonderful program,” Hess said. “I have horses at Gulfstream Park, and I try to bring at least 10 horses to Del Mar. It’s been great. It’s been a win-win. It’s obviously good for Del Mar, but it’s also good for Santa Anita because horses come here and stay here.”

Trainer Richard Baltas is another fan of Ship and Win. “The idea is to get them here,” he said. “I claimed a horse at Keeneland last year, then, after the meet was over, I brought him back here and he won twice. People transfer horses out here from back East. Obviously, it could always be better, but we definitely need something. A lot of trainers don’t have money to buy new horses. No horses mean small fields. It’s a problem in California.”

The program helps solve that problem. “The idea is to get horses to ship to California, and, hopefully, they stay in California,” Jerkens said. “So it benefits Santa Anita and Los Alamitos, too.”

To maximize that possibility, Santa Anita began offering its own “Ship and Stay” Program in 2017. Originally, the program offered non-California-bred horses who last started outside California and had not raced in the state the previous year a 20% bonus for the horse’s first start at Santa Anita and a 10% bonus of $1,000—whichever was higher—for a horse’s second and third starts. All that money was split between the horse’s owner and trainer.

The program has been tweaked, and this year bonuses will be given to the trainer only: 10% for a first start and 10% or $1,000—whichever is higher—for the horse’s second and third starts.

In any fashion, Santa Anita’s program strengthens the Del Mar program—a fact not lost on Panza, who was the Director of Racing at Hollywood Park before taking his job with NYRA. “I’d been in California and saw what Del Mar did,” Panza said. “It works at Del Mar. We did it at Hollywood Park. It’s a good idea. It makes sense.”

Accordingly, he had NYRA initiate its own shipping-incentive program in 2018, one it is continuing this year for shippers who come to race at either Aqueduct or Belmont Park. “We did Oaklawn and Gulfstream Park last year,” Panza said. “We did expand it a bit. I don’t think we have to do it. But it makes sense to get horses back in New York. It makes business sense. We just want to help the owners. This helps a bit. Give any owner some help with expenses.”

NYRA’s program this year offered incentive for horsemen based at Fair Hill Training Center, Oaklawn Park, Gulfstream Park and Tampa Bay Downs who raced during the Aqueduct Spring Meet from April 5 through April 20, or during the Belmont Park Spring/Summer meet from April 26 through July 7. Those horses’ owners will be credited with an $800 shipping stipend, excluding stakes races.

A first-time starter must have had their previous three works at Fair Hill to be eligible or display a pattern of workouts at Fair Hill, as determined by NYRA.

Additionally, horses who made their previous start at Oaklawn Park were eligible to NYRA’s Ship and Win Program, which offered a 30% purse bonus for their first two starts as well as a $1,500 shipping stipend for a start during the Aqueduct Spring Meet and the Belmont Park Spring/Summer Meet, excluding stake races.

Shippers who made their previous start at Gulfstream Park or Tampa Bay Downs were eligible for a shipping subsidy for a start during the Aqueduct Spring Meet, excluding stakes races. Owners who shipped horses from either Florida track and made their first New York start from March 8 through the 31st received $2,000. Florida shippers making their first New York start from April 5 through April 20 were credited $1,500.

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