A proposed change to the claiming rules in New York could see an increase from 30 to 60 days before a claimed horse is eligible to start out of state, reports the Thoroughbred Daily News. Along with rules designed to make more owners eligible to claim horses, the proposed claiming rule changes were unanimously approved at the New York State Gaming Commission's monthly meeting on Aug. 3.
The new regulations will be published in the state register, then allowed a public commentary period, prior to the NYSGC approving the rules in a final vote.
According to a brief written by NYSGC general counsel Edmund Burns and included in the meeting's informational packet, the extension of the claiming jail rule from 30 to 60 days is designed to “mitigate entry shortages that have been experienced at New York tracks.” The new rule would include an exception for the end of the Finger Lakes race season.
Additionally, owners will be allowed a “greater opportunity to start a horse for the price at which the horse had been claimed.” The rule dictates that for a period of 20 days from the date of the claim, horses cannot start in a claiming race for less than 25 percent more than the amount for which the horse was claimed. For 10 days thereafter, the horse is eligible to start for a claiming price equal to or greater than the price at which it had been claimed. The horse can start for any claiming price on the 31st day.
Another proposed rule adjustment would allow more owners to claim horses, extending the regulations on the time during which a licensed owner had started a horse in New York as well as for the validity of a claiming certificate for newly licensed owners.
Growing up in Queens, Bobby Montano eventually became an actor and a dancer, a career he was happy to follow. But before that, his path took him in an entirely different direction. Montano, who was so small as a child that he was bullied, discovered horse racing and decided he wanted to be a jockey. On March 2, 1977, his dream came true as he rode in his first race at Aqueduct. He only rode in seven races and did not have a winner, but he left the sport with a story to tell. That story has turned into the Off-Broadway play “SMALL,” which Montano wrote and stars in. It's coming to New York and the 59 E. 59 Theater on Aug. 12 and will run through Sept. 2.
In advance of SMALL's run in New York, Montano joined the TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland to talk about the play and what has been a fascinating life full of ups and downs. Montano was the Green Group Guest of the Week.
Looking at those jockeys riding in New York, he saw people who were as small as he was, but instead of being bullied they were respected athletes, admired by thousands of racing fans. That's what he wanted for himself.
“I was tired of getting picked on,” he said. “But when I saw these little men coming out into the paddock area I saw that they were getting respect. It would get quiet and I would ask my mother what was happening and she said, 'The jockeys have come. That's called respect.' I was just so in love with the whole pageantry of it all. My mother was there to bet on her jockey friend Roberto Pineda. He reminded me of Bruce Lee and I was a huge fan of Bruce Lee.”
Nothing ever came easily for Montano on the racetrack. After a growth spurt, he became too big to be a jockey and his weight was the reason why he couldn't get any mounts. He rode for just five months. He resorted to using laxatives, amphetamines, cocaine and pills called Black Beauties. He would run 17 miles a day.
“I couldn't get there. I was just getting bigger and bigger, and I just didn't know what to do with my life,” he said.
Yet, Montano said he wouldn't trade his time on the racetrack for anything.
“I would do it again in a heartbeat,” he said. “There are people who have made it work. I look at people like Trevor McCarthy, who I love. He's a wonderful rider and he's five-foot-ten. There were others, like Marco Castaneda. But they all had thin bones. I was born with thick bones. I just was fighting Mother Nature and there was just nothing I could do about it.”
After giving up on his dream to be a jockey, Montano saw Saturday Night Fever, went to the famous disco, the Rafters and discovered the world of dancing and acting. On television, he has appeared as one of Kim Cattrell's lovers, “We William,” in Sex In The City. He has guest starred in, CSI: Miami, Third Watch, Six Degrees, Law & Order, New York Undercover, Law & Order: SVU, Harrison – Cry Of The City, numerous soaps, and as Resto in the HBO film Undefeated, directed by John Leguizamo.
Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored byhttps://coolmore.com/https://lanesend.com/the Pennsylvania Horse Breeders Association, Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders, NYRABets.com, WinStar Farm, XBTV.com, Stonestreet Farms and https://www.threechimneys.com/West Point Thoroughbreds, the team of Bill Finley, Randy Moss and Zoe Cadman discussed the tragic breakdown of Maple Leaf Mel (Cross Traffic) in the GI Test S. Like virtually everyone else in racing, the team tried to come up with answers to what is a horrible problem for the sport but admitted that they had none. The GI Whitney S. was a major topic of discussion, from the huge performance by winner White Abarrio (Race Day) to the lackluster third-place finish by Cody's Wish (Curlin). Looking ahead at the weekend, the focus was on the GI Arlington Million and the other stakes formerly run at Arlington Park that will be run at Colonial Downs. Finley said the Million has lost its mojo since Arlington has closed and said it may be time to simply discontinue these races.
To watch the Writers' Room, click here. To view the show as a podcast, click here.
Rick Schosberg ended an accomplished 35-year career as a trainer on the New York Racing Association circuit last December at the age of 61, giving him more time to devote to important causes like Thoroughbred aftercare.
In fact, before the term was part of the industry's lexicon, Schosberg was practicing aftercare with his own horses.
“When I was growing up in Virginia, we had off-track Thoroughbreds as show horses in my family,” Schosberg said. “Then, when I first started training, my very first horse was named Three Chopt Road. When he was done racing (as a 9-year-old in 1993), he'd run 99 times and he was actually entered for his 100th start here in New York. He had a little windpuff in his ankle, so I scratched him. I didn't want to run him because he had always been perfect. We retired him to our small farm on Long Island.”
The next year, Schosberg saddled As Indicated to win the Grade 1 Pimlico Special, the gelding's sixth consecutive win and 10th in 14 starts. He came out of that race with an injury that sidelined him for a year. After one more start, Schosberg sent him to his farm to join Two Chopt Road.
“We had those two in our paddock out back for seven or eight years before 'aftercare' was even a term,” he said.
When Thoroughbred aftercare did become a commonly used phrase, Schosberg was all in, encouraged by the late Rick Violette Jr., a widely respected trainer who as head of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association was a founding member of the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA). Violette was also the architect, along Andy Belfiore, of NYTHA's Take 2 Second Career and Take the Lead Thoroughbred Retirement programs. Schosberg was elected to the NYTHA board of directors in 2011, and shortly thereafter Violette asked him to help lead the programs, which he said were “right in his wheelhouse.” He serves as president while Belfiore is Take 2/Take the Lead executive director.
Schosberg remains in awe of Violette, who died in 2018 at age 65 after a long battle with cancer. The New York Racing Association renamed the Rockville Centre Stakes in Violette's honor in 2019. The Rick Violette Stakes for New York-breds will be run on Aug. 17 at Saratoga, coinciding with the third annual Thoroughbred Aftercare Day, a celebration of the off-track Thoroughbred and the various charitable organizations that care for them.
“Man, whatever drove Rick Violette, I wish I had one-tenth of it,” Schosberg said. “He was so passionate about everything in the industry with regards to, obviously, the health and welfare of the horses, but also the health and welfare of the backstretch workers. He wanted to make sure things got done right.
Rick Violette
“He was a great mentor,” Schosberg said of Violette. “His vision wasn't just transitioning horses from the racetrack to safe and accredited organizations, but it was also spurring the demand for Thoroughbreds in their retirement and in second careers through the Take 2 program. He just had the foresight and the program developed into what I think is the industry standard for facilitating transition from the racetrack to TAA-accredited organizations.”
Schosberg is doing his part to fill the void left by Violette's passing. In addition to serving as president of Take 2/Take the Lead, he is first vice president of NYTHA, a member of the board of directors of the Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance, and serves on the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's Horsemen's Advisory Group as well as the racetrack safety committee at NYRA tracks.
Schosberg said one of the keys to the success of the Take 2/Take the Lead program is that it has gained the trust of the horsemen.
“If they have a horse that is in need of retirement for whatever reason – lack of competition, injury – we are there and can expedite the process,” Schosberg said. “We gather up all the information needed, set up a profile for each individual horse based on medical diagnostics and other forms of information, then reach out to our partners in aftercare and see where this horse, based on its profile, fits best and where there is availability. We can move these horses to a safe haven, usually in five to seven days; sometimes it's a little longer and sometimes it's within 24 hours.”
Schosberg is proud of the fact that the program has retired over 1,000 horses since its inception. “And I think we're going to hit a benchmark on an annual number with 200 horses this year,” he said. “We've been very busy up here.”
The New York native, whose parents, Paul and Jane Schosberg, were prominent breeders in the Empire State for many years, is quick to credit the “people who are doing the work, the boots on the ground, the guys and gals who are in the trenches, many of them working as volunteers. They are doing it for the love of the animals and the health and well-being of these racehorses for the 60 to 80 percent of their life after they're off the racetrack.”
On Aftercare Day at Saratoga, Schosberg said he will be one of those boots on the ground, making sure all goes smoothly for the various activities taking place between races – all while nursing an injured shoulder that required recent surgery.
“Aftercare Day is a wonderful, wonderful way for the public to get exposed to what we do, what our partners do, and what these horses can do once they transition off the racetrack,” he said. “NYRA has been fantastic in partnering with us and getting the organizations here. It's just a great way to get the word out there that says, 'Hey folks, we're really working hard here to see that these horses that you love to watch and wager on or see in the paddock have a safety net after they've transitioned off the racetracks.' It's a great program and it's inarguable the necessity for it.”
Even with all the progress and success of programs like Take 2/Take the Lead, Schosberg said the industry still has a long way to go. “Everybody involved in racing has a shared responsibility to see that these horses find safe, proper and useful, purposeful second careers,” he said.
“I would say we're not even close to being halfway there,” he said. “We need to come up with more creative ways to have sustained revenue. I know it's no easy task; each state has different legislative and regulatory requirements and I know it's not easy and takes time.
“In New York, we have a great relationship with our state legislators and with the racing association and the New York breeders and the Breeding Development Fund as well. We're all in lockstep. We go to Albany and we explain that this is about health and welfare, that it's good for New York state, that it's great for New York racing, and what's great for New York racing is good for the industry as a whole.”
Schosberg saddled 876 winners on the racetrack, including 1995 champion 2-year-old male Maria's Mon and a number of other Grade 1 winners. But it's the work he's doing with horses off the racetrack that may well be his legacy. That makes Richard E. Schosberg a difference maker. If you would like to make a difference, please consider a donation to the Take 2/Take the Lead program.
Difference Makers is presented by Richard Pearson's Avion Law, a Newport Beach, Calif.-based firm which primarily represents owners in the private aviation sector. Avion Law has a “giving back” program supporting awareness campaigns and donating to charitable organizations in and outside of horse racing. For more information on Avion Law, click here.
A power outage at Saratoga Race Course on Wednesday afternoon before the fifth race delayed the start and eventually forced NYRA to cancel that event.
The loss of power affected other properties near the course after a tree apparently fell on Union Avenue. Power was lost throughout Saratoga Race Course at 3:19 p.m. ET and substantially restored at 4:01 p.m. with various critical systems brought back online for the sixth race to go at 4:31 p.m.
The card resumed with adjusted post times beginning with race six.
Power was lost throughout Saratoga Race Course at 3:19pm and substantially restored at 4:01pm with various critical systems brought back online for R6 to go at 4:31pm. Updated post times for the remainder of the card shortly. @TheNYRA
