The New York State Gaming Commission, represented by the office of New York State Attorney General Letitia James, has filed a memorandum of law with the Schenectady County Supreme Court regarding trainer Linda Rice's legal appeal of her three-year suspension.
According to the Thoroughbred Daily News, the July 2 filing argues that “Ms. Rice is not entitled to a preliminary injunction staying enforcement of the commission's determination. Ms. Rice is not likely to succeed on the merits of any of her claims, and the equities weigh in favor of the commission. Accordingly, the motion for a preliminary injunction should be denied.”
Rice had seen her license revoked officially on June 7, two weeks after the NYSGC voted to uphold a hearing officer's recommendation that Rice's license be revoked with the condition she could not reapply for licensure for at least three years. She had also been ordered to pay a fine of $50,000 and was to be denied all access to New York gaming commission-sanctioned properties.
The County of Schenectady Supreme Court granted a temporary restraining order two days after the New York State Gaming Commission issued the order to revoke her training license, allowing Rice to resume training in New York until her legal appeal is played out in the court system.
Rice is accused of receiving information from the racing office about which horses were entered in which races prior to the official close of entries. The alleged information exchange took place over a period of 2011 and 2014, and the commission first brought a complaint against Rice in 2019. A series of hearing dates took place in late 2020, during which the commission and Rice's attorney presented information to a hearing officer along with numerous volumes of data and interview transcripts.
The July 2 filing states:
“Ms. Rice moves for a preliminary injunction staying enforcement of the commission's penalty for her misconduct. The motion for a preliminary injunction must be denied because Ms. Rice has not shown a likelihood of success on the merits or that the equities weigh in favor of preliminary injunctive relief…
“Because Ms. Rice failed to show a likelihood of success on the merits, the Court need not address the remaining elements. Nevertheless, Ms. Rice also failed to demonstrate that the equities weigh in her favor. Rather, the equities weigh against the granting of a preliminary injunction because of the magnitude of impropriety at issue.”
Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.
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