andrew turro | Horse Racing Free Tips

Linda Rice Will Continue To Train After Court Grants Temporary Restraining Order

The County of Schenectady Supreme Court has granted a temporary restraining order to Linda Rice, just two days after the New York State Gaming Commission officially issued the order to revoke her training license for three years, reports the Daily Racing Form. As a result, Rice will be allowed to continue to train horses in the state of New York.

Andrew Turro, Rice's attorney, had argued that without injunctive relief, “Rice's training business, the result of a very successful 34-year career, will be irreversibly destroyed before the court can hear this case and determine Ms. Rice's application for a stay/preliminary injunction.”

Regarding Wednesday's decision, Turro told DRF: “The court's order restores Ms. Rice's ability to get back to racing and training immediately. We also look forward to challenging the commission's order in the court and ultimately vindicating Ms. Rice's rights.”

Licensees in New York are entitled to appeal a finding of a hearing officer to the appropriate court, and it is common for stays of suspensions to be issued while the appeals process plays out.

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.

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.

Rice License Revocation Goes Into Effect June 7

Top New York trainer Linda Rice saw her license revoked officially by the state's gaming commission June 7, two weeks after a hearing officer's recommendations in her long-running case were made public. Rice was 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.

At a regularly scheduled meeting two weeks ago, the gaming commission voted to uphold that 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 has also been ordered to pay a fine of $50,000 and is denied all access to New York gaming commission-sanctioned properties.

Rice's lone entry on June 7, Inside Info in the eighth race at Finger Lakes, was a stewards' scratch.

The commission had alleged that Rice “received regular, continual and improper access to confidential names and other information,” and that she “paid substantial sums of money to NYRA racing officials” to get this information. The hearing officer agreed that Rice improperly solicited and received non-public information but dismissed the charge relating to the trainer allegedly paying substantial sums of money in exchange for the information.

“We are gratified that the commission dismissed the bribery charges against Ms. Rice as they had no merit whatsoever,” said Rice's attorney, Andrew Turro. “Nonetheless, we are troubled by the Commission's determination with respect to the racing information issue because it is incorrect in a number of material respects. We will seek judicial review of the order as soon as possible and expect to be heard in court this week on a stay application.”

Licensees in New York are entitled to appeal a finding of a hearing officer to the appropriate court, and it's common for stays of suspensions or other penalties to be issued while the appeals process plays out.

The post Rice License Revocation Goes Into Effect June 7 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Rice Attorney’s Motion To Dismiss Denied, Hearing Moves Into Fifth Day

The New York State Gaming Commission rested its case against top trainer Linda Rice Tuesday after a fourth day of testimony reviewing details about the inside information Rice is alleged to have gotten from the racing office between late 2011 and 2015. At the conclusion of the commission's case, Rice counsel Andrew Turro moved to dismiss the commission's charge against her.

Turro argued that the commission failed to adequately prove Rice sought out the information provided to her by former racing office employees Jose Morales and Matt Salvato, and also that there was no specific NYSGC or New York Racing Association rule prohibiting racing office employees from providing trainers with the names of horses entered in a race prior to draw time.

Morales and Salvato have testified they provided, first through fax and later through email, horse names and past performance sheets of entries in races ahead of draw time — something senior racing office management testified is expressly forbidden. They also testified they were provided financial gifts by Rice, which they believed was in consideration for their providing her the information.

Rice is charged under state regulation language prohibiting “actions inconsistent with and detrimental to the best interest of racing generally ad corrupt and improper acts and practices in relation to racing.” During Tuesday's hearing, which consisted entirely of testimony and layers of cross-examination and redirect examination of NYSGC steward Braulio Baeza, Jr., Turro pointed out that NYRA and NYSGC codes do not specifically spell out what sharing of information is or isn't permissible by the racing office.

Rick Goodell, counsel for NYSGC, pointed out that language prohibiting licensees from failing to act “in the best interests of racing” may be broad, but is standard in many places and its legality has been upheld many times. Goodell also told the hearing officer that Rice herself acknowledged having loaned Morales money more than once and that she was not paid back for those loans. Morales and Salvato had indicated in previous testimony that Rice also sent cash or checks in envelopes to members of the racing office staff.

Clark Petschek, hearing officer for the case, denied Turro's motion to dismiss.

Although Turro has yet to make his opening statement in the case, he also seemed to question how beneficial the information was to Rice, pointing out instances where Rice lost races after getting pre-draw information from Morales. It's also true that since entries were still open at the time Morales and Salvato would send information to Rice, horses could come in or out of the race after she got preliminary entries but before draw time. Rick Goodell, counsel for NYSGC, also pointed out instances where Rice's horses had won or otherwise done well in races where Morales's emails showed he sent her information.

Two more days are allotted for the hearing on Nov. 18 and 19, allowing the defense to present its case. It remains unclear when after the conclusion of the hearings Petschek could issue a decision.

See previous coverage of the hearing here and here

The post Rice Attorney’s Motion To Dismiss Denied, Hearing Moves Into Fifth Day appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post