Michael Dubb | Horse Racing Free Tips

Anna House Graduation: Child Care and So Much More

Finding affordable quality day care is a struggle most working parents face, but for parents working on the backstretches of America's racetracks, the combination of low pay and early hours make it even more of a challenge. For years, too many backstretch parents were forced to leave their children in less-than-ideal situations or drive to work at 5 a.m. with their kids sleeping in the back of their car.

But in the late 1990s, after talking to his good friend Jerry Bailey about the situation, Michael Dubb took matters into his own hands and built Anna House, a model day care program for backstretch workers located right in the Belmont barn area.

This past Tuesday, a dozen children graduated from the program, and will head to the local public school system this fall. But the Anna House care doesn't stop there. Early-morning care, breakfast, after-school care, tutoring, summer programs, and literacy programs for parents are all a part of the remarkable and comprehensive system overseen by the Belmont Child Care Association (BCCA).

“Most of the children come from bilingual families, and so we teach them English first and foremost,” said Dubb. “We teach them computer skills. We teach them arts and crafts. We teach them interaction. We teach them gardening. We teach them how to play chess. We teach them how to climb walls. We teach them how to build character and confidence. And it really sets them up for life. These are happy, exuberant kids ready for the challenges that life is going to bring them and ready to excel.”

For the past 10 years, Libby Imperio has served as the President of the BCCA, and oversees fundraising, grants to expand the programs offered, and more.

“I became involved because my husband and I went to their Saratoga fundraiser, Racing for the Children. And they had a wish list asking for diapers, books, changing tables, formula and with the thousands of fundraisers we go to, no one had ever asked me for a specific item before, and it really tugged at my heart. That was the beginning. And I just kept asking, `What can I do? What can I do?'”

Years later, she knows the answer.

Since its inception, Anna House has gone beyond educating preschool children and has expanded its programs to parent literacy, basic childcare, and more.

“I'm so proud of our expansions,” said Imperio. “Our first expansion was after-school tutoring, which we provide to up until 13 years old. Then we took that concept and provided a school-age program, so our graduates and even kids that did not originally attend here who are in elementary school, when they have the day off or school vacation, they have now a safe and healthy and nurturing place to attend. And we have about 20 kids enrolled in that program.”

The BCCA and Dubb built Faith House in Saratoga so that workers relocated for the eight weeks could bring their children knowing they would have a safe place to go for a summer which involves both learning and fun.

They also provide basic life and childcare skills. “We joined with the other backstretch charities, BEST and the Racetrack Chaplaincy to develop `The ABCs of Life' for the mothers of the backstretch,” she said. “That course is teaching things that we all take for granted: how to write a check, nutrition on a low income, basic health and dentistry for children, cooking, and just your basic ABCs of life. But my favorite program has become the women's literacy program. It started out with about just five moms on the backstretch, and we now have about 25 mothers. And it makes me so happy because that just will help not just themselves, but their children as they go forward in life.”

Tuesday's graduation was the 20^th time that the Anna House kids left the program to head for the public schools, and Dubb said that some of them were now circling back.

“I've seen familiar faces back here at the racetrack working,” said Dubb. “But one of them, a young child at the racetrack named Angel Torres whose father was an assistant trainer, he was a child of the backstretch, and went on from here to get his college degree. And he's one of the now one of the top financial people at my company.”

Anna House's most important fundraiser is coming up at Saratoga, said Imperio-the very event she attended all those years ago which inspired her involvement. Every year, the BCCA needs to raise $1.7 million for operations.

“Our biggest fundraiser of the year is Racing for the Children, being held in downtown Saratoga August 25th at the Universal Preservation Building (at 25 Washington Street). It's a new location for us this year, so we're really excited about it. I think it will be a beautiful event.”

Dubb said that initially, he saw the need and thought as a builder, he could fix it, and move on.

“When I built this, I really just wanted to donate a building and ride off into the sunset,” he said. “But I couldn't do it. And in 20 years, I'm most proud of the children and I'm most proud of their parents. This is the real American dream. Come here to work hard and to do right by your kids. That's what my grandparents did. And I'm just so happy that I can share my good fortune and make this happen, but it's really not about me. This is the gift that keeps giving to me. It brings me more pleasure than anything else on the racetrack-more pleasure than winning any kind of race. A race is for a moment, but a child's life is for a lifetime. And knowing that we're making a difference, really, that's what really, really drives me.”

To make a donation to Anna House, or to learn more about their upcoming fundraisers, visit www.belmontchildcare.org.

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Rick Dutrow Nearing Return?

Some 9 1/2 years after being handed a 10-year ban by the New York State Racing and Wagering Board, the predecessor of the New York Gaming Commission, trainer Rick Dutrow could be only a few months removed from a return to the racetrack. His last starter came on Jan. 16, 2013 at Aqueduct, meaning that he may be allowed to resume training by mid-January of next year.

“Ricky is doing quite well and he really is in a great frame of mind,” said trainer Tony Dutrow, Dutrow's brother. “He's excited about getting back and he's hopeful that he is going to get back. He's not taking anything for granted, but he is a survivor and he's excited about the possibility of getting back.”

Dutrow's lawyer, Karen Murphy, told the TDN that within the next few months she will start the process she hopes will lead to the Gaming Commission agreeing to restore Dutrow to good standing. While remaining confident that Dutrow will be allowed to begin training early next year, Murphy explained that her client was not suspended, but instead had his license revoked. There is, she said, a difference between the two types of penalties.

“This involves a nuance,” she said. “It was a revocation and not a suspension. A suspension goes from a certain day to a certain day that you must sit out. When it's over, you can come back. With a revocation of a license, something has been taken away and you have to ask for it back. You can ask for it back shortly before the date in question and then a consideration is made so far as whether or not you should receive that license.”

Dutrow, now 62, declined to be interviewed for this story.

Dutrow, whose career accomplishments include wins in the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Preakness S. with Big Brown (Boundary) and in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic with Saint Liam (Saint Ballado), was a controversial figure throughout his training career and had compiled a number of medication violations. His problems intensified when a horse he trained, Fastus Cactus (Cactus Ridge), was found to have butorphanol in his system after winning the third race at Aqueduct on Nov. 20, 2010. Around the same time, Dutrow's barn was searched and investigators claimed to have found in a desk drawer three syringes filled with a muscle relaxer, xylazine.

In 2019, former Gaming Commission steward Stephen Lewandowski alleged that the syringes were planted in the office by investigators.

In October of 2011, the State Racing and Wagering Board announced that Dutrow, due to his history of rules violations and the recent incidents with the syringes and Fastus Cactus, was being fined $50,000 and that his license would be revoked for 10 years.

“New York's racing industry has no place or patience for Mr. Dutrow,” Racing and Wagering Board Chairman John Sabini said in a release after Dutrow had his license revoked. “His repeated violations and disregard of the rules of racing has eroded confidence in the betting public and caused an embarrassment throughout the industry. His self-described 'game' in New York horse racing is over. We will not permit individuals who cheat and sully New York's world-class racing product.”

Subsequent court challenges from Dutrow's legal team kept him in action until Jan. 16, 2013, at which time he began serving his penalty.
Barred from having anything to do with Thoroughbred race horses, Dutrow was lost. With no income coming in, he was forced to sell his house and in 2017 declared bankruptcy. He has spent much of the time away from the track living with his mother in Saratoga and also spends time with his brother, who has a house in Floral Park, NY.

“He's got nothing,” said Murphy, who took up Dutrow's case in 2015 at, she said, the request of prominent owner Michael Dubb.

“I don't know how he has sustained himself through this,” Murphy continued. “For him, there is no other life. You or I, we could shift gears and do something different and be just fine. This is it, all he knows how to do. But he is always positive. Since this all began, he has never stepped out of line or never violated any of the terms of this insidious, onerous, if not unconstitutional, if not unlawful, order which prohibited him from putting a hand on a horse.”

Since taking over the Dutrow case, Murphy tried to get Kentucky to license her client, but was unsuccessful. A petition drive spearheaded by fellow horsemen asking the Gaming Commission to allow Dutrow back, also did not go anywhere. In 2016, Murphy submitted an application to the Gaming Commission, asking them to exercise clemency and reinstate Dutrow's trainer's license. The request was denied. And a 2020 report in the New York Daily News that included Lewandowski's charge that Dutrow, when it came to the syringes, was framed, also led nowhere. With that in mind, Murphy is wary of declaring victory too early. But she believes that changes in state government and at the Gaming Commission will work in Dutrow's favor.

“I am hopeful,” she said. “We have a new governor (Kathy Hochul) and a new member of the Gaming Commission in Brian O'Dwyer. That has to be a plus. It's a big improvement because this is going to be looked at by a fresh pair of eyes.”

If and when Dutrow gets reinstated, he will have to build a stable from scratch. That he was someone who normally won with about 25% of his starters and won at the highest levels of the sport will no doubt appeal to some owners. But others may want to stay away from a trainer with so much baggage. When asked by the TDN whether or not he would give horses to Dutrow upon his return, Dubb, who had been among Dutrow's most important and loyal owners, said it was too early in the process for him to have made that decision.

“There are people out there who do not believe in Ricky, but there are plenty out there that do,” Tony Dutrow said.

“At the end of the day, what matters to owners who really care about the horse is to have a trainer who really cares about the horse and also gets the results that Rick got,” Murphy said. “There will be baby steps at the beginning. But Rick has shown what he can do. I think some of his owners will show up from day one. He may not have Grade I stock starting out but I think he will have Grade I stock in short order.”

Though optimistic, Murphy can only hope that a fight that has lasted more than 10 years is almost over. The goal is to have Dutrow back training at Aqueduct in January. But if that doesn't happen, Murphy said the battle will continue.

“Am I confident? Yes,” she said. “That's because I will never give up. He will train horses again because he has to be training horses again.”

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Graduation Day as Anna House Celebrates 20th Anniversary

The Belmont Child Care Association (BCCA) celebrated the Anna House Class of 2022 graduation Tuesday at Belmont Park with 12 students from its early childhood education program for the children of backstretch workers based at Belmont Park, Aqueduct Racetrack and Saratoga Race Course.

The ceremony, attended by New York state and local elected officials and community leaders, marked the completion of the children's year-round pre-K program, where they were taught English, math, reading, gardening, art, nutrition and other topics in a STEAM-based curriculum. The students are now prepared to enter Kindergarten in September in local public schools, with many set to continue in BCCA's school-age program where they will receive tutoring and enrichment activities outside their public-school classrooms.

“This is always such a big day for our children and for our families and it's one that we all look forward to each year,” said BCCA President Libby Imperio. “To celebrate their accomplishments and to see how proud they are is a credit to them and to their families as we all work together to prioritize the importance of education.”

BCCA was established in 1998 and since opening its doors in 2002, Anna House has educated more than 1,000 students.

During Tuesday's event, the children presented handmade “thank you” gifts to BCCA Founder and Chairman Michael Dubb, Imperio and the BCCA Team. They also gave a special painting to Dubb to commemorate Anna House's 20th anniversary.

Look for a video feature on the ceremony and the program in Saturday's TDN.

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NY Racetrack Chaplaincy Breaks Ground on Multi-Purpose Building

The New York Race Track Chaplaincy of America, created in 1986, held a groundbreaking ceremony Mar. 28 for a multi-purpose building and chapel on the grounds of Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.

The 3,500-square foot facility (which Chaplaincy officials hope will open this fall) will be located just inside the Gate 6 entrance to Belmont Park and will include a chapel which will also function as a multi-purpose room, office space for the chaplaincy staff, and a classroom to be used as a learning center. Among those who participated in the groundbreaking ceremony were David O'Rourke, president and CEO of NYRA; Ramon Dominguez, retired Hall of Fame jockey who serves as president of the chaplaincy; and Michael Dubb, Thoroughbred owner and the founder and principal of the Beechwood Organization, who also donated construction materials for the entire building. Major funding was provided by several parties including Lisa and Kenny Troutt of WinStar Farm, Kristine and Chris Kay, the late Marylou Whitney and her husband John Hendrickson, and the estate of the late Dolores Ochota.

“This facility is a dream come true for the chaplaincy and for all the people it helps,” said Dominguez. “We are extremely grateful to all those who played a part in making it a reality.”

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