New York Racing Association | Horse Racing Free Tips

NYRA Teams With Woodbine, Monmouth For Saturday’s Cross Country Pick 5

The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) will host a Cross Country Pick 5 that will offer three graded stakes in total, featuring action from historic Saratoga Race Course as well as Monmouth Park and Woodbine Racetrack on Saturday.

Live coverage will be available with Saratoga Live on FOX Sports and MSG Networks. Free Equibase past performances for the Cross Country Pick 5 sequence are now available for download at https://www.nyra.com/saratoga/racing/cross-country-wagers.

Saratoga will start the wager with an exciting juvenile maiden sprint, with a field of 10 contesting at six furlongs on the main track in Race 6 at 3:57 p.m. Eastern. Trainer Chad Brown has a pair of entrants in Highly Motivated and Founder, while Hall of Fame trainers Mark Casse and Steve Asmussen will send out Majestic Street and Happymac, respectively. Trainer Todd Pletcher will see Newbomb depart from the inside post.

Action will shift to Monmouth in Race 9 with a 4:14 p.m. post for the 1 1/2-mile turf route for 3-year-olds and up in an optional claimer. The 10-horse field will see trainer Kelly Breen saddle Epic Bromance, while Decisive Triumph and No Mans Land will be running with blinkers on.

Woodbine will commence the stakes portion of the Cross Country Pick 5 in the third leg with the Grade 3, $125,000 Ontario Colleen for 3-year-old fillies going one mile. Slated as Race 7 at 4:17 p.m., the contest will ironically feature Saratoga Vision. Owned and trained by Alexander Patykewich, the Kentucky-bred won't be running at the Spa, but instead will be looking to break her maiden in her 13th start and is coming off a runner-up effort as an 84-1 longshot in the Grade 3 Selene last month at Woodbine. The field also includes stakes-placed Avie's Samurai and Fly So Pretty, who won last year's Stewart Manor, as well as multiple stakes-winner Two Sixty and multiple graded stakes-placed Walk In Marrakesh.

Saratoga will close the sequence with a pair of Grade 1 contests, starting with the $300,000 Forego presented by America's Best Racing in Race 8 at 5:07 p.m. The seven-furlong contest for older horses on the main track will showcase Whitmore, who won the race's 2018 edition and will now attempt to join Groovy (1986-87) and Quick Call (1988-89) as the only horses to win multiple runnings of the Forego. The 7-year-old enters with a record of 35-14-11-3 and lifetime earnings of over $3.1 million. The Forego will also see Mind Control looking to become a Grade 1-winner at the Spa at ages 2, 3 and 4, while six-time graded stakes-winner Firenze Fire seeks his first Grade 1 triumph since taking the 2017 Champagne during his 2-year-old campaign.

The wager concludes in Saratoga's Race 9 with the Grade 1, $500,000 Sword Dancer for 4-year-olds and up going 1 1/2 miles on the inner turf at 5:43 p.m. A “Win and You're In” qualifier for the Breeders' Cup Turf on November 7 at Keeneland Race Course, the Forego will see trainer Mike Maker send out a trio of contenders in Aquaphobia, Marzo and Cross Border. Also in the race will be Sadler's Joy, who will make his fourth appearance in the Sword Dancer for trainer Tom Albertrani. The 7-year-old Kitten's Joy horse won this event in 2017, finished sixth in 2018 and last year rallied bravely to finish second by a neck to Annals of Time.

The minimum bet for the multi-track, multi-race wager is 50 cents. Wagering on the Cross Country Pick 5 is also available on ADW platforms and at simulcast facilities across the country. Every week will feature a mandatory payout of the net pool.

The Cross Country Pick 5 will continue each Saturday throughout the year. For more information, visit NYRABets.com.

Cross Country Pick 5 – Saturday, August 30:
Leg 1 – Saratoga, Race 6: (3:57 p.m.)
Leg 2 – Monmouth, Race 9: (4:14 p.m.)
Leg 3 – Woodbine, Race 7: G3 Ontario Colleen (4:17 p.m.)
Leg 4 – Saratoga, Race 8: G1 Forego (5:07 p.m.)
Leg 5 – Saratoga, Race 9: G1 Sword Dancer (5:43 p.m.)

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Spanish Language Announcer Sues NYRA, Says He Was Paid Less than Whites Doing Same Job

Luis Grandison, a Black Latino who is a native of Panama and who served as the New York Racing Association’s Spanish language race caller from 2014 through March 2020, has sued NYRA claiming he was discriminated against because he was paid less than white Americans who call the races in English.

According to a suit filed Tuesday in Brooklyn Federal Court, Grandison was paid $60,000 a year. The suit claims that long-time NYRA announcer Tom Durkin earned $440,000 a year before retiring in 2014 and that his replacement, Larry Collmus, was paid in excess of $200,000 annually. Collmus left NYRA in January and was replaced by John Imbriale. The lawsuit claims that Imbriale also earns in excess of $200,000 annually.

“Although Grandison and his fellow full-time race callers performed the same primary duty (i.e., announcing), NYRA paid the white American race callers more than double Grandison’s salary despite Grandison having just as much experience as them, working more months per year than they did, and performing additional advertising duties not required of them,” the suit reads.

Grandison was furloughed in March when racing was shut down by the coronavirus. His job was then terminated in June. The suit alleges that NYRA’s treatment of Grandison amounted to “unlawful discrimination against him on the basis of his race, color, and national origin…”

“Defendant purposely discriminated against Plaintiff because of his Black and Latino/Hispanic racial background, thereby denying him equal terms and conditions of employment enjoyed by his white counterparts,” the suit also alleges.

NYRA Director of Communications Pat McKenna issued a statement defending the racing organization and its history of diversity.

“The New York Racing Association (NYRA) is proud to have the most diverse broadcast and TV team in the sport of horse racing today, and maintains a fair and equitable workplace,” the statement read. “NYRA–like so many businesses across the state and nation–has faced significant financial challenges as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and has been forced to make adjustments to its workforce in order to maintain operations and safeguard its future.”

Grandison began his career in Panama and called races at Hipódromo Presidente Remón in Panama City before moving to the U.S. in 2009. When he was brought on board by NYRA to call the races, then CEO and President Chris Kay said the hiring of Grandison was an “important initiative that will help enhance and personalize the guest experience for our Spanish speaking fan base.”

According to the suit, Grandison’s salary when hired was $32,000 and that he subsequently received raises until reaching the $60,000 mark. His job, the suit claims, involved more than just announcing and that he was required to promote NYRA racing on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, a role that was not required of Durkin, Collmus or Imbriale.

Grandison is seeking unspecified damages for discrimination.

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Spanish Race Caller Sues NYRA Over Wage Inequity Compared To White Counterpart

Race caller Luis Grandison filed a lawsuit against the New York Racing Association in the Brooklyn Federal Court on Tuesday, alleging that he was paid less than half as much as his white, English-speaking counterparts, reports the New York Daily News.

The suit states that Grandison was paid an annual salary of $60,000, while his white, English-speaking counterpart Larry Collmus has a salary estimated to be over $200,000.

Grandison, a black native of Panama, had been employed by NYRA to call races in Spanish since 2014. He requested and was denied a raise in 2018. This year, Grandison was furloughed in March due to the coronavirus pandemic. He was terminated in June, prior to the resumption of racing in the state of New York.

“Grandison has performed the exact same primary duty of race calling … at NYRA in Spanish that his white American counterparts performed in English in the same racetracks, under the same management, using the same oratory skills, and using the same NYRA simulcast network,” the suit reads. “The only difference between Grandison and, for example, Larry Collmus is that the former is a Black Latino speaking in Spanish whereas the latter is a white American speaking in English. Their primary work duty of race calling was otherwise identical.”

NYRA Will Allow Potts To Continue Racing, Pending Regulatory Investigation

The New York Racing Association issued the following statement on Saturday afternoon concerning trainer Wayne Potts, who earlier this week was told by the Maryland Jockey Club to vacate his stalls at Laurel Park over allegations that he had started horses in his name that were being conditioned by Marcus Vitali at a private training center in New Jersey. Vitali's one-year suspension from Delaware Park stewards for interfering and impeding with an investigation recently ended.

Maryland Jockey Club president Sal Sinatra said the racing office at Laurel would not take entries from Potts and that his name was on a list at Charles Town, Parx Racing and Delaware Park and was not permitted to run horses at those facilities. The allegations by the Maryland Jockey Club were presented in a Paulick Report article published Aug. 20.

The NYRA statement reads:

Wayne Potts is a licensed trainer in the state of New York with full rights to participate in thoroughbred racing at tracks in the state. No regulatory body in any state or jurisdiction has acted against Potts in a way that would trigger a reciprocal suspension in New York. As such, the New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) is presently accepting entries from Potts at NYRA tracks, including Saratoga Race Course.

“NYRA is aware of the allegations publicly leveled against Wayne Potts earlier this week,” said Martin Panza, NYRA SVP of Racing Operations. “These allegations must be thoroughly investigated and adjudicated by the relevant regulatory agencies in order to provide due process to this trainer or any trainer in question. NYRA will take additional actions only as warranted by the facts developed and presented by regulators.”

Prior to accepting any entry from Potts, NYRA reviews the individual circumstances and movements of the horse with heightened scrutiny to ensure that each horse is only under the direct care of Potts.

“Transparency and accountability for owners and trainers is critical for our sport,” said Joe Appelbaum, President of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association. “When the hard questions on integrity arise, it's imperative that we have full investigations and open hearings. This is how we develop confidence in the system.”

Potts is the trainer of three starters at the 2020 Saratoga summer meet including American Sailor, who was elevated to first in the Grade 3 Troy on August 8; Hoffenheim, who ran on August 19; and Our Destiny, who won a maiden special weight on Friday, August 21. Potts' lone additional NYRA starter in 2020 is Runabout, who finished second in a February 14 claiming race at Aqueduct Racetrack.

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