NYSGC Doubles Rice’s ‘Improper Practices’ Fine to $100K

The New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) on Tuesday fined trainer Linda Rice $100,000 in a re-adjudication of her “improper practices” case that has persisted at the commission level and in the New York courts for more than two years.

In 2021, the NYSGC fined Rice $50,000 and revoked her license for three years after investigating claims that Rice received favorable treatment from the New York Racing Association (NYRA) and that the racing office was releasing to her the names and past performances of horses that had already been entered in races, giving her an unfair advantage.

The NYSGC initially had alleged that Rice had paid racing officials in exchange for the information, but that bribery charge–which Rice had denied–was later dismissed by the commission.

On June 8, 2023, the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division ruled that the three-year banishment imposed by the NYSGC was “entirely unwarranted.”

But that same court also upheld the commission's determination that the “improper practices” rule had been violated, and ordered the matter back to the NYSGC to reassess the penalty “with the constraint that any reassessed penalty cannot contain a license revocation.”

At the Oct. 3 monthly meeting, NYSGC chair Brian O'Dwyer read into the record a brief explanation of Rice's revamped penalty.

As per the NYSGC's custom, the commissioners did not discuss or debate the matter in an open-public session prior to voting upon it. Their voting happened prior to the start of the meeting and O'Dwyer only reported a summary of the decision.

“The appellate division agreed with the Commission's findings that trainer Rice had blatantly broke the rules of racing by conspiring with others to choose the optimal races for her horses. The appellate division determined, however, that any revocation was unwarranted,” O'Dwyer said.

“We respectfully disagree with that decision, but are constrained by law to follow it. The original fine of $50,000 was predicated on a three-year revocation. Since that is now not extant, we have decided, on the basis of the record, [to] increase the fine to $100,000. And we therefore impose a penalty on trainer Rice of $100,000. The vote was unanimous in that regard,” O'Dwyer said.

Rice did not respond to messages requesting comment prior to deadline for this story, but her attorney, Andrew Turro, indicated to TDN in an email that Rice is ready to move on.

“I'm very, very happy that this is over for Linda and that she can now focus on what she loves and does best,” Turro wrote.

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Mountaineer Steward Defends $100 Fine for Jockey Who Whipped Horse in Face

The chief state steward at Mountaineer Park, Jim O'Brien, on Friday defended his board's seemingly light $100 penalization of jockey Jose A. Leon after other licensees who were on horseback during training hours at the West Virginia track Sept. 10 testified that the 24-year-old rider dismounted from an unruly horse and struck it across the face with his whip.

“He was wrong, but I guess he let his anger get the best of him, and he hit the horse in the face,” O'Brien told TDN.

O'Brien added that he and the other two Mountaineer stewards–Maureen Andrews and Phil Heidenreich–won't be revisiting the penalty, because they believe the punishment fits the violation.

“The horse was acting up after he got off, which is no excuse, but that's what happened,” O'Brien said.

Leon, in a separate interview Sept. 22, denied he hit the horse in the face after dismounting from it. But he did admit that he was “frustrated,” and that he struck the horse “in the mouth” earlier in a workout while still on horseback in an effort to keep it from careening through the outside fence after it bolted.

Specific information about the horse's identity and condition were not available at deadline for this story.

TDN first reported Leon's fine on Sept. 21. At the time of publication, details about the incident were scant. The stewards' ruling, dated Sept. 18, didn't even mention that a whip was involved.

That initial news story caught the attention of TDN readers, and it quickly cycled to the top of the most-read articles list. Within 24 hours of publication, it drew 19 reader comments, which skewed 18-1 against Leon's actions, with a number of the commenters suggesting that the penalty should have been stiffer.

One reader who phoned TDN directly was Justin Jensen, a former jockey who now owns, trains, and exercises horses at Mountaineer. Jensen said he had witnessed Leon's actions, and was one of the witnesses who reported what happened to the Mountaineer stewards.

Jensen said his motivation for wanting his side of the story told was because “A hundred-dollar fine isn't acceptable. The stewards are not doing what they should be doing by throwing the book at him a little bit more.”

Leon, Jensen, and O'Brien essentially told TDN the same version of what occurred during the botched workout. It's what happened after the horse got pulled up that Leon disputed.

“I'm at the three-eighths pole galloping in a set, and Jose Leon worked up the rail, worked past us, and his horse bolted to the outside,” Jensen said. “Now to his credit, he stayed on, and I thought for a second that horse was going through the outside rail. And he corrected the horse by hitting it in the face.”

O'Brien corroborated that explanation: “Other witnesses said they don't even know how he stayed on the horse, and the horse was acting up bad,” the steward said.

“I showed him the whip,” said Leon, who has been a licensed jockey for five years. “I did hit him on the bit; just tried to correct him. The stewards told me that was okay, because they know if I'm in a dangerous [situation], I really have to do something to correct the horse. I hit the horse on the mouth. It wasn't on the face.”

Jensen said that at that point, he couldn't really blame Leon for his actions.

“You're in a dangerous spot. He reached out and smacked the horse in the face. Not the end of the world, okay?” Jensen said.

But what happened afterward troubled Jensen.

“So now he gets the horse back down on the rail,” Jensen continued. “They finish the workout, and I'm galloping right behind him. We pull up. I'm maybe 30, 40 yards away from him. Now the problem is done. All he had to do was turn that horse around and jog it home. And because he's got a bad attitude, and he always has a temper, he jumped off that horse, and as he jumped off that horse, he grabbed the right rein with his left hand, and he reached back with his right hand, and he whipped that horse in the face. I don't know if he hit him in the eye, but he whipped him hard across the face.”

Jensen continued: “Now I yelled at him, and I said, 'Jose, that's enough.' I said, 'Calm down, get that horse back to the barn safely, and just take a breath.' We rode away from him. He continued to get a little bit more mad at the horse, but he did not whip him in the face again. But he did whip him in the face the first time, 100 percent.”

Jensen said by that time, outrider Theresa Akers had come over to assist. She would also testify at Leon's hearing.

“If we had some patrons from the casino standing up on the turn, watching horses train in the morning, which they do quite often, and they witness a jockey whip a horse in the face like that, that makes our business look worse,” Jensen said. “And right now, horse racing is under the microscope.”

Asked directly by TDN if he dismounted from the horse and struck him, Leon said no.

“I came up to the seven-eighths pole [and] just put my stick up, and I started, like, holding the bridle, working with him,” Leon said. “The outrider, she was saying I hit the horse in the face, that the horse had an [injured] eye, and I explained to the stewards the horse did not have any damage, that the horse was fine, and everything was okay. The horse is the type of horse that is a crazy horse. He's super hyper.”

“I was frustrated, but I did not do things on purpose,” Leon said. “I know it's something serious. I will pay the fine, because I know if I lose [an appeal], I don't want to get in trouble for something that I know that I did, but it wasn't on purpose to hurt the horse. I did it to take care of myself. I know with all the [new] rules that are going on, [an incident like this] can affect my career.”

Jensen, in telling his version of events, also referenced the slew of new national anti-whip rules that are in effect. He said he can't square Leon getting fined only $100 for what happened when other jockeys who violate crop rules for being a few strikes over the in-race limit get hit with multi-day suspensions or fines that are much higher than that.

Jensen also gave an example of something that happened to him last year at Mountaineer: He got into a disagreement with the track superintendent and swore at him. He said he was asked to explain his actions before the same board of stewards and admitted that what he said was not appropriate.

“Now those were words,” Jensen said. “How did I get a $400 fine for saying [expletive], but this guy gets a $100 fine for whipping a horse in the face?”

Jensen said he is well aware that speaking out against alleged horse abuse can have repercussions for those within the industry who choose to report it, especially at a small track like Mountaineer. He said there were others who witnessed Leon's actions on that morning but chose not to come forward, and that he understands their reasons for not doing so.

“But I'm okay with you putting my name on this,” Jensen said. “I'm probably going to be dragged through the mud with the stewards. I foresee them dragging me in and giving me a hard time over this. But you know what? There's a difference between right and wrong, and I'm trying to stand up for the right right now.”

The post Mountaineer Steward Defends $100 Fine for Jockey Who Whipped Horse in Face appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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CHRB Approves Stricter Penalties For Whip Use, Hopes To Have New Rule In Place For Breeders’ Cup

Hoping to have a new rule in place for the 2021 Breeders' Cup at Del Mar in November, the California Horse Racing Board approved on Wednesday new, stricter penalties to impose on jockeys for excessive whip use, reports the Daily Racing Form.

Since Oct. 1, California jockeys have been limited to six underhanded strikes of the whip, and are allowed two strikes before pausing to allow for a response. Stewards have fined jockeys a total of $28,300 since the new rules were implemented, primarily for using the whip more than six times.

In a unanimous vote, the CHRB approved a rule establishing a minimum fine of $500 and possible three-day suspension for excessive whip use. The current rule calls for a maximum fine of $1,000, along with the possible three-day suspension.

The CHRB's new penalty rule will have a 45-day public comment period before coming back for final approval.

“I think this protects the domestic rider,” said CHRB Chairman Gregory Ferraro. “Our concern had been that riders, particularly from foreign countries, could violate the rule and a $500 fine and three-day suspension would be meaningless to them. This allows for considerably more punishment for egregious violations and makes it more fair to our domestic riding colony.”

“This addresses the concern that I had right along, that has been any excessive whipping and putting in-state riders at a disadvantage,” echoed commissioner Oscar Gonzalez. “I believe this measure addresses any concerns I had. I'm hoping this is something we can adopt and have in place by Breeders' Cup.”

Read more at the Daily Racing Form.

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Injured Jockey Makes Impassioned Plea For Stricter Careless Riding Penalties

Danny Brereton, 55-year-old former jockey, made an impassioned plea for racing authorities across the world to be tougher on careless riding penalties when speaking to racing.com this week. Brereton suffered a career-ending injury during a race 10 years ago in Australia, and still cannot walk unassisted. “A proper penalty would stop careless riding in its tracks because nobody would risk losing two or three months of their year through suspension,” Brereton told racing.com. “We're not in the days of Ben Hur anymore.”
Current penalties for careless riding in Australia range from a month to six weeks, and the penalties are generally much shorter in the U.S. Brereton believes that stewards are being hamstrung by jockeys' associations. “Stewards can and they would be able to stop careless riding,” Brereton continued. “They can and would be able to stop jockeys being put in wheelchairs but their hands are tied and their hands are tied by the jockeys' association, because they represent riders who have done the wrong thing and discourage stewards from issuing sterner penalties. “They have got the stewards to police it and then they're going in and over the heads of the stewards saying 'don't punish our members' but they've got another rider lying on the track. It's absolutely ridiculous, why are they doing that?” Read more at racing.com.

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