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‘Hottest Political Race Of The Year’: New York State Legislators Compete In Live Harness Races At Yonkers

Empire City Casino by MGM Resorts announced the date has been set for the Annual Legislative Pace and New York State Senators and Assembly Members have circled Tuesday, Sept. 13, 2022, on their busy calendars for what is being dubbed “The Hottest Political Race of the Year.” The Annual Legislative Pace will give legislators the reins as they compete for bragging rights in what has become an ultra-competitive, yet friendly, must-see harness racing extravaganza at Yonkers Raceway hosted by Empire City Casino by MGM Resorts' (“Empire City”) and the Standardbred Owners Association of New York (“SOANY”).

The event has been held annually, with the exception of 2020, allowing New York State legislators to participate in before-the-card non-wagering harness races, holding the reins in double-seated jog carts alongside professional harness drivers. Each of the races consists of two trips around Yonker Raceway's historic one-half-mile oval.

“The annual Legislative Pace event is a great way for legislators to come together and advocate for the needs of the harness industry,” said New York State Senator Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr. “As the Chair of the Senate Racing, Gaming and Wagering Committee, I work to ensure that the harness racing industry is properly represented and the needs of the riders, horses, trainers and owners are adequately met. I look forward to taking part in this great event.”

In the 2021 Legislative Pace, the three winners of their respective harness races took the reins for a second time to determine which of the three would be named Champion of the night. The match pitted three Assembly Members against each other. First-time Legislative Pace participant Assembly Member Joe DeStefano (R-Medford) faced veteran participants and former race champions in Chair of the Assembly Racing and Wagering Committee Gary Pretlow (D-Westchester) and colleague Nader Sayegh (D-Westchester). DeStefano emerged the overall Champion in a competitive race.

Immediately after his victory, DeStefano turned his focus to returning to defend his championship title.

“I can now officially claim an undefeated record at the Legislative Pace, and I look forward to defending my title next year,” DeStefano said. “Winning these two races on behalf of my district in Suffolk County was an added bonus to such a fun day with my colleagues in government to come together and highlight the importance of harness racing to the downstate and upstate economies.”

The 2021 Legislative Pace participants got to experience the significant investment MGM Resorts made in the historic track of more than $750,000 that funded the first such investment the track has seen in more than 15 years, including the installation and upgrading of track lighting to an LED system.

“I look forward to participating in Empire City Casino's annual Legislative Pace event alongside my colleagues,” said New York State Assembly Racing and Wagering Committee Chair J. Gary Pretlow. “It will be another memorable year with so much fun and a competitive spirit from all the participants.”

The legislative line-up for the 2022 Legislative Pace will be announced shortly. Past participants include representatives from across New York State in both the State Senate and State Assembly. Participation is limited to state representatives currently holding elected office.

The historic Yonkers Raceway has also announced that it will once again host the famed $1 million MGM Yonkers International Trot on Saturday, October 15, along with the $500,000 Aria Invitational Race and $500,000 Robert Miecuna Invitational Race. This is the first International Trot to be held since before the pandemic in 2019. The race draws the best harness equine athletes from across the world to Yonkers, New York to compete for one of the richest purses in the industry.

Since 1959, the International Trot has historically been a global showcase of harness racing, hosting driver, trainer and equine royalty from across the globe. The International Trot officially moved to Yonkers Raceway in 1988 and was contested as a mile-and-a-quarter event on the historic half-mile track for a few years before being revived in 2015 after a 20-year hiatus. Now officially rechristened as the MGM Yonkers International Trot and one of only two million-dollar races in North America, along with the Hambletonian, it is one of the few stakes races fully funded by the host track and requires no financial commitment from owners.

Live racing continues at Yonkers Raceway Monday-Tuesday and Thursday-Saturday evenings with a first-race post time of 6:55 PM. Races are simulcast and available for viewing and wagering online at www.EmpireCityBets.com where racing fans can create a free account and view live racing at Yonkers Raceway and tracks across the country.

For more information on Empire City Casino by MGM Resorts, please visit www.empirecitycasino.com.

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Offering A Leg Up, One Last Time: Charity Spotlight Presented By Avion Law

There are very few words that get the adrenaline pumping and heart pounding like “Riders up!”

That's when all eyes are on the trainer, giving a leg up to the jockey, putting the hopes and dreams of trainers, owners, handicappers, and horse racing fans everywhere on the shoulders of the demure, colorful shoulders sitting aboard a rocket ready to explode. Once the ride is over, the jockey suits up for another round. Each time, he or she puts their trust into several other horses and jockeys, the track, and the horse to make it to the end of the day…just so they can do it all over again tomorrow.

But what happens when the unthinkable happens, and the rider is injured in a race, or even in a morning workout? For most, riding racehorses is all they know, and if they can't return to the saddle, so much depends on that weekly or daily paycheck. Losing the ability to ride prevents the injured jockey to provide for his or her family, or even return to be near the animal they have grown to love.

Enter the Permanently Disabled Jockeys Fund (PDJF). Launched at the 2006 Preakness Stakes, the PDJF is an independent charitable organization that provides financial assistance to jockeys (within the Quarter Horse and Thoroughbred industries) who have suffered catastrophic on-track injuries. When created it was a collaborative effort of leaders that represent racetracks across the country, jockeys, horsemen's groups, and others.

While the PDJF is able to distribute stipends to nearly 60 jockeys every month, averaging $1,000, there's still so much more the organization can do, if only they had the dependable assistance.

“One thing our board strives for is financial stability,” says Nancy LaSala, president of the PDJF. “We rely on donations because there's no permanent funding mechanism that comes from horse racing to support the PDJF, so we're always looking for fundraising ideas, which is always a challenge.

“As proud as I am that we've been active and helped so many riders since 2006, I'm somewhat disappointed and frustrated that we haven't been able to increase the monthly stipend because we have not seen the contributions increase or established a reliable revenue stream.”

Michael Straight and John Velazquez pose with a PDJF magazine

The PDJF is always looking for initiatives that can become those revenue streams, and while LaSala stresses they're not in the business of event planning, it's those events that seem to be the biggest draw for money. The PDJF has established an endowment, however each month it's difficult to add to that endowment due to the lack of income. While the group's main goal is establishing permanent, consistent funding, the second is to build the endowment to a level to which it can support not only an increase of the monthly stipend to the jockeys but also to be self-sustaining.

“Absent reliable revenue streams, events are necessary,” said LaSala, “Event fundraising was not the primary source of annual funding for the PDJF. The original funding model of the PDJF was industry proposed model whereby racetracks and horsemen's groups would give a percentage every year and that would be the basis for what the initial monthly stipends were approved for. Then the board was tasked to come up with ways to build the endowment and build revenue streams. It became apparent that we were going to have to become a fundraising machine early on when the original funding model did not take seed by all of its participants, and we were faced with not having sufficient funds to make the next month's disbursement to our recipients. Awareness of the PDJF through fundraising became critical to continue the mission set out. As well the industry does not have a national database tracking injuries the only way to reach riders who were catastrophically injured was through events, media, and word of mouth.”

One new initiative of the PDJF Board is a program called “Riders Up” which has been presented and received well by the national industry organizations. Riders Up is a way for a horse owner to donate to the PDJF through their winning purse. Instead of there being a fee for each entry, which is a needed source of revenue for other industry organizations, and the PDJF wants to be sensitive to the costs for owners. This would be done where the winning owner of the race can contribute based on the purse level. The contribution would be one-half of 1 percent of the winning purse, with a cap of $200.

“We have canvassed with many horse owners around the country and received favorable responses from horse owners,” says LaSala. “As well, this is not intended to be a mandatory program and each owner would be able to privately opt out. We are now working out the elements for implementation of this program at the local track levels with each horsemen group and are thankful to InCompass and The Jockey Club for making the software upgrade for this implementation at no cost to the users.”

The PDJF was originally created to provide these men and women with financial assistance, raise awareness of their needs, promote medical research, and support safety initiatives dedicated to reducing catastrophic injuries. The one benefit organizers say they did not foresee at the PDJF's creation was the community we would be creating for these men and women that did not exist. This community has had such a positive impact on so many of their lives, through the friendships they have formed, their involvement at PDJF events as spokespersons of the PDJF to being for each other in good times and in bad.

“We are blessed with the support we have received, we thank the Paulick Report for their support and the times that Ray and Brad's raised funds during the Breeders Cup of Bust walk from Lexington to Churchill and their drive to California for Breeders Cup,” added LaSala. “A special thank you to Avion Law for the platform they have provided PDJF and other industry charities by sponsoring these articles.”

To learn more about the PDJF, visit their website: http://pdjf.org

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‘This Is My Saratoga’: John Ortiz Captures First Training Title At Ellis Park

The historic 2022 RUNHAPPY Ellis Park Summer Meet finished on a high note on Sunday.

“We have had a wonderful summer racing season and we are very appreciative of the support from our community for Ellis Park,” said Ellis Park General Manager, Jeff Inman. “We have been blessed with great crowds, fantastic racing and tremendous support from the horsemen and bettors. As we close out our 100th year of racing, it is only fitting that we have one of the most successful race meetings in our storied history.”

The 23-day live racing meet concluded with an eight-race card on Sunday.

Titles for leading trainer, jockey and owner were awarded throughout the day on Sunday. Gerardo Corrales was awarded Leading Jockey and Leading Owner went to Gary and Mary West.

There was a three-way tie for leading trainer between Steve Asmussen, Brad Cox and John Ortiz going into the final day. The deciding win came early in the day as trainer John Ortiz added another victory in the first race with A Little Wild, a debuting son of Union Rags. The award marks the first Leading Trainer title for young trainer, John Ortiz.

“I want to thank everyone at Ellis Park, the management, racing office, hospitality and the fans,” said Ortiz. “It's a fantastic place to be. They do so much for the racing, the community, and the fans. I've always run here, since I was an assistant trainer for Kellyn Gorder, when we tied for the title with Buff Bradley in 2014. It's just been my dream to come back here and win it for myself. I've admired Steve and Brad my entire life, I appreciate them, I call them when I need any advice and they've always been there for me. To be able to run one, two, three with them… I ran third in the standings at Oaklawn this year against them and to be able to beat them… this is my Saratoga meet. It means a lot.”

Despite having seven less racing days than 2021, Ellis Park field sizes during the 2022 season increased by 9.8 percent. The average handle increased by 19.7 percent, and average commission increased by 14.6 percent.

“The caliber of racing over the last eight weeks is a true testament to the strength of the Kentucky racing circuit and the vital and important role that Ellis Park plays in that circuit,” said Vince Gabbert, Interim Director of Racing. “We have seen some great performances on the track this summer and look forward to watching the next crop of racing stars come out of the Ellis summer meet. An extremely big thank you to the horsemen, jockeys and staff that all support racing and have helped to make 2022 a very successful meet.”

For its 2022 race meet, Ellis Park offered many nostalgic track events and promotions that were lost since before COVID-19. These community favorites included things like blanket presentations, wiener dog races, dollar days, and Family Day.

“For the 100th anniversary, we wanted to bring Ellis Park back to its roots – a family place in the Tri-State community – and honor it with the things that make this community great,” said Allie Sclafani, Interim Marketing Director. “The Ellis Park team should be very proud of what we were able to accomplish this year.”

Ellis Park partnered with local fire & police departments to thank the community for its support as well as over a dozen local and endemic 503c non-profit organizations throughout the 2022 RUNHAPPY Summer at Ellis Park to give back to the Henderson community, including: Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (TAA), Jockeys Across America (PDJF), Susan G. Komen, Healing Reins of Kentucky, P.A.A.W.S., New Hope Animal Rescue Center, New Life Rescues, Vanderburgh Humane Society, Boys & Girls Club of Henderson, Horsemen's Benevolent & Protection Organization (HBPA), Horses & Hope, and more.

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Milestones, Saratoga Records: Joel Rosario, John Velazquez Tie For Jockey Of The Week Title

During its more than 150 year history, Saratoga Race Course has been the site of many historic racing moments for both human and equine athletes. For the week of Aug. 22 through Aug. 28, it was achievements by the human athletes that took center stage. Jockeys John Velazquez and Joel Rosario reached milestones and set records which may stand for quite a while. The riders tied for the honor of Jockey of the Week.

The award, which is voted on by a panel of racing experts, honors jockeys who are members of the Jockeys' Guild, the organization which represents more than 1050 active, retired and permanently disabled jockeys in the United States.

On Thursday, John Velazquez recorded win 1,000 at Saratoga. Riding for Hall of Fame trainer, Bill Mott, Velazquez guided Precursory to a neck victory in the eighth race.

“When they come to a photo finish, if you're betting, you might want to put your money on him,” said Mott. “To win the one that he set the record on is very meaningful.”

“By far, this is one of the best ones,” said Velazquez when asked where this ranks with his legion of accomplishments which includes five Saratoga leading rider titles. “Wins at Saratoga tend to mean a little bit more. It forces you to dig deeper if you want to be successful.”

Velazquez was not done for the week, however, as he followed up his historic milestone with a win on Saturday aboard Malathaat in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher.

On Saturday, Joel Rosario continued his assault on graded stakes victories with a win aboard Gufo in the Grade 1 Sword Dancer for trainer Christophe Clement. Gufo rallied down the center of the inner turf track to post a half-length win for Rosario's third win of the day.

Rosario's fourth win of the day came in the Grade 1 Travers aboard Epicenter for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. Off as the even-money favorite in the field of eight, Epicenter took the lead from Cyberknife at the top of the stretch to post a dominant five-length victory in 2:00.72 for the 1 1/4 miles. The win was the first in the Travers for Rosario.

The Travers was the 12th graded stakes victory of the meet for Rosario, setting a record for the most graded stakes wins by a rider in a single Saratoga meeting. The previous record was set by John Velazquez with 11 graded stakes wins in 2005 and equaled by Javier Castellano in 2015.

'It's amazing,” said Rosario. “I have a great agent. Ron Anderson is amazing and I have to thank him and everyone for all the opportunities they've given me.”

Rosario also won the Seeking the Ante aboard Maple Leaf Mel on Friday for trainer Jeremiah Englehardt.

Other contenders for Jockey of the Week were Jose Ortiz with five stakes wins, Irad, Ortiz, Jr, also with five stakes wins, and Leonel Reyes who led all jockeys for the week in wins with 11.

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