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In a letter to the Hon. John Bonacic, Chairman, NYS Senate Racing & Wagering Committee, the Hon. Gary Pretlow, Chairman, NYS Assembly Racing & Wagering Committee, Robert Williams, Executive Director, New York State Gaming Commission, Members of the NYS Gaming Commission and the Members of the NYS Legislature, Harness racing owner/driver and President of the Standardbred Owners Association of New York, Joe Faraldo speaking on behalf of his Association explains that retribution by Jeff Gural against them is now taking place as a direct result of their opposition to a piece of legislation that did not pass this session.
Here is the Letter;
I am writing on behalf of thousands of hard-working harness horsemen across New York State to make you and your colleagues aware of the retribution that is now taking place against them as a direct result of their opposition to a piece of legislation that did not pass this session. As you know, the SOA of New York, along with the horsemen’s associations at Monticello, Saratoga, Buffalo and Batavia, submitted memos in opposition to S7786 (Bonacic) and A10215 (Pretlow), which would have allowed an individual track owner in New York State to race his own horses at his own tracks – thereby threatening the very integrity of the sport.
As a direct result of these bills not passing, the track owner in question – Jeff Gural, who owns Vernon Downs, Tioga Downs and the Meadowlands – immediately retaliated against me personally by decreeing a lifetime ban against me ever racing any horses I own, in whole or in part, pursuant to valid NYS licenses, at any of these tracks again (and as you will see from the attached article below from the “View from the Grandstand” blog, while Mr. Gural attempted to mask this retribution by citing a technicality with one of my recent entries at the Meadowlands, the unbiased blog author clearly concludes that “this exclusion is retaliatory”).
While this retaliation against me was perhaps not unexpected, what was more shocking – and one would think should be of more serious concern to you, your legislative colleagues and New York State’s racing regulators – was that Mr. Gural followed this personal ban with an additional ban against qualifying at his tracks for ALL horsemen stabled at a track where the statutorily recognized horsemen’s association submitted a letter of opposition to his bill.
This is an absolutely unprecedented action – based on nothing more than a track owner’s anger and petulance over not getting his way – and, quite frankly, it reinforces exactly why it was such a prescient decision not to move this legislation in the Assembly or Senate. The horsemen were extremely concerned about allowing “racing against the boss,” because of the possibility that he could influence the race office and judges and/or retaliate against individual horsemen he would be racing against. Now, Mr. Gural’s retaliatory actions demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that this fear was definitely justified and so thank you for having the wisdom not to move these bills.
We remain committed to continuing to work together to grow our industry with fairness, transparency and integrity, and so once again we simply wanted to make sure you were aware of the types of challenges we unfortunately sometimes face in that effort. Please don’t hesitate to call me at 718-544-6800 or our lobbyist, Joni Yoswein, at 212-233-5700 should you have any questions and thank you again.
Joe Faraldo
President, SOA of NY
Sunday, June 19,2016
LAW AND ORDER
Needless to say Faraldo is claiming foul, that the exclusion is in revenge for his engineering the defeat of a bill in New York State which would have allowed Gural's horses to race at Tioga and Vernon Downs in overnight events where they currently are prohibited from racing. More about this in a moment.
It would very well appear this exclusion is retaliatory as these horses were entered twice at the Meadowlands and allowed to race, without question. Faraldo's exclusion came after he raced his horses this past Friday night. The race office should have rejected the entries the first time if Faraldo was violating the rules.
Truth is, trainers often change when racing in another state. I for one know of one trainer who, when sending horses to New York, had the horses race under the owner's name as trainer because of Workers Compensation requirements in the Empire State; the trainer didn't have the required coverage. Truth is horses often race under different names at different tracks for a myriad of reasons; sometimes innocently, other times to get around rulings (aka, bearding).
It certainly would appear the ban comes in retribution for Faraldo leading the effort to keep track owners from racing in overnight events at their own track. However, Faraldo must have known Gural would be gunning for him; hence unless looking to provoke action, Faraldo should have dotted his 'i's and crossed his 't's and not given Gural a reason to ban him.
Of course, Faraldo is not the only one to suffer for the legislation going down to defeat. Gural has also decided horses stabled at tracks where horsemen opposed the legislative change would not be allowed to qualify at Gural's tracks; they would still be able to race. For the horsemen in these association groups, their penalty is more of an inconvenience. Still, a pretty ballsy action from Gural considering how full the entry box has been at his tracks as these horsemen may decide 'if they can't qualify there, they aren't going to race there'.
Quite honestly, as much as it may be an inconvenience it may be to get Gural's horses to race in overnight events, the legislature was right to defeat the legislation which would have allowed him to race his horses locally. I would never suggest any chicanery on the part of Jeff Gural, but allowing a track operator to race at his own tracks in overnight events would not be a good idea; the perception given when the track operator wins would be he was allowed to win because he owns the track. Just think what handicappers would be saying the first time a track operator's horse was involved in an inquiry and allowed to stay up.
