Kevin Bond and the New York Racing Association have reached a settlement to charges lodged against the trainer in February accusing him of conduct detrimental to the best interest of racing and to NYRA's business operations, the association announced in a statement Tuesday.
“The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) and trainer Kevin Bond have reached a settlement agreement resolving and discontinuing the administrative proceeding brought against Mr. Bond in February,” the statement read.
“As part of the settlement agreement, Mr. Bond has agreed to temporarily step away from racing or training activities at NYRA tracks through Aug. 13.”
Bond was charged in relation to an antisemitic comment posted on his Facebook page following the murder of Rob Reiner.
According to attorney Clark Brewster who represented Bond, the agreement to step away from training did not equate to a “formal” suspension.
“There's no suspension. There's no formal ban. But Kevin has voluntarily chosen to step back away from doing any training or assisting on NYRA grounds. But he helps his father at the farm [in upstate New York] and does things that are off NYRA grounds that do not violate the agreement he made to step away for a while,” said Brewster.
Brewster said that as part of the agreement, Bond was required to take classes on anti-discrimination policies.
“He took classes, completed those classes, and did so with real acceptance and responsibility. That's been reported to NYRA that Kevin's completed those,” said Brewster.
“He's accepted full realization how comments that were attributed to him would be viewed by people, and Kevin has really been incredibly accepting and responsible in that comprehension and in his actions and what he learned going forward,” Brewster added.
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