New York State Gaming Commission

Keith Doleshel, fined $2,000 by the New York Gaming Commission for "failing to conduct business in a professional manner," will appeal that ruling before the commission, and has retained attorney Drew Mollica to represent him, according to Mollica. The ruling stemmed from an incident at Saratoga in which an unauthorized agent was allowed to claim a horse this past summer. The New York State rules of racing require that an individual be licensed with the Gaming Commission and registered with The Jockey Club. After the claim, NYRA officials informed the...

The barred Thoroughbred trainer Michael Tannuzzo, 50, was sentenced to 27 months in a federal prison on Monday as part of plea agreement in which he had previously copped guilty to one felony count of drug adulteration and misbranding with the intent to defraud or mislead. Tannuzzo, a native of Brooklyn and Queens who had 11 horses racing at Aqueduct at the time of his Mar. 9, 2020, arrest, made headlines 24 hours later by steadfastly declaring his innocence and maintaining that the New York State Gaming Commission shouldn't have...

The New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) took a unanimous voice vote on Thursday to request an exemption from the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act Authority (HISA) that will allow the continued use of Lasix in races other than those for 2-year-olds and in stakes. Asking for the exemption also opts states into a three-year study that will be conducted by HISA that is designed to shape future federal Lasix policies, possibly as early as 2026. The vote itself was hardly a surprise. Not applying for the exemption would have...

The New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) on Monday unanimously voted to change the licensing procedure for jockey agents by removing the long-standing requirement for an applicant to have been previously licensed as an exercise rider, jockey, assistant trainer or trainer for at least one year. The change now allows the stewards to determine whether an applicant is qualified based on experience, background and knowledge. TDN first reported on this restrictive practice in 2020, describing the then-current version of the rule as "arbitrary, insular and protectionist, ensuring that the path...

The New York State Gaming Commission has announced that its Equine Medical Director Dr. Scott E. Palmer VMD and all three stewards will be made available to the media at the conclusion of the program to discuss any incidents that occur during the races at Saratoga Race Course Sept. 3. In addition, Dr. Palmer will be available to speak to the media in the event of any equine health-related on-track incidents that take place during the day. Dr. Luis Castro, the American Association of Equine Practitioners on-call veterinarian, will provide...

The New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) advanced a Thoroughbred claiming rules proposal Monday that would address the voiding of claims and ineligible potential claimants, establish procedures for resolving challenges to claims, and outline a specific procedure for horse custody if the stewards discover a claimant had been ineligible. The proposal passed by unanimous voice vote with no discussion or debate among commissioners. The full text of the amended rules will now be published in the New York State Register. After a public commentary period, the NYSGC will reconvene to...

by the Thoroughbred Idea Foundation The rule seems clear. What is also clear is that the rule, as written, was ignored on Thursday, July 21 at Saratoga, though by which party is unknown at present. "On behalf of aggrieved horseplayers who were impacted by the decision last Thursday, and all future players of multi-race bets in New York, we felt it necessary to seek clarification from the New York State Gaming Commission about the rules, why a seemingly arbitrary decision was made in the sequence and what customer expectations should...

Trainer Juan Carlos Vazquez has been banned from running horses in the state of New York, according to a release from the New York State Gaming Commission. In a ruling issued July 7, the Pennsylvania Board of Stewards suspended Vazquez through Jan. 26, 2025, alleging that a horse under his care was shipped from Belmont Park to Parx Racing who was in such poor health that it had to be euthanized after its arrival. The stewards labeled Vazquez's behavior "grossly negligent, cruel and abusive." It its statement Monday, the NYSGC...

A year and a half after being signed into law, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) is expected to kick into action Friday, meaning a new uniform set of medication rules and safety standards that everyone can abide by--that, at least, was the plan. The execution has somewhat thrown those intentions to the wind in the near term, with a piecemeal approach to implementation that has seen the anti-doping and medication control arm of the program pushed back to early next year, and several other features of the law--such...

Sixteen months after a widely criticized rule forcing the pari-mutuel coupling of married jockeys cost an estimated $4.2 million in handle loss at Aqueduct Racetrack, the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) on Wednesday finally voted in a rule change that resolved a bureaucratic logjam by changing four words in a regulation that is about 50 years old. So after nearly a year and a half of the rule resulting in truncated field sizes, being widely bemoaned by the betting public, and being termed as sexist by critics because it...

Significant increases of more than $1.6 million to the purse schedule for the 2022 summer meet at historic Saratoga Race Course were announced Friday by the New York Racing Association, Inc. The meet begins Thursday, July 14 and continues through Monday, Sept. 5. The condition book for the Saratoga summer meet is now available online at nyra.com/Saratoga. "We're pleased to be able to offer these purse increases across the middle core of our racing program," said Frank Gabriel, Jr., NYRA's Senior Vice President of Racing Operations. "We look forward to...

The New York State Gaming Commission has articulated the security protocols it has established for this weekend's Belmont Stakes Festival. Horses running in the GI Belmont S. will be subject to continuous, 72-hour 'dedicated watch' by experienced security personnel. One guard will be stationed full-time for every Belmont S. entrant. Horses running in the GI Metropolitan H. will be under 'intensified watch,' by six to eight security personnel conducting mobile surveillance and direct horse checks at least three times a shift from 72 hours up to 30 hours prior to...