At a meeting of the Agricultural & New York State Horse Breeding Development Fund this morning in Schenectady New York, the fund unanimously approved the request
made by track management and fully advocated and supported by the Standardbred Owners Association of New York to a significant enhancement of the number of sire stakes legs to be contested at Yonkers Raceway during 2009.
"This is a win-win situation for the New York Sire Stakes Program, the breeding industry in [New York State] and Yonkers Raceway," said SOA president Joe Faraldo.
Largely as a result of the efforts of Yonkers' president Tim Rooney, general manager Bob Galterio and SOA of New York president Joe Faraldo, the trustees of the fund unanimously agreed to the additional dates. Also, there will be an additional $400,000 that will be utilized for overnight races for two and three-year-old New York Sire Stakes-eligible horses, tentatively planned for October and November 2009. The exact details of those races, including dates, will be structured in consultations between Yonkers Raceway management and the fund's executive director Peter Goold. The fund is expected to issue a release sometime later.
The recent loss of the 2009 Night of Champions was very disappointing for both management and the horsemen at Yonkers Raceway. The potential loss of revenue was particularly disconcerting since the money generated for those events comes from Yonkers' VLT operation; the most economically successful in New York State. Now, however, with the additional legs being added, Yonkers is ensured that the money generated here at the raceway will be returned to those New York-breds and that they will race for that money here at Yonkers.
The additional legs obviously will provide additional racing opportunities to horsemen who race in the sire stakes program and fill some of the gaps in the racing schedule. This enhances the value of the New York breeding program.
The SOA of New York would like to thank all those SOA members who took the time to write, email or call chairman Sabini and his colleagues to express their displeasure with the fund decision to move the Night of Champions. With your help, that message was received loud and clear.
The SOA would also once again like to thank SOA board members John Brennan, Mike Kimelman, Stephane Bouchard, and Ray Schnittker, as well as Jason Bartlett for taking the time to appear at the critical December fund meeting and for supporting the application of Joe Faraldo and Bob Galterio for additional consideration for Yonkers Raceway's application.
The entire breeding program in New York State just got made a whole lot more attractive. The value of the added opportunities for owners of New York-breds is calculated to be an additional $2.5 million dollars on top of the $2.1 million previously scheduled to be raced for at Yonkers in 2009 just for New York-breds alone.
Visit the SOA of NY website for complete details.
(With files from the SOA of NY)