Rice Appeal of License Revocation Back on Front Burner

An appeal of the revocation of Linda Rice's New York trainer's license is back on the front burner of the court system about 18 months after a hearing officer for the New York State Gaming Commission concluded she committed a serious infraction of two racing regulations.

The revocation of not less than three years and a $50,000 fine recommended by the hearing officer in mid-2021 and ordered by the commission followed an eight-day hearing that stretched over months during a pandemic. A temporary restraining order put the penalty on hold pending Rice's appeal.

Attorneys for Rice, Andrew J. Turro and Daniel B. Rinaldi, filed a brief covering 71 pages on Nov. 16 in the New York Supreme Court Appellate Division. The record on review, which contains all documents and transcripts compiled in the case, was filed on the same day and contains seven volumes consisting of 4,398 pages, according to the online record.

Four arguments are presented to the appellate court by Rice's lawyers: the commission’s order is not supported by substantial evidence; a portion of the regulation upon which the commission’s order is premised is unconstitutionally vague; the commission’s order is such a "dramatic departure from commission precedent" as to be arbitrary and capricious; and the three-year license revocation is so disproportionate to the offense that it shocks the sense of fairness and therefore constitutes an abuse of discretion as a matter of law.

"(O)n February 1, 2018, Ms. Rice agreed, without hesitation, to be interviewed by the Commission in connection with the purported misconduct at issue in this case," the brief asserts in an opening salvo. "Nearly two years later, and in spite of the fact that the Commission was aware of, and never prosecuted, similar behavior, which was widespread in the horse racing industry in New York, the Commission charged Ms. Rice with alleged misconduct."

A responsive brief will be filed by the commission.

Rice was charged on Nov. 29, 2019, with knowingly receiving improper access to the confidential names and information about horses entered in New York overnight races before entries closed, helping her decide whether to enter horses from her own stable; and paying substantial sums of money for the information. Rice contends payments to officials were Christmas gifts.

New York Supreme Court Justice Mark L. Powers officiated over the initial stage of judicial review of the sanctions order against Rice. Powers found in a  May 17 order that the origins of the case date back to 2011, and he wrote about hard proof she received improper access to entries from Jose Morales, a racing office employee of NYRA, from October 2013 to August 2014.

"75 emails were sent by Jose Morales to Ms. Rice that included the names and past performances of horses entered in overnight races," Powers wrote. "Ironically, 44 races had 8 or more horses entered at the time the emails were sent (races unnecessary to 'hustle'). In 23 out of 75 races referred to in the emails, Ms. Rice entered one or more horses in those races after receipt of the entries."

Morales left NYRA's employment in August 2014 to become a jockey agent, and that eventually led to Rice's legal troubles. According to Powers' order, a 2017 application by Morales to renew his jockey agent license was not granted. The Queen's District Attorney's Office was conducting a criminal investigation into unlawful access to the NYRA InCompass Database system that included Morales while an agent.

"During that investigation," Powers wrote, "Jose Morales revealed the relationship he had with Ms. Rice to avoid potential incarceration."

Powers' order ruled that a regulation applied to Rice's case that forbids "any improper, corrupt, or fraudulent act or practice in relation to racing" is not unconstitutionally void for vagueness on its face or as applied. He deferred other matters to the court, where the case is now pending.