Plan Would Cut Six Aqueduct Race Dates

The New York Racing Association board of directors will be asked Dec. 3 to approve a 2015 budget that cuts the number of racing dates at Aqueduct Racetrack by a total of six days during the track’s winter and fall meets.

While projecting an overall surplus for its 2015 operating budget, NYRA officials will ask the board to take steps to deal with a continuing slide in field size at Aqueduct, which is expected to drop from 7.5 horses per race in 2014 to 6.85 in 2015. Officials told a state oversight panel earlier that a one-tenth of 1% drop in field size can have a sizeable impact on overall pari-mutuel handle.

The NYRA board will be asked to approve a budget that calls for 74 racing dates at the Aqueduct winter meet, compared with 79 in 2014, and 39 racing dates in the fall of 2015, one less day than is scheduled for 2014. The minimum number of racing dates at NYRA tracks is set by state law; whether NYRA will need approval from the legislature and governor for its racing schedule was not immediately clear Dec. 2.

The budget proposal includes a one-week “break” in racing at Aqueduct from March 23-31 that, a board briefing document states, will help to “stabilize field size."

In all, when additional scheduled dates are included for Belmont Park and racing dates hold steady at 40 for Saratoga Race Course, NYRA is scheduling a total of 250 race dates in 2015, down from the 252 scheduled in 2014.

Total handle for NYRA in 2015 is projected to decline 3% compared with the 2014 forecast, the briefing document states, based on fewer races and the racing entity doing business with “strong headwinds facing the industry." NYRA defined those conditions as declining foal crops and a reduction in off-track betting.

The NYRA board, according to its agenda, is expected to consider some preliminary updates and moves to restore the racing corporation to its privately run status in 2015 as it looks to end a three-year period of having a state government board run its operations.