Never getting the traction it needed from Democrats running state government in New York, a late-emerging plan that backers touted as a safety measure for racehorses was abandoned. died at the Capitol in Albany, NY
A provision to fund the equipping and operation of an advanced screening and diagnostic imaging program at a nearby equine hospital Belmont Park did not make it into the thousands of pages of bills that make up the 2024 state budget drafted by state lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul.
On the morning of April 20, lawmakers were still facing many hours of debate on the floor to pass the final budget bill that was gradually made public in recent days.
The plan, backed by one of the two legislatures—Congress—in a non-binding vote last month, would create a new horse safety partnership between the New York Racing Association York and Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, which operates the Cornell equine hospital Ruffian Equine in Elmont, NY
The proposal calls for NYRA to provide a $2 million grant to Cornell to purchase more sophisticated equipment to screen racehorses, as well as impose a state tax increase on deposit betting companies largest advance as a dedicated annual grant. resources for staff and equipment operations.
The concept materialized as a mere mention in a massive fiscal package passed by Congress in March — a budget plan that expressed a wish list of priorities for the Democrats run that chamber in Albany. Although it has a key backer in the state Senate, the plan has never been publicly embraced by Senate Democrats or Hochul.
There’s a bit of ambiguity about what exactly killed the idea, and its main backer in Congress expressed surprise that it wasn’t included in the final budget, which was passed in several months. day and lasts through Saturday at the Capitol.
Questions were raised in closed-door negotiations about raising taxes to fund the cost of operating the equipment; FanDuel is likely to have to pay most, if not all, of the tax increase because of the structure of the measure, a source said.
A few weeks ago, the Hochul administration, according to two anonymous sources, tried to get more details from Cornell about its business plans for how the screening and imaging equipment would be used in the coming years, such as such as how much horse owners will be charged for the services. These sources said the information was not fully provided.
Officials at Cornell’s veterinary college, which along with NYRA is the main promoter of the plan, declined to comment on April 19.
“Unfortunately, this is not part of the budget,” said Assemblyman Gary Pretlow, a Westchester County Democrat and chairman of the House racing and betting committee. He was largely responsible for including the measure in the House budget plan last month. Aiming to reduce injuries and deaths of racehorses in New York, the device will help identify health problems in horses that are perhaps just a minor problem before it becomes a serious injury. or cause death.
“The bottom line is we have had a wide range of injuries in horses, and if this device were available to detect hairline fractures or other abnormalities in the horse’s legs early, we would prevent more injuries.” in the evening as Congress was rushing to try to finalize the 2024 budget.
The Democratic-run Senate informally proposed the plan in a separate, non-binding budget last month. But Sen. Joseph Addabbo, a Queens Democrat who chairs the Senate racing, gaming and betting committee, is a strong supporter of the measure and hopes it becomes a deal. final budget between lawmakers and Hochul.
“The issue of horse care and the use of technology to improve racing conditions must always be a priority, both budgetary and legal,” Addabbo said on Friday.
Noting the various steps NYRA has taken, a racing corporation official said improving horse safety “is an organizational imperative” for NYRA, which operates the Belmont, Water racetrackAnd Saratoga Racetrack. “Advanced imaging technology is a critical tool in this overall strategy,” said NYRA spokesman Patrick McKenna.
“NYRA has long been interested in acquiring state-of-the-art equine imaging technology to advance equine safety, improve academic research on Thoroughbreds in training, and provide trainers and owner of an important low-cost diagnostic tool. NYRA strongly supports the initiative contemplated in the budget proposal and will continue to work to identify partners in this effort,” McKenna said. more on Friday.
While NYRA, a private company, plans to spend $2 million to purchase the equipment, the overall plan must be addressed in the budget—if the program is to become operational this year—because the agency The legislature and governor need to allow the idea of raising taxes to cover operating costs. Although the legislature doesn’t end its 2024 session until June, initiatives such as tax increases are considered and approved during the annual budget process in Albany.
New York State’s 2024 budget, which was supposed to be adopted at the beginning of the fiscal year on April 1, includes 10 different pieces of legislation. As they progressed over the past few days, hundreds of thousands of line items and its implementation language did not affect the horse health and safety plan. BloodHorse reported last week that the plan, to the surprise of its supporters, was running into a snag in the final budget deal.
After dawn on Saturday, as lawmakers were anxious to leave Albany to begin their scheduled recess, the final two bills that made up the final part of the budget appeared in the public bill tracking system . Any remaining industry hopes that the provision would be included in one of those bills were dashed when they were made public before the final vote next Saturday.
With an operating cost of just $1.8 million, the horse safety proposal is far down the priority list in budget negotiations for the $237 billion fiscal plan.
One source said the plan for advanced horse photography was introduced relatively late and created enough questions that budget negotiators pushed it aside to deal with major policy and financial issues on statewide on issues ranging from affordable housing to public school funding. The source said there was discussion this week to refer the issue to Hochul and her finance team for consideration when putting together the fiscal year 2026 budget next winter.
