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It’s finally time for a change of scenery.

After a winter that had far too many breakdowns, hardly any snow and illustrated how all that glitters isn’t gold, the New York Racing Association’s marathon six-month stay at Aqueduct comes to an end Sunday.
On Friday, April 27, Beautiful Belmont Park will open its doors, signaling that we’re just seven weeks away from the Belmont Stakes and only 13 weeks shy of Saratoga.

OK, we’re getting ahead of ourselves a bit, yet let’s just say it’s nice to envision racing somewhere else other than Ozone Park.

Looking back, the Big A’s inner and main track meets featured a surprising number of stars with horses like Gemologist, Hansen, Alpha, Jackson Bend, Caleb’s Posse and It’s Tricky in action.

The final weekend looms a bit anti-climactic after races such as the Wood and Carter, but at the very least Saturday’s $200,000 Jerome features a 3-year-old who might have an axe to grind later in the year in some of the more important middle distance graded stakes. The Lumber Guy was an easy winner of his first start at Aqueduct and the Miracle Wood Stakes at Laurel. Then he was cut down to size by Gemologist after setting the early pace in the mile-and-an-eighth Wood Memorial, as he faded to sixth.

While that loss hammered the final nail in the coffin as far as The Lumber Guy’s Triple Crown hopes go, trainer Mike Hushion apparently has no interest in allowing his colt to pick up splinters sitting on the bench. Returning on just two weeks rest, The Lumber Guy should find the one-turn mile and the competition -- which may include Adirondack King, Dan and Sheila, Guyana Star Dweej, Right to Vote and Sensor -- much more to his liking.

“It’s back quicker than I’d like, but I’m anxious to run him in a one-turn mile,” Hushion said. “I think that’s the key. A rider can just come out there real quietly, wherever he wants to take him, and make them sort it out for a half-mile down the backside.”

The Jerome closes out Aqueduct’s stakes schedule, and then after Sunday’s card, it’s off to Beautiful Belmont where racing will take place without slot machines to lure people to the grounds.

Won’t that be an interesting sight?

On a weekend that’s the calm before the storm, at least there was an appropriate choice for Saturday’s stakes at Aqueduct.

Shortly before the $1 million Florida Derby will be contested at Gulfstream, the Big A’s card will be highlighted a $75,000 overnight stakes named after a horse that should a ring bell with equine trivia buffs. It’s called the Plugged Nickle, in honor of a T.J. Kelly-trained runner who, despite the typo in his name, became one of the top 3-year-olds of 1980 and was the very first horse to beat the legendary Genuine Risk.

That happened in the 1980 Wood Memorial when both Plugged Nickle and stablemate Colonel Moran finished in front of Genuine Risk, who a few weeks later rebounded to beat the boys and become the first filly in 65 years to capture the Kentucky Derby.

History lessons aside, memories of Plugged Nickle and Genuine Risk are a rather nice segue into next Saturday’s featured race at Aqueduct, which, of course, is the $1 million Resorts World Casino New York City Wood Memorial.

Genuine Risk was one of 13 Derby winners since 1950 that raced in the Wood, and she played a key role in fashioning the 1973-81 glory days of the race when it produced six out of nine victors in the Run for the Roses.

More recently the Wood has not been a springboard to success at Churchill Downs since Funny Cide in 2003, though this year’s field promises to have a few starters who might be good enough to add to the lore of New York’s definitive Derby prep.

The Wood may have lost some of its luster when reigning Juvenile champ Hansen opted to run in the Blue Grass, but you can’t knock it with a field that includes Alpha, who already owns two 2012 N.Y. stakes wins, My Adonis, who finished right behind Hansen in his last two starts, and perhaps the most intriguing Derby candidate of all, the undefeated Gemologist.

Alpha’s connections shipped their colt from New York to Florida last month and then hemmed and hawed over their colt’s final Derby prep, considering first the Florida Derby and then the Louisiana Derby. But once Hansen was pointed toward the Blue Grass, Godolphin Racing and trainer Kiaran McLaughlin decided on a return trip to New York.

My Adonis was spared the frequent flier points, staying in New York after finishing second to Hansen in the Gotham over the Big A’s inner track.

Considering that both horses prefer to come from off the pace -- with My Adonis being more of a closer than Alpha -- they should relish the added distance of the mile-and-an-eighth Wood.

How Gemologist handles the nine furlongs is a question that could alter the pace scenario in the Derby. Winner of Churchill Downs’ Kentucky Jockey Club at two, Gemologist registered a smashing 2012 debut when he posted a front-running, seven-length victory in an allowance race at Gulfstream over Hopeful winner Currency Swap.

If he can stretch out and still kick some dirt in the face of Alpha and My Adonis, it will give him more than enough graded stakes earnings to race in the Derby and provide speedsters like Hansen with yet another challenger on the front end of the mile-and-a-quarter classic.

Other candidates for the Wood include Tampa Bay Derby winner Prospective; Casual Trick, who was seventh behind Union Rags in the Fountain of Youth; speedy Miracle Wood winner The Lumber Guy, who should press Gemologist on the front end; Tiger Walk, who was fourth in the Gotham; as well as Brimstone Island, Cozzetti and Teeth of the Dog.

Saturday’s top-notch card will also feature three other graded stakes, highlighted by the Grade 1 $400,000 Carter Handicap, which will serve up a rematch of the Tom Fool thriller between Calibrachoa and Caleb’s Posse, with Preakness winner Shackleford and Jackson Bend joining the fray this time around.

The $250,000 Bay Shore, a Grade 3 seven-furlong sprint for 3-year-olds, lists Beggarthyneighbor, Hardened Wildcat, How Do I Win, Maan, Perfect Trippi, Phil Dancer and Trinniberg among the possible starters.

The undefeated Agave Kiss is a question mark for the $250,000 Comely, a Grade 3 mile stakes for 3-year-old fillies being targeted by Broadway’s Alibi, Millionreasonswhy, Nuffsaid Nuffsaid, Off Limits, Singlet, and Welcome Guest.

After a long and difficult winter, it should be a great card of racing and a vivid reminder that the start of the year’s best and most enjoyable days of racing is right around the corner. You can bet a lot more than a plugged nickel on that.

Interesting thing about the weather.

A year ago, during a winter only the owner of a ski lodge could love, spring was greeted like Willis Reed limping out for Game 7.

This year, we have about as mild a winter as anyone could ask, and at Aqueduct Racetrack spring still could not get here quickly enough.

Tuesday’s official arrival of spring came a day before the New York Racing Association opened the main track at Aqueduct, bringing on one level an end to racing on the winterized inner track two weeks earlier than scheduled, and on another, perhaps some normalcy back to the sport.

After a horrific winter in which there were 20 fatalities in less than four months of racing over the inner track, the opening of the main track and a full-court press to curtail the breakdowns has shifted the focus from breakdowns to scratches -- a trade any general manager would make in a heartbeat.

There were 18 scratches on Wednesday’s first card on the main track, followed by 14 on Thursday and a more reasonable eight on Friday. Since NYRA does not make scratches by its veterinary staff public, it’s difficult to ascertain how many were voluntary and how many were mandated.

The previous Wednesday and Thursday there had been a combined 21 scratches.

Yet, regardless of the circumstances, the impact was clear as the first three days of racing produced no fatalities, welcomed news after having seven during the period covering March 2-17.

The change in latitudes and attitudes also comes at a time when a task force was introduced Thursday by the New York Racing and Wagering Board to investigate the fatalities at the inner track meet and uncover answers as to why there was calamity at such an unprecedented rate.

The four-person task force, assembled in cooperation with New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association president Rick Violette, includes Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey, Alan Foreman, chairman and CEO of Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Associations, Dr. Scott E. Palmer, the hospital director and staff surgeon at the New Jersey Equine Clinic, and Dr. Mary Scollay, the equine medical director of the Kentucky Horse racing Commission.

Together they will undertake an all-encompassing analysis that will focus on a review of NYRA’s policies on public disclosures, necropsies, track conditions and pre-race examinations of horses and its rules covering claims, veterinary procedures and equine drug use.

“We have assembled an outstanding panel of industry experts, who will conduct a fair and objective investigation to determine if there is a definitive cause for the increase in the number of catastrophic breakdowns at Aqueduct this winter,” Violette said. “We trust they will analyze all data meticulously, and New York 's horsemen will give our whole-hearted support to this initiative. No one has a more vested interest in protecting our horses and our jockeys to the very best of everyone's abilities than the 5,000 members of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association."

The task force’s findings will be made public, adding some transparency to the process and giving off more hope that something beneficial might ultimately arise from as dark a winter as NYRA has ever endured.

Spring, what took you so long to get here?

Each of the New York Racing Association (NYRA) tracks has its own distinct atmosphere. Saratoga is known for the large crowds it draws every day of its summer meet, from the locals and diehards to the tourists and vacationers who visit the historical town each summer. And of course Belmont Park boasts the annual Belmont Stakes, which draws a national and global audience every year, never more so than when it holds the potential of awarding a triple-crown title.

And, then there is Aqueduct. The crowds are sparse, the winds are strong and the seagulls battle to fly in the raw winter air. But there is one voice that warms the fans that venture to the Big A: John Imbriale, who started working for NYRA on November 5, 1979. Today he is the Director of NYRA Production, overseeing all production and a 30-person TV crew. But not only does Imbriale oversee TV production, he is also the race caller at Aqueduct Racetrack when Tom Durkin takes a vacation. For years, Imbriale has provided his voice to call the horses over the inner track of Aqueduct throughout the winter meet.

While Imbriale works in the shadow of legends such as Tom Durkin, his advice to future race callers stresses a fundamentally important trait -- the need to be yourself, “Develop your own style and don’t imitate Tom Durkin or Trevor Denman or anyone else.” Imbriale also longs for a bit more diversity in the caller’s booth, noting “I’d love to see and hear a female track announcer.”

Imbriale seems to enjoy most of the races he calls, as he responded to a question about a favorite memory by noting how much he enjoyed announcing one particular horse in the very recent Tom Fool Handicap, run on Saturday, March 3, 2012. “I got a thrill calling Caleb’s Posse. He didn’t even win. He’s just very exciting when he makes his late run,” noted Imbriale.

Spring is a week away, which means the Aqueduct meet has a month left, the voice of the inner track, will be silenced for the season. But Imbriale will be back next year, and in the meantime will continue to bring the fans the sights and the sounds of racing -- albeit behind the scenes -- as he continues his responsibilities, as director of NYRA TV.

Michael Fenrich is a freelance writer covering sports and human interest stories.
Michael has had horse racing stories posted on usatoday.com and bloodhorse.com.
Michael can be contacted at: mikefenrich@optonline.net

In a winter filled with the glow of unprecedented purses and unusually mild weather, it’s sad to report that an ominous van rather than a horse has emerged as the lasting image of New York’s 2012 winter racing season.

The haunting specter of the white horse van that removes injured or deceased race horses from the track has been seen of late at Aqueduct with seemingly the same frequency as Sam the Bugler.

Since Nov. 30 there have been 15 fatal breakdowns in races over Aqueduct’s inner track, a figure which is reportedly 50 percent higher than in the past two inner track meets.

Numerous other times, like twice on Sunday, horses with minor or at least non-life threatening injuries have been led into the van and driven to their barn or a veterinary hospital for treatment.

Yonkers may have its talking spokesperson horse, but NYRA has now its van, which has become such a ubiquitous part of a day at the races in the era of real-time, digital coverage of the sport that one can only wonder how long it will be before its driver, or perhaps even the van itself, starts a Twitter account.

In response to a situation that’s spiraling downward at a frightening pace, NYRA’s vice president and director of racing, P.J. Campo, vice president of facilities and racing surfaces, Glen Kozak, and the circuit’s leading jockey, Ramon Dominguez, met with the media on Thursday to declare the racing surface safe.

It was a highly predictable party line, and, most likely, it was probably correct. The inner track has never been considered dangerous and this year’s mild weather should not have worsened the situation. Dominguez’s comments also echo that sentiment as jockeys put their life on the line every time they hop on the back of a horse. If the racetrack was to blame for the injuries and fatalities, it’s logical to believe there would be a deafening outcry from the jockey colony.
So what’s happening?

Without the benefit of exhaustive medical research or access to veterinary bills, it’s impossible to point to one reason with absolute certainty. Yet somewhere in the mix it would seem to involve the time of year, the quality and physical condition of the horses racing and even the inflated purses.

Winter racing has never been a haven for the best and brightest of the racing world. It’s a time when non-descript horses and small outfits can rake in enough purse money to help pay the bills during the lean summer days. Horses that finish last in their Saratoga debut break their maiden on the inner track.

They are slower horses, often having a litany of medical and physical issues. They can have excessive wear and tear from a long, taxing career. And in the winter this small army of also-rans comes together to sustain the sport and fuel its mutuel handle, albeit at a far more lethargic pace.

It’s been that way for years. Yet this year enhanced purses from casino revenue have changed the landscape. There are still $7,500 claimers, but the purses are dramatically higher. In the NYRA of 2012 those horses which can be bought for $7,500 can bring back nearly $17,000 in purse money for winning a race, a financial distortion that might partially explain this year’s rash of injuries and breakdowns.

It’s not that some horses are running back too soon, say in two days, which is both glaring and rare. More common is that in some instances the narrow time frame for the easy pickings in the winter -- things will change when the major outfits return from Florida within the next month -- could cause a trainer to run a horse twice in a month instead of once and increase the strain on the animal.

In another scenario, it’s simply that the horses are running in the first place. The dramatic imbalance between purses and claiming prices has created a frenzy at the claim box, which in this dynamic might be encouraging some folks to race achy horses who in the past might get a vacation.

In background discussion about the state of the claiming game, a veteran trainer said he’s getting more calls per day than ever before from his owners about getting a horse. In some cases, there’s little concern about a horse’s physical condition because in the current climate a horse with a problem can be dropped a notch in claiming price and someone will claim it and make it their problem.

With some horses, it’s not so much the claiming game as it is hot potato. Last year, for example, when the claim box was gathering dust, there was more of a reason to be prudent and not push the envelope. Now, with huge purses and 12-way shakes for claimed horses, horsemen can be more impulsive because of the larger financial safety net.

There’s no way of knowing whether this was responsible for one or all of the injuries, but it seems a double-edged sword at the very least. It’s a great time to latch onto a good horse and turn a quick profit, and an even better time to unload a horse with a laundry list of issues.

In this kind of an environment is it at all surprising that Daily Racing Form reported nine of the 15 fatalities (60 percent) occurred at NYRA’s lowest rung on the claiming ladder?

In recent a talk with Hall of Fame trainer Allen Jerkens for another post, he voiced a concern that the purse enhancements had thrown the balance between claiming prices and purses out of whack. “There’s not much good that can come out of that situation,” said Jerkens, who is currently stabled in Florida.

Perhaps this year’s spate of injuries is a reflection of that. Dealing with the problem, though, is a more difficult situation. Lowering the purses for claiming races would go over like a lead balloon with horsemen.

Since there is a “buyer beware” philosophy inherent in the claiming game that works against transparency, the best option would seem to be more vigilance on the part of the NYRA veterinarian staff. Some might see it as an overreaction, but at times like this, something has to be done. If it takes more scrutiny and less tolerance and the placing of more horses on the vet’s list (which sidelines them for at least two weeks and sends a loud message to someone who might claim them) then it has to be done.

Just saying it’s not the track, is not enough. More has to be done to keep NYRA’s infamous white van in the garage.

It has been said that Facebook helped engineer the overthrow of a political regime in Egypt.

Yet every now and then some good can be achieved by simply raising a hand and talking.

To that end, New York racing fans will get a chance to speak their mind on what’s wrong or right about the sport on March 3 at Aqueduct when the Racing Fan Advisory Council will conduct its first public forum.

Actually, the event will take place in the Central Park Room (third floor) at the Resorts World Casino New York City from 10 a.m. to noon, but racing promises to top the agenda.

The Racing Fan Advisory Council was formed last September for the purpose of advising the New York State Racing and Wagering Board on racing and wagering inside the Empire State.

Among the council’s duties is passing along feedback from fans and the March 3 meeting should provide an ample opportunity to direct questions or thoughts to the council members, a group that currently includes chairman Patrick M. Connors, a professor of law at the Albany Law School, Michael F. Amo, chair and co-founder of ThoroFan, Allan Carter from the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, and M. Kelly Young, associate director of national affairs for the New York Farm Bureau.

The meeting will feature opening remarks from council members, a presentation by the New York Racing Association, a question and answer session and a tour of the racetrack.

So, if you have a gripe, mark March 3 on your calendar, when you can also check out Hansen running in the Gotham and three other stakes (the Tom Fool, Top Flight and Kings Point) while you’re in the neighborhood.

And if you can’t make it out to Aqueduct, questions can be submitted via email to racingfan@racing.ny.gov.

Guess it wouldn’t be an official event these days without some form of a digital presence.

As a new era continues to unfold for the New York Racing Association, there are several ways to view the impact of the purse enhancements stemming from casino revenue.

Field size can be analyzed and a list of new horsemen can be rattled off, yet for handicappers the key question is simply whether NYRA races now offer better wagering opportunities, a.k.a. value.

That’s a difficult question to answer, since one man’s wagering gold mine might be another’s clunker. Yet a personal review of NYRA’s races since Jan. 1 reveals some positive signs of why a trip to Aqueduct has provided a much better deal than last winter -- and we’re not just talking about the buffet at the Resorts World Casino.

From Jan. 1 through Feb. 10, there have been 28 NYRA cards with 245 races whose cumulative win payoff was $3,050.80.

Meanwhile, the first 28 cards in 2011 featured 243 races with a combined payoff of $2,441.40.

Do the math and the average 2012 winner has been paying $12.45 compared to $10.04 in 2011, a difference that many handicappers may already be seeing in their wallet.

While a huge longshot, like Princess Reyana ($128.50 on Feb. 5), can skewer the results, a price that big does reflect some size and depth in a field which handicappers should relish.

Beyond that, though, there are some other encouraging signs tied to those payoffs. So far, there have been 29 horses that paid $20 or more compared to just 19 a year ago, making handicapping a much more worthwhile proposition.

Now that’s not to say there has not been a steady stream of odds-on winners as well. A year ago there were 51 winners that paid $4 or less and there have been 55 in 2012.

The increase in heavy chalk seems all together logical since the higher purses can induce a trainer to run a horse more often when it is in top form. Trainers are also more willing to drop or keep a sharp horse at the same claiming level because of the bigger purses.

But put it all together and it does paint an encouraging sign for both now and what awaits in the spring when the bigger outfits roll back into town. While there have been some awful races that would have a Belmont or a Whitney rolling in their grave, this winter has at least produced more races that a handicapper can attack in hopes of coming away with something more than a $3.60 winner and an $8.20 exacta.

It’s surely not Saratoga, but for February in the Big Apple it’s not bad. Not bad at all.

It was a warm February afternoon, one that felt like April but conjured up visions of May while shrouding March in uncertainty.

That confusing little time warp took place Saturday in the minutes before, during and after the 1:44.23 it took Alpha to confirm his status as New York’s top Kentucky Derby contender by notching an easy victory in the $200,000 Withers.

Following up a 2 ½-length win in the Count Fleet last month, Godolphin Racing’s Alpha cruised one step closer to the Derby by launching a strong, wide rally and taking charge in the stretch to win by 3 ¼ lengths as an odds-on 2-5 favorite ($2.70).

Realistically, with 44-1 longshot Speightscity finishing second, he probably didn’t beat much in the Withers. But with a runner-up finish in last year’s Champagne vouching for his class, Alpha certainly seems like one of the better candidates to be in the starting gate on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs.

“There are some good 3-year-olds out there,” said Alpha’s trainer, Kiaran McLaughlin, “and I hope we’re one of them.”

Finding out just how good Alpha can be might take a little longer than expected as McLaughlin said he would talk with Godolphin racing manager Simon Crisford before mapping out Alpha’s next start. The Grade 3 $400,000 Gotham on March 3 at Aqueduct seems a likely target, especially since starting spots in the Derby are based on graded stakes earnings if more than 20 horses plan to run. Yet McLaughlin also raised the possibility of shipping Alpha to a different part of the country, especially if Mother Nature issues some payback -- a.k.a. a couple of blizzards -- for all the nice, unseasonable weather in recent weeks.

“He’s here in New York right now, but he could relocate, or he could run back in the Gotham in a month. We’ll just have to talk about it. At least we got $120,000 in graded earnings going forward to the first Saturday in May,” McLaughlin said. “That’s important.”

What’s probably more important right now is for a 3-year-old to show some progress from race to race, and, to no one’s surprise, Alpha also earned high marks from his trainer in that area. Alpha’s behavior in the starting gate has been a concern for McLaughlin since the colt had a tantrum prior to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (when he was 11th), but Saturday, aided by breaking from the outside post, Alpha was a choir boy.

“He was great in the gate. We’ve been schooling him a lot. It worked out today. Obviously it’s nice to be outside, but at some point he’s going to have to be inside, so we’ll see how our schooling is working,” McLaughlin said. “I think he improved some from his last race because of how wide he was both trips. He gets a better grade for this race. If it was a ‘B’ last time, he gets an ‘A’ this time.”

And in a year in which the reigning two-year-old champ already has a loss at three, A’s in February just might pay off handsomely in May.

A chalk-fest at Aqueduct

As nice as it was to see three stakes on Saturday’s card, there wasn’t much value at the betting windows.

Prior to Alpha’s win at 2-5, Nicole H, a 1-2 favorite, made it 4-for-4 on the inner track by capturing the $100,000 Correction by 2 ½ lengths and returning $3.

In the Grade 3, $150,000 Toboggan, Mike Repole’s Calibrachoa took the race for a second straight year and improved his record to 4-for-4 on the inner track. Diski Dance, at 19-1 was second, while Caixa Eletronica, who was coupled with Calibrachoa, was third.

The Repole ($2.90) entry was also sent off at 1-2 and returned $4 as the front end of a daily double with Alpha in the Withers.

“It was nice to win the Calibrachoa stakes again,” joked Repole, whose 5-year-old had not raced since finishing third last November in the Cigar Mile. “He was a nice $40,000 claim [in Nov. 2010]. We wanted to give him and he ran very well. We’ll keep an eye on the other graded sprints for him in New York, like the Tom Fool [March 3] and Carter [April 7].

Overdriven to miss Triple Crown

Repole also said Overdriven, who was one of last year’s most promising 2-year-olds until he was taken out of training in late August, probably will not race until June at the earliest.

“Overdriven and Stay Thirsty [Repole’s Travers winner] will be sent to [trainer] Todd Pletcher’s barn on March 1 to start training. We’re looking at all the major races for Stay Thirsty, but Overdriven is more likely to concentrate on sprints like the King’s Bishop [at Saratoga].”

After having two of the top Triple Crown candidates last winter in Stay Thirsty and Uncle Mo, it’s looking more and more like Repole will only be a spectator at this year’s Derby.

Repole’s How Do I Win set the pace in the Withers but faded to fourth, effectively ending his Triple Crown hopes. That leaves only Our Entourage, who was fifth in last year’s Remsen. Repole said Our Entourage would run in a Florida turf race in a couple of weeks and if all goes well, the next stop would be the Wood Memorial at Aqueduct (April 7) as a dress rehearsal for the Derby.

If a national poll was taken on the nation’s best racetracks, it’s unlikely that Aqueduct would rank in the top 10.

From an aesthetic viewpoint, if you put the three New York Racing Association venues in a beauty contest, the Big A is the one that would finish up the track behind Saratoga and Belmont.

Aqueduct, quite frankly, is little more than a highly functional home for New York racing during its slowest parts of the year.

Yet if New York Governor Andrew Cuomo gets his way and Aqueduct is eventually closed to make room for a massive Convention Center, racing fans will learn the hard way that they’ve been taking the Big A for granted.

As much as the sport could survive by racing purely at Belmont and Saratoga, it will not thrive while spending 46 out of the year’s 52 weeks at Belmont.

Removing logistics from the equation -- it would cost hundreds of millions to winterize Belmont, where the grandstand is not even positioned properly to draw heat from the sun -- Belmont’s lack of a subway stop would make it a ghost town, especially during the winter.

A 10-month Belmont meet would also make the racing season mundane. While it may not match the excitement of opening day at Yankee Stadium and Citi Field, one of the cool things for fans in April is knowing the shifting of racing to Belmont, not to mention the arrival of spring and the Triple Crown that comes with it, is right around the corner.

OK, we’ll amend that. Looking over the Mets’ roster, there might be more of a buzz at Belmont Park than Citi Field this spring.

Yet, forgetting the Wilpons’ mess for a while, what’s more important than the way two tracks will impact the flow of the racing season, for its long-term good NYRA cannot afford to distance itself from the casino.

Cuomo’s interest in Aqueduct has nothing to do with racing or that Ozone Park is the ideal geographic spot to bring millions of visitors. At time when tax dollars are dwindling, his eyes are riveted on the dollar signs of the casino and the way it has become a magnet for visitors.

Right now, a king’s ransom of cash from the casino flows into NYRA’s coffers, but take away the umbilical cord that bonds Aqueduct and the Resorts World Casino New York City and one day another politician might start to question why so many dollars go to racing. With the obvious link between the track and casino erased, political leaders will no doubt point to the small crowds at Belmont and insist too much money goes to a sport that no one cares about.

That’s the way it goes with politicians. Give them the opportunity to divert revenue so it can suit their own needs, and they’ll take it.

Not helping matters is that as time goes on, Genting, which operates the casino, figures to have far more clout than NYRA because of the $10 million or more per week in profit it generates.

To prevent that imbalance of power from growing at a faster rate, the casino and the racetrack must remain a coupled entry. Even if the racetrack is dark for half the year, NYRA needs the crowds and activity that the casino brings, plus the revenue, and it cannot let its life preserver out of its sight.

Barely three months into the life of the casino, Gov. Cuomo has already showed casino cash means more to him than the racing industry by presenting a plan that would ultimately evict Aqueduct from the grounds.

Now just imagine the situation 10 years from now and the political pressures on the sport with the nearest track some 25 miles away from the casino. Believe it or not, you’ll miss Aqueduct.

As colorful and exciting as racing may be, there are times when it can turn dark and disturbing, with only a thin line separating life from death.

On a bitterly cold weekend at Aqueduct, the many dangers faced in every race by horse and rider were put on display through a harrowing pair of grotesque spills that claimed the life of two horses and sent three jockeys to the hospital.

Fortunately, none of the riders suffered serious injuries, but the next time anyone gets peeved at what they perceive to be an ill-advised ride, visions of what happened this weekend should put the challenges a jockey faces into a sharper perspective.

The first incident occurred in Saturday’s fourth race, when Scorper, while racing in about the four path, went down with jockey Alan Garcia. Quickly coming up behind them, Hardshell could not avoid Scorper, tripping over him and hurling jockey Junior Alvarado to the ground.

While Hardshell ran off after the spill, Scorper suffered a fractured left ankle and had to be put down.

Garcia and Alvarado were taken to North Shore University Hospital, where scans and x-rays came back negative. Alvarado managed to ride on Sunday’s card, while Garcia elected to sit out on Sunday and Monday with a sore back. He is tentatively scheduled to return Thursday.

The following day, after the field crossed the finish line in the ninth race, Raw Moon suffered a fatal heart attack and collapsed to the ground with jockey Ryan Curatolo.
Fundsalo Jones, ridden by Jackie Davis, crashed into the stricken Raw Moon, unseating Davis.

Curatolo was able to walk away from the spill, while Davis underwent x-rays and scans at North Shore that also came back negative.

Davis missed Monday’s card but she is also expected back Thursday.

"Her initial X-rays were negative, but she told the doctors she was still in pain, so they did a CT scan, and that was also negative,” said Davis' agent Roger Sutton. “She was hurting, but she’s tough.”

As sad as the two accidents were, there could have been an even worse catastrophe because of the size of the two fields. There were 10 horses in Saturday’s race and 11 in Sunday’s, creating the possibility for much larger spills.

On afternoons that cast a somber pall over a day at the races, that might be the lone silver lining.

It’s January, even if it feels like April, and with a new year comes a new array of Triple Crown hopefuls.

While many of the top-ranked 3-year-olds -- horses like Union Rags, Hansen and even Remsen winner O’Prado Again - are working on their suntans in Florida while they prep for their 3-year-old debut, here in New York the road to Louisville officially opened Saturday with the latest renewal of the Count Fleet.

Not one to be confused with the Wood Memorial, the $150,000 Count Fleet can be a stepping stone to bigger and better things, a scenario that may come to fruition through Saturday’s talented winner, Alpha.

At two, Alpha won at first asking at Saratoga and seemed one of the division’s better runners when he finished second to Union Rags in the Champagne. A nearly invisible 11th place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile relegated the Godolphin runner to the B List, but his 2 1/2-length score in the mile and 70-yard Count Fleet put him back on the fast track to Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May.

“Alpha was just a great win. We’ll probably leave him there [in New York],” said trainer Kiaran McLauglin, who also won Saturday’s co-featured Busanda for 3-year-old fillies with Captivating Lass. Despite having two stakes winners on the card, McLaughlin spoke by phone from, where else, Florida. “We’ll probably go to the Withers [Feb. 4] and on to the Wood [April 7]. For sure we’ll have to talk to the Godolphin people, but that’s what we’ll look at for right now.”

Stephanoatsee looked to be a fast-closing second, but that was more reflective of the way the pacesetting Il Villano, who was exposed as a sprinter, tired in the final yards and was passed by the Graham Motion-trained Stephanoatsee. No one was beating Alpha, a 4-5 favorite, on this spring-like day in New York.

“Turning for home, he responded every time I asked him,” jockey Ramon Dominguez said. “He galloped out so strong that I had to get an outrider to pull him up. You always have to go just by what you have seen, but judging by today he should be able to handle more distance.”

And so, the Big Apple’s chase for the Kentucky Derby began rather fittingly with a horse named Alpha. Whether it will end with him is a question that most likely will not be answered until spring truly arrives.

If you follow New York racing on a regular basis, then you had to get a charge out of Saturday’s $65,000 Gravesend Handicap.

Frazil is hardly a well-known horse among those whose involvement in the sport is limited to weekends and graded stakes fare. But for those regulars who spend Wednesdays, Thursdays and every other racing day scanning the NYRA entries, Frazil should be a familiar and popular old friend.

While the Gravesend marked Frazil’s eighth victory in 13 starts this year -- all in New York -- none of the other seven wins had black type associated with them.

His last two wins, which, coincidentally were his last two starts, came in starter allowance contests, the type of races made famous recently by Rapid Redux, Mr. 21-straight wins himself.

In fact, 10 of Frazil’s previous 12 races came in either starter allowance or starter handicap races, which are restricted to horses that started for a specific claiming price -- or lower.

For Frazil, these have been $16,000, $12,500, and $10,000 starter races, all the result of running for a lowly $10,000 claiming tag in 2010. They’re usually filler for weekday cards as reflected in Frazil’s 2011 dance card of three races on a Thursday and Sunday, two on a Friday and Wednesday and one on Monday.

He didn’t grace a Saturday card until his last start, when he captured a $10,000 starter handicap on Nov. 5 while carrying 126 pounds.

Now with a victory in his stakes debut to his credit, it looks like the popular weekday warrior, who never paid more than $5.70 to win in 2011 before his $7 mutuel in the Gravesend, may finally be a Saturday regular.

“I was really proud of him,” said Linda Rice who owns and trains Frazil. “Obviously, he’d been carrying so much weight for so long, the 115 [pounds] helped him. Today, everything went perfectly. I’ve trained him since he was a 2-year-old. He was a big, clumsy young horse. He’s a very big horse, about 17 hands, and we gave him a chance to find his way. He’s something -- he pins his ears back, his head’s down, you can see the expression in his eyes -- he’s a barn favorite.”

Judging by all those odds-on payoffs in Frazil’s past performances, Rice’s barn isn’t the only place he has been a big favorite.

As the money-making machine better known as the Resorts World Casino New York City continues to generate revenue at a dizzying pace, there’s a natural tendency to ponder a rather expensive what if.

What if the Aqueduct casino, which received legislative approval late in 2001, had not run into one ridiculous roadblock after another? What if the casino had opened in, say, 2003 and had been providing tens of millions of dollars per month for both the New York racing industry and the state’s tax coffers for the last eight years?

What if, indeed.

Yet the way trainer Rick Violette, president of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association, sees it, right now that’s just “water under the bridge.”

“There was a lot of money left on the table, no doubt about it,” Violette said. “But you can’t focus on that. It certainly took a long time to get here, but in the end maybe the delay got us the perfect partner. Genting [the parent company of Resorts World] has built a casino that has been impressive in a lot of ways. In the gambling business you hear a lot of talk about one casino wanting to build a better mousetrap than the other casinos. Well, it’s hard to imagine a better mousetrap than this one.”

As much as the bustling casino has congested traffic in the neighborhood, it’s been a small price for horsemen like Violette to pay. With the casino’s 2,486 Video Lottery Terminals (a.k.a. video slots and games) averaging a weekly profit of about $9.4 million the last two weeks, New York racing is less than a month away from finally reaping the full benefits of a casino that, for so long, seemed as real as talk of pirate’s gold in Flushing Bay.

According to Violette, the New York Racing Association will use its share of the casino revenue to boost purses by 35-40 percent on Jan. 1. There’s even a possibility that the final four cards of 2011 following a Holiday break (Dec. 28-31) will be supplemented to prevent horsemen from keeping horses in their stalls until the new year brings higher purses.

As an example of the new structure, maiden special weight races are expected to jump from a $50,000 purse to $60,000 and maiden races from $40,000 to $50,000. Stakes will also grow in value.

To no one’s surprise, the lure of higher purses has spawned prospects for the best winter racing in recent memory. The horse colony promises to be bigger and better than in past years with numerous NY trainers electing to keep more horses than usual in the Big Apple and others like Eddie Kenneally, Ken McPeek and Dale Romans, who usually ship out of New York in the fall, stabling a few of their runners in chilly New York rather than sunny and warm Florida.

“A year ago, [racing secretary] P.J. Campo used smoke and mirrors to fill cards,” Violette said. “But this year, with the higher purses, there should be larger fields. It makes more economic sense to race your horses here in New York rather than ship them south.”

Down the road, Violette expects additional hikes for the 2012 Belmont Park and Saratoga meets, all thanks to a river of loot flowing into the casino’s VLT’s that, if anything, promises to grow larger in the coming months.

Additional floors of the casino, with high-end wagering areas, are expected to open in mid-December, which should nearly double the number of VLT’s at a facility that’s already packed, even without an aggressive marketing campaign. The nearby Yonkers casino may have its television ads with a talking horse to lure customers, but the Resorts World Casino has decided to work out the early kinks and open its new floors before telling the world why it should come out to Ozone Park.

One can only imagine the financial figures once that happens.

“It’s exciting to think about the future when you consider this was only a partial opening,” Violette said.

Aside from the ka-ching of the new-found cash rolling in, Violette has also found much to like in the way racing has not been pushed into the background by its new neighbor that occupies the old grandstand at Aqueduct.

At some tracks that house a casino, it sometimes takes a simple phone call to find out who calls the shots in the marriage of horses and slot machines. A recorded phone message that says “Dial 1 for the casino; Dial 2 for the racetrack” pretty much says it all about the batting order.

At Aqueduct, while the Resorts World Casino is certainly attracting more people than the racetrack, it has not obscured the racing product.

“The casino and racetrack are separate entities. They have different owners and phone numbers,” Violette said. “But they are not isolated. There’s a walkway from the racetrack to the casino. They have balconies to watch the races. They even have windows, which you will not find in most casinos, so you can see the track.”

While slot players and horse players are generally two different types of gamblers, the casino, which opened Oct. 28, has no doubt played a role in larger than usual crowds at the racetrack. On Saturday, Nov. 26, when Aqueduct’s final two Grade 1 stakes of the year -- the Cigar Mile and Gazelle -- were contested, attendance was listed at 7,762, an increase of 15.5 percent over the previous year’s figure. The on-track handle on Aqueduct races was $1,498,680, jumping 35.2 percent from the 2010 figure of $1,108,170.

“There’s no real way to measure whether the casino is bringing new fans to the racetrack or old ones out to the track, but on the day of the Cigar Mile there was not a empty table at [Aqueduct’s] Equestris dining room, and I haven’t seen that in quite a while,” Violette said.

And so, as the millions continue to roll in and new floors will soon open, for Violette and New York horsemen there is finally a golden life saver after an insufferable wait for financial salvation.

“Now with the casino here, farms in New York are re-opening and new stallions will be coming to the state,” Violette said. “There’s more life here at Aqueduct. The crowds are bigger. The food is better. And all of this is leading to jobs, jobs and more jobs. What we’re seeing from the casino has already exceeded our expectations.”

Somehow, it seems safe to say that view of prosperity does not figure to change anytime soon.

Holidays are usually festive times, but at Aqueduct there will be a general sense of melancholy as another week of racing reaches an end.

By weekend’s end, at about the same time as the last remnants of Thanksgiving dinner are finished off, New York racing will begin its long march into winter. Saturday’s card will sadly feature the final showcase for championship-caliber racing in New York for a little more than four months, the farewell coming in the form of the final two Grade 1 stakes races of the year.

The $250, 000 Gazelle and $250,000 Cigar Mile will join a pair of nine-furlong Grade 2 stakes for 2-year-olds -- the Remsen for colts and the Demoiselle for fillies -- on Saturday’s Holiday Fest card that should give fans sufficient reasons to spend an afternoon at the racetrack instead of the adjacent casino.

While The Cigar Mile will not have Eclipse Award implications, it promises to be highly entertaining with a field that is expected to include 2010 winner Jersey Town, Haynesfield, who captured the 2010 Jockey Club Gold Cup, and Pennsylvania Derby winner To Honor And Serve, last seen finishing seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Other possible starters include Sangaree and Mike Repole’s duo of Calibrochoa and Caixa Eletronica.

The Gazelle, at a mile and an eighth for 3-year-old fillies, is topped by the unbeaten Awesome Feather, last year’s champion 2-year-old filly who captured her 2011 debut in an overnight stakes at Belmont Park.

While Hansen and Union Rags are currently the most noteworthy contenders for the Kentucky Derby, the Remsen has historically been a proving ground for a new wave of 2-year-old prospects. In Saturday’s edition of the Remsen, a race won by To Honor And Serve last year, the likely starters include Done Talking, El Padrino, O’Prado Again, Our Entourage, Souper Speedy, Speightcity, Stephanoatsee. Cyber Secret, Managed Account and Tiger Walk.

The field for the Demoiselle is expected to include Bourbonstreetgirl, Brown Eyed Nance, Captivating Lass, Disposable Pleasure, Dreaming of Cara, Indyniable, and Wildcat’s Smile.

Prior to Saturday, there are a couple of other stakes on the NYRA menu: the $100,000 Grade 3 Fall Highweight Handicap on Thursday and the $150,000 Grade 2 Go For Wand Handicap on Friday.

So, with Grade 1 racing going on hiatus until next April’s Wood Memorial, do yourself a favor and take a break from the mall or the Thanksgiving leftovers with a day at the races. Who knows? You might even leave with some cash that you can pump into a slot machine.

Dutrow’s still hot

As a follow up to the last post about Rick Dutrow Jr.’s hot streak, the infamous trainer keeps piling up the wins. He closed out last week by going a combined 5-for-5 on Saturday and Sunday at the Big A. That means while awaiting an appeal of a 10-year suspension, he has racked up 13 wins out of 25 starters.

Suffice it to say, we’ve yet to see the last of Mr. Dutrow.

When the New York racing season resumes on Friday, longtime patrons of Aqueduct Racetrack will meet their much-ballyhooed new neighbors.

The Resort World Casino New York City opened this past Friday at Aqueduct, and judging by the early returns all of the lofty expectations about the revenue it will generate were not exaggerated.

You can write it down in ink. The days of the Big A being a quiet, cozy place are officially over.

Well, perhaps the racetrack side of the complex will not have to sweat out visits by the fire marshals, but the traffic, the parking and the flow of people in and out of the grounds is going to be a shock to the system of longtime visitors who used to have the place to themselves.

According to a New York Daily News report, the opening afternoon of business at the casino saw a crowd of 15,000 inside the sparkling new gambling palace with another 5,000 waiting -- some in vain -- to get in.

There was such a crush of people that the casino operators, Genting Group, sent out an advisory that the slot lovers in the Big Apple should wait until next week to drop their change into machines that some folks know as one-armed bandits.

Imagine that. A business telling you they are doing so well that you should stop by next week, if you’re in the area. Not even Wal-Mart does that.

The flip side of all this for racing fans is that in time -- probably at the first of the year – a portion of that cash will filter into purses and racing should be richer, bigger and better than ever. That’s the plan, anyway.

How it works out remains to be seen, but for starters, the new kids on the blocks at Aqueduct are delivering on what they promised -- and then some.

Get ready for an interesting winter at the Big A.